Graduates of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications whose professional accomplishments earned them a place in its Hall of Fame! The award was established in 1970, and only 161 of the college's 35,000 graduates have earned it.
I was a 2020 recipient of the award, but because the pandemic forced the postponement of the ceremony last year, I was officially honored this year.
Not bad for a Black girl from Jacksonville, Fla., who began her school years in a segregated elementary school, graduated from Florida's flagship university and one of the nation's top journalism schools and became the first local Black opinion columnist and editorial board member of The Florida Times-Union.
How ironic that I am now bringing my voice and passion for pointing out injustice and inequality to the city where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. That was my last year at my segregated elementary school, and a time which resonated with hope and despair.
Like now.
