EOTO: My Modern Day Journalism Hero
Nancy Hicks Maynard was one of the first female African-American journalists for the New York Times. She was the owner of the Oakland Tribune, and a founder and president of the Maynard Institue for Journalism Education (MIJE).
But, despite these notable accomplishments, her work wasn't easy to find. I spent what seemed like hours searching for some of her articles. In the end, I was able to find two pieces written in the mid-90s and a textbook. Considering the fact that she was one of the first female African-American journalists for a major newspaper, I thought her work would have been better archived.
Even with the limited resources on Maynard, I was able to piece together some of her major accomplishments and come to an understanding of her contributions to her community and the world of
Nancy Hicks Maynard was born on November 1,1946 in Harlem, New York City. She quickly took an interest in Journalism when a fire destroyed the elementary school that she once attended. She was unhappy with the representation of her community within their local newspaper so she took it upon herself to write them a letter. This same letter was later published in the paper.
She eventually went on to attend Long Island University Brooklyn and received her degree in journalism in 1966.
New York Times
Post-college, Maynard began her journalism career as a copy girl and reporter with the New York Post. Shortly after that, she was hired by the New York Times at the age of 21. One of her major assignments at this time was to help cover the Ocen Hill-Brownsville controversy. In short, this incident brought to light numerous accusations of racism and antisemitism and resulted in teacher strikes citywide. In the end, a new school district was established throughout the city.
Maynard was highly recognized for her work on this story which played a huge role in promotion with the New York Times. By the age of 23, Maynard was hired as a full-time reporter, making her the first African-American woman in this position for this paper.
During her time in this position, Maynard was notorious for covering a variety of topics relating to racial injustices, healthcare, and science.
Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
After her time with the New York Times, Maynard and her husband Robert C. Maynard founded the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education in Oakland, California. She served as the president of this organization in 1977. Since its founding, MIJE has been recognized for giving minority students in the field of journalism the trainings and supplies they would need to be successful.
Through this program, many black journalists went onto be hired by many major news networks.
The Oakland Tribune
Another major accomplishment of Nancy Hicks Maynard's would be the purchasing of The Oakland Tribune in 1983. At the time of Maynard's death in 2008, this paper was the only metropolitan newspaper to be owned by African Americans. Despite the fact that this paper never did well financially, Mr. and Mrs. Maynard were able to incorporate a significant amount of diversity into the paper.
Works Cited
https://jaws.org/2010/03/14/in-memory-nancy-hicks-maynard/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2008-09-23-0809220526-story.html
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