Reporters Honor First Black Journalist To Attend Presidential News Conference
JESSE J. HOLLAND – MAY 4, 2014, 8:25 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Harry McAlpin was standing outside the Oval Office, moments away from becoming the first black reporter to attend a presidential news conference, when one of his contemporaries approached with a deal.
Stay out here, the reporter told McAlpin. The other White House correspondents would share their notes, and McAlpin would have a chance to become an official member of the correspondents association. McAlpin marched into the Oval Office anyway. Afterward, President Franklin Roosevelt shook McAlpin's hand and said, "I'm glad to see you, McAlpin, and very happy to have you here."
McAlpin, who became a fixture at the White House during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, never got a White House Correspondents' Association membership while he was alive. The rules were rigged to keep him out. But now, in its centennial year, the WHCA is honoring McAlpin with a posthumous membership and a scholarship bearing his name.
First lady Michelle Obama helped present the scholarship Saturday night during the WHCA's annual dinner. The recipient was Glynn Hill of Philadelphia, a student at Howard University.
more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/journalists-honor-harry-mcalpin
= new reply since forum marked as read