Rachel Grant, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Journalism assistant professor, has written a review of the book “Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America” for the Journal of Journalism History published on Aug. 26.

Grant writes that this autobiography by Dorothy Butler-Gilliam, the first Black female reporter at The Washington Post, is relevant to the understanding of the media’s advocacy role. Her story traces the mainstream media’s role in the Civil Rights movement and beyond.

According to Grant, “As a young reporter, Butler-Gilliam shares the daily struggle of being a Black woman in a predominately white-male industry trying to cover and elevate the experiences of Black America. In her motivation to challenge discrimination, she profoundly states that ‘The place of Blacks in American society was undergoing radical change when I started working at The Washington Post, and I wanted to be part of telling the story of trials, trauma, and I hoped, transformation. If Black men and women could risk their lives to break chains of fear and second-class citizenship in the land of our birth, I could try to integrate the white media industry and bring a black female perspective that was missing from daily newspapers.’”

Grant adds that the book is very engaging to historians, journalists, educators and students. “The construction of the autobiography doesn’t tokenize her experiences of setting a number of firsts in her career because Butler-Gilliam describes in rich detail the Black individuals, both male and female, who came before and after her. Her book mirrors this evolution as Black voices are remerging in the long struggle of civil rights.”

Posted: August 27, 2020
Category: College News
Tagged as: Rachel Grant