Davis, Belvagene “Belva”

Clayton, Xernona

1930-present

Became the first Black person in the American South to host a regularly scheduled prime-time television talk show when Themes and Variations (later The Xernona Clayton Show) premiered on Atlanta’s WAGA-TV in 1967, then spent three decades as a pioneering Turner Broadcasting executive

Haynes, Gertrude “Trudy”

1926-2022

Became the nation’s first Black television weather reporter at Detroit’s WXYZ-TV in 1963, then, in 1965, the first Black television news reporter in Philadelphia at KYW-TV, where she worked for 33 years until her 1999 retirement

Tolliver, Melba

1939-present

Became the first Black person to anchor a network news program in the United States in 1967 when, as an ABC secretary, she filled in on air during a broadcasting strike, then spent nearly three decades as a New York City television reporter and anchor at WABC, WNBC, and News 12 Long Island

Simpson, Carole Estelle

1940-present

Became the first African American woman to anchor a major U.S. network newscast when NBC News hired her as a correspondent in 1975, and, after 15 years anchoring ABC’s World News Tonight weekend edition, became in 1992 the first woman and first person of color to serve as sole moderator of a U.S. presidential debate