Haynes, Gertrude “Trudy”
1926-2022 · Contribution: 1963-1999
Broadcast journalist
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

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Quick facts
- Born
- 1926, New York City
- Active since
- 1963
- Category
- Press & Photography
- Best known for
- Nation's first Black television weather reporter
Impact on the world
Haynes broke into on-air television in an era that openly preferred 'blonde, blue-eyed' broadcasters, then spent three decades as a beloved Philadelphia news fixture.
Sources
- The Philadelphia Inquirer
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