Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Charlayne Hunter-Gault recently left her post as CNN's Johannesburg bureau chief and correspondent, which she had held since 1999, to pursue independent projects. Before joining CNN, she worked from Johannesburg as the chief correspondent in Africa for NPR from 1997 to 1999.
Hunter-Gault was the chief national correspondent for The Newshour with Jim Lehrer on PBS from 1983 to 1997. She had joined the MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1978 as a correspondent. In 1989, she was also the correspondent for MacNeil/Lehrer Productions' five-part series, "Learning in America." During her tenure at The NewsHour, she won two Emmys and a Peabody for excellence in broadcast journalism for her work on the series "Apartheid's People." She has also received the 1986 Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.
After winning a Russell Sage Fellowship to Washington University, Hunter-Gault edited for Trans-Action Magazine. In 1963 she became a reporter at The New Yorker, where she wrote for the "Talk of the Town" section.She went on to work as an investigative reporter and anchorwoman on the local evening news for WRC-TV from 1967 to 1968. She then joined the New York Times as a metropolitan reporter specializing in coverage of the urban African-American community. She won several awards during her ten years there, including the National Urban Coalition Award for Distinguished Urban Reporting and The New York Times ' Publisher's Award. She has also been published in The New York Times Magazine, Saturday Review, The New York Times Book Review, Essence, and Vogue.
Hunter-Gault was born in Due West, S.C., and made civil rights history as the first African-American woman to enter the University of Georgia, where she received a B.A. in journalism in 1962. She also attended Wayne State University. Her book In My Place, a memoir about her experiences at the University of Georgia, was published in 1992. She is the recipient of more than two-dozen honorary degrees.
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Michelle Obama's trip to South Africa hasn't been met without controversy as she meets with impoverished third world families. But, says Charlayne Hunter-Gault of The Root, the first lady brings much needed attention to forgotten areas. -
In October, photographer Joao Silva lost both of his legs in a catastrophic landmine explosion. An auction of his photographs was recently organized in South Africa to defray the cost of medical bills.
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The controversial leader of South Africa's African National Congress will likely become the country's next president. A polygamist who has faced rape and corruption charges, Jacob Zuma is also a populist who has widespread respect for his role in winning black rule for South Africa.
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In a significant policy change, the U.S. has concluded there can be no power-sharing government as long as Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is in power. A State Department official spent days meeting with regional leaders in an attempt to get them to get tougher on the 84-year-old leader.
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South Africa's top prosecutor says he has enough evidence for corruption charges against new African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, which could derail his election as the country's next president. Zuma beat President Thabo Mbeki in a bitter ANC leadership contest Tuesday.
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South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, chooses Jacob Zuma as its new leader, rejecting South African President Thabo Mbeki. That puts Zuma, a controversial politician, in a position to become or select the country's next president when Mbeki's term ends in 2009.
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South Africa's ruling African National Congress began voting in a leadership election. It's expected to be won by Jacob Zuma and that would put him on track to become the country's president in 2009. A Zuma win would block President Thabo Mbeki from a third term as ANC leader.
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Next week, the African National Congress will choose its next leader. An intense rift between the candidates — South African President Thabo Mbeki and his one-time deputy Jacob Zuma — is causing many to question the party's future.
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At least 10 African Union soldiers were killed in Darfur over the weekend when about 1,000 rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army, the largest rebel group in Darfur, attacked the peacekeepers' base outside the town of Haskanita.
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One out of every six children in Africa dies before the age of five. For African women, the chance of dying in childbirth is three times higher than in industrialized nations. Training caregivers and educating expectant mothers are among the solutions being tried to reverse those trends.
