Alice Dunnigan
*On this date in 1906, Alice Dunnigan was born. She was a Black journalist who was instrumental in establishing a Black presence in political news coverage.
Born near Russellville, Ky., she attended Kentucky State College and later graduated from West Kentucky Industrial College. Dunnigan was the first Black woman accredited to the White House and the State Department and to gain access to the House of Representatives and Senate galleries. She was also the first Black woman elected to the Woman’s National Press Club.
In 1948 she became the first Black woman to cover a presidential campaign when she covered Harry S. Truman’s whistle-stop trip. Alice Dunnigan died in 1983.
Reference:
Black Women in America An Historical Encyclopedia
Volumes 1 and 2, edited by Darlene Clark Hine
Copyright 1993, Carlson Publishing Inc., Brooklyn, New York
ISBN 0-926019-61-9
