Abstract
African-American Ethel L. Payne in 1951 began a journalism career that stretched for decades when she became a reporter for the Chicago Defender. She covered many topics, including the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s, in Washington, the South and around the world. Her persistent questions on one occasion earned her the anger of President Dwight Eisenhower. Coverage of news about the emerging nations took her to Asia, Africa and elsewhere. She covered wars of the period. News dominated her interests and she avoided “women's stories.” She worked as a free-lance writer in the final years of her career.
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