Nancy Hicks Maynard
*Nancy Hicks Maynard was born on this date in 1946. She was a Black publisher, journalist, and businesswoman.
She was born Nancy Alene Hall in Harlem, New York City, to jazz bassist Alfred Hall and Eve Keller, a nurse. Maynard first became interested in journalism when, after a fire destroyed the elementary school she had once attended, she was unhappy with the portrayal of her community in the news media's coverage.
She went on to attend Long Island University in Brooklyn and graduated with a degree in journalism in 1966. Not long after graduation, Maynard was married to Daniel D. Hicks, with whom she had her first child, her son David. After Hicks died in 1974, she married Robert C. Maynard in 1975 after they met at a convention. He already had a daughter, Dori. As a couple, they had their third child, Alex.
Maynard began her journalism career as a copygirl and reporter with the New York Post. She was hired by The New York Times in September 1968 at the age of 21. Almost immediately, she covered the Ocean Hill-Brownsville school decentralization controversy, which drew accusations of racism and anti-Semitism and resulted in a citywide teachers' strike and the establishment of new school districts throughout the city. After less than one year at the Times, Maynard was hired as a full-time reporter, becoming the first Black woman reporter at the newspaper.
During her first few years at The New York Times, Maynard covered important race-related stories, including race riots and the takeovers of Columbia and Cornell University by Black students, as well as politically significant events such as a memorial for Robert F. Kennedy. She later wrote for the paper, analyzing China's medical system and sharing stories about the use of acupuncture in surgical operations. Among her other story topics were the Medicare system, an explanation of the arrangement of whiskers on a lion's face, and coverage of the Apollo program.
She and her husband left their jobs and founded the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in Oakland, California, where she served as its first president in 1977. In 1978, she was also a professor of journalism at the University of Michigan. Since its founding, the institute has been credited with training and preparing hundreds of minority students for careers in news editing, newsroom management, and other jobs in journalism. Maynard served as a member of the board until 2002.
In 1983, Maynard and her husband purchased The Oakland Tribune, which, at the time of Maynard's death, was the only major metropolitan daily newspaper to be owned by African Americans. The two served as co-publishers for almost ten years, bringing significant diversity to the newsroom. After Robert C. Maynard died in 1993, Maynard sold the paper to ANG Newspapers. She subsequently concentrated on consulting and book publishing. Nancy Hicks Maynard, who made her home with partner Jay T. Harris in Santa Monica, California, died on September 21, 2008, at the age of 61, after an extended illness.
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