Nancy Hicks Maynard (1946-2008) was the first black woman reporter for the New York Times, to cover hard news. Together with her husband Robert Maynard they were the first and only black publishers of a daily metropolitan newspaper, the Oakland Tribune. Along with seven other journalists, they also founded the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, currently based in Oakland.
Maynard, born and raised in Harlem, paid her dues at the New York Post before she was hired by the Times at the age of 21. While not the first black woman reporter at the Times (that honor goes to society reporter Bernadette Carey), she did up the ante by covering some of the most important news stories of the day.
Her real legacy was in branching out beyond reporting on race-related issues. She fought against being pigeon-holed into only covering the race beat. She reported for the education and science desks, covering an array of health care topics, including traveling to China to report on its health care system and reporting on the Apollo Program. She was a pioneer in reshaping opinions about black journalists.
“Nancy helped us survive even the inadvertent racism,” Ms. Hunter-Gault said. “And the thing about Nancy was that when so many of us were preoccupied with doing stories about black people, she paved the way in a new direction.” –New York Times
Maynard’s fascination with journalism began as a teenager. Her former elementary school burned down and Maynard was horrified at the way her Harlem neighborhood was portrayed in the coverage of the fire. She earned a degree in journalism from Long Island University and later a law degree from Stanford while she was running the Oakland Tribune.
The Maynard Institute focuses on training minority journalists and is still in operation. The website is an excellent source for media critique.
