Liz Walker is an American pastor and retired journalist. She was the first black woman to co-anchor a newscast in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, United States. She became the Pastor of the Roxbury Presbyterian Church in 2014.

Education

Elizabeth received her high school diploma from

Little Rock Central High School Little Rock Central High School (LRCHS) is an accredited comprehensive public high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. The school was the site of forced desegregation in 1957 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation by ...

class of 1969. She credited her education there as the foundation of her successes. Her Bachelor of Arts degree in communications was earned at

Olivet College Olivet College is a private Christian liberal arts college located in Olivet, Michigan. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It was founded in 1844 by missionaries from Oberlin College, and it followed Oberlin in becom ...

in Michigan. In 2005 she graduated from

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

with a master's degree focusing on religion and women's issues. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi and American Women in Radio and Television.

Career as journalist

Walker was the evening news anchor at

WBZ-TV WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WSBK-TV (ch ...

starting in 1981. Her career had begun in her hometown of

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

working as the public affairs director at station KATV. On-air assignments in Denver (

KMGH-TV KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-licensed translat ...

) and San Francisco (

KRON-TV KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV maintains studios on Front Street in the c ...

) followed before she moved to Boston and WBZ in 1980. In 1987, she was reportedly making $500,000 a year.Pregnant Tv Anchor Rapped
/ref> In that year her planned pregnancy was publicly announced. This caused some criticism as some local religious leaders felt that she was both unmarried and unashamed made her a poor role model for teenagers. After doing a story on the

Lost Boys of Sudan The Lost Boys of Sudan refers to a group of over 20,000 boys of the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1987–2005). Two million were killed and others were severely affected by th ...

, she began to re-evaluate her life. Ultimately, this led to her enrolling at the

in September 2001. In January 2002, she produced an independent documentary on Sudan entitled ''In the Lion's Mouth.''"

Pastor

Her church from 2014 Walker became the Pastor of the Roxbury Presbyterian Church in May 2014. She had served as "transitional leader" since 2011.

Awards and honors

Walker has been inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. She has won two Emmy Awards. In 2001, the Crittenton Women's Union gave her the Amelia Earhart Award. Her coverage of Sudan led to an Edward R. Murrow Award for a News Story by the Regional Television Radio News Director's Association in 2002.

Personal life

Walker has a son. She is originally from

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

and the daughter of a minister.

References

External links

WBZ Flashback: Liz Walker's First WBZ-TV Newscast
via cbslocal.com (video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Liz Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Journalists from Arkansas Olivet College alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni Television anchors from Boston American Presbyterian ministers People from Little Rock, Arkansas African-American women journalists African-American journalists News & Documentary Emmy Award winners 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women