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Creator
Payne, Ethel L.
Call number
Sc MG 353
Physical description
22.98 linear feet (59 boxes, 2 oversize folders)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
[Item], Ethel Payne papers, Sc MG 353, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Ethel Payne (1911-1991) was an award-winning journalist and syndicated columnist with extensive national and international reporting experience. The Ethel Payne papers mostly consist of materials related to her time as a reporter (both domestic and international); work with various organizations (such as Africare); participation in conferences and symposia; teaching appointments; and interest in civil rights issues, both domestic and international.

Biographical/historical information

Ethel Payne (1911-1991) was an award-winning journalist and syndicated columnist with extensive national and international reporting experience. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, in August 1911, and attended Crane Junior College, the Garret Institute, and Northwestern University (all in the Chicago area). She spent three years with the Army Special Services in Tokyo, Japan, and returned to the United States in 1951. She soon joined the staff of the Chicago Defender as a feature writer and won numerous awards for her work, which led to her assignment in Washington, D. C., as the White House correspondent. She became known for angering President Dwight Eisenhower when she asked him a question about ending segregation in interstate travel. After this encounter and her reportage on Southern desegregation battlegrounds, she was one of the civil rights movement's most visible reporters of issues and topics related to African Americans. Eventually, she would earn the moniker, "first lady of the Black press". Payne also wrote a weekly syndicated column that appeared in various Black newspapers across the country.

Payne's international coverage began in 1955 with the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Indonesia. She covered the civil war in Nigeria, the Vietnam War, and went to China with one of the first groups of American journalists to visit since Nixon's trip in 1972. Payne accompanied various heads of state, including Secretaries of State William Rogers and Henry Kissinger, in 1970 and 1976 respectively, on multinational tours of Africa. Throughout her career, she traveled to thirty countries and interviewed heads of state on six continents, including Chou En-lai, Haile Selassie, Idi Amin, and Winnie Mandela. Additional assignments included the World Council of Churches meeting in Sweden, World Peace Assemblies in Prague and Vienna, and meetings of the UN Decade for Women (1975-1985). Payne was also employed by the AFL-CIO, Democratic National Committee, and CBS News. At CBS, she became the first African American female radio and television commentator on a national network when she was hired as a correspondent for the radio program Spectrum. In the 1970s, she was a visiting professor of journalism at Fisk University and Jackson State University. In 1978, she received a Ford Foundation fellowship in educational journalism with which she wrote Roots, Rewards, and Renewal, a monograph on the study of Black colleges in the U. S. Additionally, she was active in various civil rights and international organizations such as Africare, NAACP, the Capitol Press Club (the nation's oldest Black journalist group), and Delta Sigma Theta, among many others. She won numerous awards including a 1988 Candace Award and induction into the D. C. Commission for Women Hall of Fame, also in 1988; in 2002, she was one of four female journalists honored with a U.S. postage stamp likeness. Payne died in 1991.

Scope and arrangement

The Ethel Payne papers mostly consist of materials related to her time as a reporter (both domestic and international); work with various organizations (such as Africare); participation in conferences and symposia; teaching appointments; and interest in civil rights issues, both domestic and international. There is a limited amount of personal information, but these papers does include correspondence with family members and information on various awards and honors received. The Correspondence series contains both personal and professional correspondence, the former mostly with friends and colleagues, and the latter with publishers, organizations seeking conference participation or lectures, and subjects of Payne's writing. One of the largest series, Writing, is comprised of Payne's notes, background and research material, drafts, and final publications of her articles, weekly columns, radio scripts, speeches, and lectures. Also included in this series are unpublished works and works by other authors. The Professional series, also substantial, contains printed matter and notes on Payne's various special assignments (such as her coverage of Henry Kissinger's trip to Africa and the Democratic National Conventions) for different publications; additionally, there is printed matter, notes, and correspondence with the various organizations and institutions on whose boards, committees, and/or juries Payne sat. This series also includes materials related to Payne's consultancies, participation in various conferences and symposia, and teaching career (the majority of which was at Fisk University). Most of the these materials consist of correspondence, conference or symposia programs, and other printed matter, such as clippings and program announcements. Lastly, this series contains printed matter on Payne herself. The final series, Subject files, consists of printed matter on various countries, individuals, organizations, and topics; most of the material was used as research and background material for Payne's writing.

