By Nava Atlas | On March 24, 2019 | Updated October 8, 2021 | Comments (0)
Dorothy Thompson (1893 – 1961) used her charm, wit, sense of adventure, and strong work ethic to create an incredibly illustrious career in journalism. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she studied politics and economics at Syracuse University.
After completing a college degree in 1914, a rarity for a woman in her time, she felt an obligation to contribute to the public good. Her cause of choice was the women’s women’s suffrage movement. After women won the right to vote in 1920, she moved to Europe to pursue journalism and became one of America’s first foreign correspondents.
In her heyday, she reported from across the European continent and at the same time enjoyed a fabulous social life. Her circle of friends included many writers and artists as well as some of the most notable journalists in the field. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On January 26, 2019 | Updated April 16, 2022 | Comments (0)
Dorothea Lange‘s influential photography has been collected and displayed in museums and institutions everywhere, yet few know the story of how Dorothea Nutzhorn became Dorothea Lange, social justice activist and pioneering photojournalist. In Elise Hooper’s much anticipated second novel, Learning to See, Dorothea Lange’s legacy is reimagined in a riveting new light.
In 1918, a fearless 22-year-old arrives in San Francisco with nothing but a friend, her camera, and determination to make her own way as an independent woman. In no time, Dorothea goes from camera shop assistant to celebrated owner of the city’s most prestigious and stylish portrait studio. Read More→
By Brooke Kroeger | On January 10, 2019 | Updated October 7, 2021 | Comments (0)
Excerpted from Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist by Brooke Kroeger, the most comprehensive biography to date on the pioneering investigative journalist, born Elizabeth Jane Cochran (she later spelled her name Cochrane) on May 5, 1864, in Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania:
Nellie Bly was one of the most rousing characters in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the 1880s she pioneered the development of “detective” or “stunt” journalism, the acknowledged forerunner of full-scale investigative reporting.
While she was still in her early twenties, the example of her fearless success helped open the profession to coming generations of women journalists clamoring to write hard news. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On October 30, 2018 | Updated November 11, 2024 | Comments (5)
Ruth Gruber (September 30, 1911 – November 17, 2016) led a life that was so incredible, it could have been a movie. And in fact, just some of the many courageous episodes in her 105-year life were made into films — one in the form of a dramatized biopic, the other a documentary.
Ruth’s multi-faceted career as a journalist and documentary photographer isn’t as well known as it should be, and like other women who were ahead of their time, she deserves to be revisited and celebrated.
The daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Ruth was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She was a brilliant student with a passion for Jewish culture, and always loved to write. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On October 3, 2018 | Updated August 16, 2023 | Comments (0)
Alice Allison Dunnigan (April 27, 1906 –May 6, 1983), better known as Alice Dunnigan, was the first African American female correspondent to receive White House credentials.
She was also the first black female member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives press galleries. She covered Harry Truman’s 1948 presidential campaign, another first for an African American female journalist.
A true trailblazer, Alice Dunnigan was known for her tough, forthright questions. Her gutsy approach led her from journalism into a position that spanned the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Read More→
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