was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the eighth
child of ten, (only five survived). Her father was an A.M.E. minister and
when she was four years old, her father was moved to another church, from
Memphis to Louisville, Kentucky.
After her father became ill, the family moved outside
Louisville, out in the rural part of Kentucky, Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky,
where she graduated from Lincoln Institute. She received a scholarship to
Ursuline College in Louisville, and attended for two years.
In 1955 she came to Lincoln University and was greatly
influenced by Dr. Armistead S. Pride, the head of the School of Journalism
and Dr. Lorenzo Greene, a nationally recognized historian. After graduating
from Lincoln in 1957, she worked for Jet and Ebony magazines
two years with Johnson Publishing in Chicago. In 1960 she went to Columbia
Graduate School of Journalism and graduated with a master’s degree in 1961.
Gilliam joined
The Post in 1961 as a general assignment reporter after serving as
an editor of Jet magazine.
The first black woman hired as a
full-time reporter, Dorothy worked at the Post from October
1961 to 1965. She left the newspaper when she became pregnant with her
second child, but in 1972 she was invited to return to the Post
as an assistant editor of the revamped "Style" section. Restless in "Style"
in 1979, she asked for, and received, a transfer to "Metro" section where
she started writing a column covering education, politics and race as well
as her personal experiences.
Gilliam Since 1997, she has
directed the Young Journalists Development Program, which has encourages
high school and college students to pursue careers in journalism.
Received numerous honors, including the Columbia Graduate School of
Journalism Alumni of the Year Award, the University of Missouri Honor Medal
in Journalism and the Journalist of the Year award from the Capital Press
Club.
Gilliam's background reflects her interests in
teaching, socially conscious thought and public service. She has been chair
of the board of directors of the
Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in California;
is former president of the 3,000-member
National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)
and a member of the group's Hall of Fame;
a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard University; and was a 1991 Fellow at the Freedom Forum
Media Studies Center at Columbia University, studying racial diversity in
the American media. She is a former Woodrow Wilson Fellow and board
member of the Fund for Investigative Journalism, and has served as chair of
the Institute for Journalism Education.
She is the author of a 1976
biography, Paul Robeson, All American
In Spring 2000, Gilliam served as the Virginia’s
Dabney Distinguished Professor of Journalism in the Virginia
Commonwealth University School of Mass Communication.
Gilliam is featured in an
oral history project on "Women in Journalism" by the Washington Press
Club Foundation.
She has taught journalism at Howard
University and the American University in Washington, D.C., and at Rhodes
University in Cape Town, South Africa, as part of a Knight International
Press Fellowship.
Ms. Gilliam has received the Ann O'Hare
McCormick Award from the New York Newspaper Woman's Club; Journalist of the
Year, Achievement in Journalism, and Washington Media awards from the
Capital Press Club; the Unity Award in Journalism from Lincoln University
(Jefferson City, Missouri); and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
Alumni of the Year award.
Kay Mills' book A Place in the News provides
a good review of women in journalism, and it includes a four-page profile of
Dorothy's career.
Dorothy lives in Northwest Washington, D.C. surrounded by
her books and original art, including many pieces done by her former husband
and noted artist, Sam Gilliam. Dorothy is the mother of three daughters.
Dorothy Gilliam has been a generous supporter of Lincoln University and the
Washington, DC Alumni Chapter. For the Washington, DC chapter’s first
Annual Giving Fund, Dorothy donated a valuable lithograph from her art
collection to the Washington, DC chapter. This beautiful piece of artwork
by Sam Gilliam was auctioned by the chapter and a substantial sum was
received, the largest single donation to endow the Lucille Jordan Gayle
Scholarship at Lincoln. When she was a weekly columnist for the
Washington Post newspaper, Dorothy used her columns to spread the news
about Lincoln University of Missouri and the positive influences it has made
on her life.
