History of the Race Beat

Guest: E.R. Shipp, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, Professor of Journalism, Morgan State University, Columnist, The Baltimore Sun Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. On Thursday afternoon, we’ll dive deeply into the Civil Rights leader’s legacy with the author of a King biography that won the Pulitzer Prize.  Right now, let’s get the perspective of another Pulitzer Prize winner – columnist E.R. Shipp – on how media coverage of race issues has evolved in the 50 years since King’s assassination and the release of something called the Kerner Report two months previously. Shipp was the first black woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. As a columnist for the New York Daily News, the Pulitzer committee commended her for “penetrating columns on race, welfare and other social issues."