On Feb. 8, 1944, Atlanta Daily World correspondent Harry McAlpin walked up to the White House and onto the pages of history as the first black journalist to cover a White House news conference.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt received Mr. McAlpin warmly, but his press colleagues did not. Mr. McAlpin, who made it into that press conference despite the White House Correspondents' Association efforts to keep him out, was never admitted to the association.
Fast-forward 70 years. The White House press corps of today is far more inclusive than it was in Mr. McAlpin’s era. But diversity remains a challenge.
On Monday at 11 a.m. in Jack Morton Auditorium, the White House Correspondents' Association and the George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs will present a panel discussion to explore diversity among the White House press corps. White House reporters and editors from national news media outlets will discuss the roles that minority journalists have played in the White House press corps over the years, where they are today and what more must be done to create a press corps that reflects the growing diversity of America. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees can register here. The discussion is part of week-long series of events leading up to the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday.
Panelists include:
- Jim Avila, senior national correspondent, ABC News/White House correspondent, ABC News and Fusion
- Kevin Merida, managing editor, The Washington Post
- David Nakamura, White House reporter, The Washington Post
- Sonya Ross, race and ethnicity editor, Associated Press
- Ken Strickland, Washington bureau chief, NBC News
- Kristen Welker, NBC News
“The story of Harry McAlpin is a very important one for the White House Correspondents' Association as we mark our centennial," said WHCA President Steve Thomma. "First, he was a remarkable man. And second, he succeeded in spite of an association that did everything it could to block black journalists from membership and the beat. We will salute him at our annual dinner as we create a scholarship dedicate to his memory. We hope the Harry S. McAlpin Scholarship will be an inspiration to young journalists, and it will acknowledge the history of our own association in barring blacks from membership and, for years, from presidential press conferences.”