Black History Month: Belva Davis

Belva Davis is an African American broadcast journalist. She was born October 13, 1932 in Monroe, Louisiana. She eventually moved to California, where she graduated from Berkeley High School in 1951. She was accepted into San Francisco State University but, unfortunately, her family did not have the money to send her there. Instead of attending university, she got a job at the Naval Supply Center in Oakland. The first paid writing job she had was for a magazine called Jet. She moved on to work in many newspapers. Some examples are Bay Area Independent and the San Francisco Sun-Reporter. She eventually shifted to a career in broadcasting and became the first black woman to work at KSAN where she read news clips on the air. She then got her own 2-hour show with music, political coverage, and studio interviews when she switched to the station, KDIA. She later became the first female African American T.V. reporter on the west coast after being employed to replace another television reporter on KPIX-TV. She eventually hosted and contributed to the creation of All Together Now before leaving to anchor A Closer Look and Evening Edition at KQED. After that, she worked as an anchor and urban affairs specialist at KRON-4 full-time until 1999 when she became a special projects reporter at the station.
Her work in the field of journalism has inspired many to do the same. Her fantastic career in journalism has won her numerous awards. For example, recognition from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, San Francisco State University, and the National Education Writers Association. She also received the Governor’s Award, the Northern California Chapter of National Academy of Television Arts, and Sciences’ Highest Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to news broadcasting Belva Davis was also a labor activist. She was vice president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. She also wrote a book called Never in My Wildest Dreams: A Black Woman’s Life in Journalism. For information on Belva Davis, click the link below!
https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/belva-davis-40