Carolyn Craven (born Carolyn Marie White, December 28, 1944 – November 20, 2000) was an American journalist. She was known for her reporting for KQED-TV in San Francisco, and for speaking publicly about being the victim of a serial rapist.

Early life and education

Craven was born in Chicago in 1944, and grew up in the

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neighborhood. Her father,

William Sylvester White William Sylvester White, (July 27, 1914 – February 2, 2004) was a prosecutor, a member of the first cohort of African-Americans commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy, and the second African-American to serve as presiding judge for the Cook Co ...

, was one of the first African American commissioned as a Navy officer; he later became a

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judge. Her mother, George White, was a school teacher and Chicago library board member. Craven also had a twin sister, Sala. The family often discussed politics around the dinner table. They had many Jewish friends, and celebrated both Christian and Jewish holidays. According to her sister, Craven later converted to Judaism. Craven graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1962. She attended Goucher College in suburban

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for two years. She and her boyfriend (later husband) Eric Craven then left to work for the Students for a Democratic Society. She later graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in African and Afro-American Studies.

Career

In 1970, Craven spent a year writing for

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network news in New York. She also worked for the news department of

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in Los Angeles. She was an associate producer of ''The Panthers'', a documentary on the

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. Craven then began reporting for the San Francisco local news show ''Newsroom'' on the KQED public television station. She worked for KQED until 1977, when the station made changes to their news program and her job was eliminated. During her time on ''Newsroom'', one of the subjects Craven reported on was a serial rapist in

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, known as "Stinky" due to his foul body odor. He had committed at least 60 rapes since 1973. On January 13, 1978, the rapist attacked Craven in the home she shared with her six-year-old son, subduing, blindfolding, and assaulting her for over two hours. Realizing that the rapist must be "Stinky", she gathered as much information about him as she could by feeling his body and clothes with her hands and feet, in order to provide useful evidence to the police. Craven toured the country, telling her story and urging rape victims to come forward. One of the talk shows she appeared on was ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'', which aired a week-long series on rape.

Personal life and death

Craven married three times, to Eric Craven, Denny Smithson, and Ken McEldowney. She had a son, Gabriel, with Smithson. Craven had depression and

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in later life. On November 20, 2000, she died at Summit Hospital in Oakland, California at the age of 55.

Awards and recognition

Craven received the Candace Award for Journalism in 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, Carolyn 1944 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women journalists African-American women journalists African-American journalists Goucher College alumni Journalists from Chicago University of California, Berkeley alumni 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century African-American writers