The Ethel Payne papers are arranged in five series:

  • Personal
    1938-1991

    This series includes biographical information on Ethel Payne. The material includes biographies and resumes, family correspondence, financial records, Payne's memorial service program, and awards and honors. The bulk of the family correspondence is with her sister, Thelma Gray, and her various nieces and nephews. Additionally, there are letters written to another sister, Alma Josephine (Jo), from their brother, Lemuel; their mother; and Payne when she was stationed in Japan. This material also includes family trees and genealogical research, mostly compiled by Thelma, and mailing lists and correspondence for a reunion of Payne's friends and colleagues with whom she served in Japan. Finally, the series contains correspondence, award programs, and certificates related to Payne's awards and honors.

  • Correspondence
    1967-1988

    This series consists of personal and professional correspondence. The personal correspondence mostly contains letters from friends and colleagues; although Payne worked with many of the individuals in the latter group (such as Marjorie Parham), she developed personal relationships with them as well, so their correspondence is included here. Much of the professional correspondence is with publishers, such as Afro-American Newspapers, Dollars and Sense, and Sengstacke Newspapers; and organizations, such as the National Black Media Coalition and National Urban League. Notable correspondents include Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Ethel Kennedy, Coretta Scott King, Henry Kissinger, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, and Adlai Stevenson. The professional correspondence also includes a substantial amount of Spectrum listeners' mail, both positive and negative.

  • Writing
    1935-1993

    This series contains Payne's writing in all of its iterations, including handwritten notes, interview questions, various drafts, and final publications. The majority of this series consists of Payne's writing (articles and weekly columns) for Black newspapers, notably those owned by Sengstacke Publishers, which included the Chicago Defender, Michigan Chronicle, Tri-State Defender, and the Pittsburgh Courier (later, the New Pittsburgh Courier), and various regional editions of the Afro-American. In some cases, background material, such as clippings by other journalists and other printed matter (books, articles, press releases, reports, and brochures), is included with the drafts. Also included in this series are magazine articles and Payne's radio scripts for Spectrum and A Matter of Opinion, another CBS show, in Chicago, for which she provided commentary. Additionally, this series includes Payne's speeches and lectures, delivered at various conferences, symposia, and events, and other writing, such as reports for organizations including Africare and National Minority Advisory Council on Criminal Justice. Unpublished material in this series includes drafts, correspondence, and background material for various articles, columns, and speeches that do not appear to have been published. The last section of this series consists of writing by other authors, such as academic papers, books, articles, and reports, not all of which was published.

  • Professional
    1949-1988

    This series consists of material related to Payne's professional career as a journalist, as well as her participation on various boards and committees, consultancies, participation in different conferences and symposia, and teaching. This material includes correspondence, printed matter (reports, newsletters, press releases, conference programs, event announcements, and clippings), Payne's notes, and in some cases, Payne's writing. The last subseries, Printed matter, includes clippings and articles on Payne herself.

  • Subject files
    1941-1990

    Mostly includes published printed matter (clippings, books, articles, brochures, and press releases, among others) on various geographical locations, individuals, organizations, and topics. Most likely, these materials were used by Payne as research for her writing.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Ethel Payne, 1988.

Processing information

Processed by Lauren Stark, September-November 2021.

Separated material

Transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division: artifacts.

Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio and moving image materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.

Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs.

Related Material

Ethel L. Payne papers, MSS81191, Library of Congress

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor

Access restrictions

Some personnel records closed until 50 years after most recent date in each individual file. Records with personal identifiable information have been redacted.