Celebrating Tony Brown For Black History Month

Tony Brown, born in 1933 in Charleston W. VA, broke racial barriers as producer of Tony Brown’s Journal which aired in 1970 and ended in 2014 as one of the longest-running shows in public television history. His debut came at a time when black people were overwhelmingly stereotyped, misunderstood and misinterpreted in the media. He also wrote a syndicated column for 150 black newspapers. Brown discovered the Communications Act of 1964 offered all races access to television, but he had to sue to gain entry and blacks in Detroit also picketed to aid his launch. For decades Tony Brown’s Journal was the only national show that covered black oriented news. He was also the founding dean of the Howard University School of Communications that has graduated hundreds of media and public relations specialists. I was honored to teach at that school and appear on his television show. He recently retired as the former dean of the Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications. He was inducted into The National Association of Black Journalists’ Hall of Fame in 2016.

Read more about Tony Brown in our exclusive interview, only available in my book, And Still We Rise.