African American Broadcaster: Belva Davis
(Image courtesy of KQED.com)
Background
Belva Davis was the first African American female television broadcaster on the West Coast. She focused on bringing important black news stories to light.
Belva Davis grew up in Monroe, Louisiana and moved to California when she was 8 years old. But even with all the racial discrimination in her way, in 1961 she started on radio at KSAN, an AM radio station based in San Francisco, as an on air broadcaster then later moved to TV news at KPIX. She is best known for bringing the hidden stories of black power and other important news to light, when for many years they were being looked over by many white news stations and reporters. Some examples have been the Black Panthers and the Berkeley riots of the Free Speech Movement. Many people liked her, for example Bill Cosby was a fan because he said people react to her because "she is trustworthy".
(Belva Davis and Bill Cosby. Image courtesy of KQED.com)
Racism in News and Broadcasting
When looking for jobs in broadcasting Ms. Davis stated that there was clear racism in the field, she said stations would not hire black people because "their lips were too big to pronounce big words". She also talked about how black hair was a big problem in the business because many white viewers would complain that black women's hair looks unorganized and unprofessional when it was not straight and when it was straight they still complained. Around this time other black news reporters were trying to break through like Belva was trying to do. For example, Max Robinson became the first African-American anchor on a local television news program when he joined the team at Eyewitness News in 1969. So this time period was really important in the transition of adding diversity into the field.
(Belva Davis laughing while on set. Image courtesy of SFGate.com)
Accomplishments
- Davis won eight Emmy Awards from the San Francisco/ Northern California chapter
- She is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha
- She has received lifetime achievement awards from the American Women in Radio and Television and National Association of Black Journalists
(Belva Davis interviewing Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Image courtesy of KAZU.com)
Quote by Belva Davis
"Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so."- Belva Davis
Additional Information
10 Incredible Black Women First to Break Racial Barriers in Journalism
About Belva Davis, Former longtime host
(Page researched and written by Hannah Martin.)
