Breaking Through and Defying The Odds

 

    "Nigger go home" read the note that was left on the young black intern's desk when she was still an intern at The Boston Herald. For some entering the industry, this may be enough to deter them from wanting to continue, but not for Gwen Ifill. In fact, because she didn't let that note bother her she was hired by The Herald shortly after graduating from Simmons College. From there, her career blossomed and she definitely broke through the journalism and TV broadcasting scene.

    Ifill was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York City to immigrant parents, one of whom was an A.M.E. pastor. Her father's pastoring took the family up and down New England, with little to no money. Throughout her childhood, Ifill and her family lived in the houses of her father's church members as well as through assistance from the government. This did not hinder her education one bit, as she graduated from high school and then college, on time. After her time at The Herald, she went on to write for The Baltimore Evening Sun, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and then landed her first TV job with NBC. Five years later she moved to PBS where she became the first black woman to host a national political talk show, Washington Week. This was not her introduction to politics as she had covered the White House for The New York Times before appearing on TV. 

    Her face and voice were notable beyond her own show, as she made many appearances on political roundtable shows and quickly rose to prominence becoming a senior correspondent for PBS NewsHour. She would later become co-host of NewsHour. But that wasn't the pinnacle of her career. In 2004 and 2008 she moderated the vice-presidential debates. Before the 2008 debate, she received heavy criticism from conservatives who thought she would be biased because of her book that was to be released, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Her response was similar to how she reacted to the racist note that was left on her desk as an intern, simply unphased:

"I've got a pretty long track record covering politics and news, so I'm not particularly worried that one-day blog chatter is going to destroy my reputation. The proof is in the pudding. They can watch the debate tomorrow night and make their own decisions about whether or not I've done my job."

    Her performance in that debate received high marks, especially regarding her effort in remaining objective.

Some of her accolades include the Women in Film and Video Women of Vision Award, a Peabody, the fourth estate award from the National Press Club, and being an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She also has been inducted into the hall of fames of the Washington, DC Journalism Hall of Fame and the National Association of Black Journalists. She also has a college named after her at her alma mater, Simmons College and a U.S. postage stamp created to commemorate her.

Although she was taken from us early, her legacy lives on. As an aspiring broadcaster, I see myself following the same path that she did in that she didn't let the odds defy her, but rather she defied them. Trying to break through as a black woman in a white male-dominated industry can be a job in itself, and she was able to do both. Today a black woman, Yamiche Alcindor, hosts the show Ifill once did filling the seat that was left well prepared for her. A trailblazer in her own right, Gwen Ifill was a one-of-a-kind woman that helped set the precedent for breaking the glass ceiling.