Michele E. Clark (June 2, 1943 — December 8, 1972) was an American journalist. She was the first African-American woman to be a television correspondent for
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
.
[ As a correspondent at ]WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...
she covered the 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries
From January 24 to June 20, 1972, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1972 United States presidential election. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota was selected as the nominee through a series of primary ele ...
. Clark died in a plane crash in 1972, at the age of 29, while investigating the Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
. Her death has been widely described as cutting short a promising career. Michele Clark Magnet High School
Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School (commonly known as Clark Prep, Clark Academic Prep and Michele Clark Magnet High School) is a public 4–year magnet high school located in the Austin neighborhood on the west side of Chicago, Illinois ...
in Chicago is named after her.
Early life and education
Clark was born in Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the ...
on June 2, 1943.[ Her parents were Harvey Clark, Jr. and Johnetta Clark.][ They met while attending ]Fisk University
Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...
, and her father served in World War II and worked as a bus driver and the manager of an appliance store. Clark had a younger brother, also named Harvey Clark, who became a reporter at WCAU
WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jerse ...
.[ The family's decision to move into an all-white neighborhood of ]Cicero, Illinois
Cicero (originally known as Hawthorne) is a suburb of Chicago and an Incorporated town#Illinois, incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was ...
sparked the Cicero race riot of 1951, of which they were the victims.
Clark attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab or Lab Schools and abbreviated as UCLS though the high school is nicknamed U-High) is a Private school, private, co-educational Day school, day Early childhood education, Pre-K and K†...
, followed by Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College.
Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-st ...
and Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The unive ...
.[ She graduated from the ]Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
in 1972.[ In 1970 she graduated from the Summer Program in Journalism for Members of Minority Groups there, and that program was subsequently renamed the Michele Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists.] Before the start of her career as a reporter, Clark worked at United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. , and as a model.[
]
Career
Clark began her journalism career at WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...
, a CBS station in Chicago.[ She became a CBS News correspondent][ at a time when few women and few African Americans worked as network correspondents, and was hired at around the same time as three other women: ]Connie Chung
Constance Yu-Hwa Chung (born August 20, 1946) is an American journalist. She has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow ...
, Lesley Stahl
Lesley Rene Stahl (born December 16, 1941) is an American television journalist. She has spent most of her career with CBS News, where she began as a producer in 1971. Since 1991, she has reported for CBS's ''60 Minutes''. She is known for her ne ...
, and Sylvia Chase
Sylvia Belle Chase (February 23, 1938 – January 3, 2019) was an American broadcast journalist. She was a correspondent for ABC's '' 20/20'' from its inception until 1985, when she left to become a news anchor at KRON-TV in San Francisco; in 19 ...
. Clark was the first black woman network reporter for CBS Television
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
.
Even though she was a new reporter, Clark was assigned to cover the 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries
From January 24 to June 20, 1972, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1972 United States presidential election. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota was selected as the nominee through a series of primary ele ...
for CBS.[ This has been described as her "most prominent assignment".] She was slated to become a correspondent on ''60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' in 1973.[
]
Death
Clark died on December 8, 1972, at the age of 29, in the crash of United Air Lines Flight 553
United Air Lines Flight 553 was a scheduled flight from Washington National Airport to Omaha, Nebraska, via Chicago Midway International Airport. On December 8, 1972, the Boeing 737-222 serving the flight, ''City of Lincoln'', registration c ...
at Midway Airport
Chicago Midway International Airport , typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the Lo ...
.[ At the time of her death, Clark was working on reporting related to the ]Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
, which was still being covered up. This has led to speculation that, if Clark had not died, she might have broken news of the Watergate scandal. Clark's presence on the flight became a feature in conspiracy theories regarding the crash of Flight 553, suggesting that the crash was related to a cover-up of Watergate.
Recognition
Clark has been identified as a "star" journalist who died at the start of a promising career.[ ]Bill Kurtis
Bill Kurtis (born William Horton Kuretich; September 21, 1940), is an American television journalist, television producer, narrator, and news anchor.
Kurtis was studying to become a lawyer in the 1960s, when he was asked to fill in on a tempora ...
recalled that at Clark's funeral, CBS executive Richard S. Salant
Richard Samuel Salant (April 14, 1914 – February 16, 1993) was a CBS executive from 1952 and president of the CBS News division from 1961 to 1964 and 1966–79. He was noted for the introduction of '' 60 Minutes'' and the ''CBS Morning News' ...
said that Clark's death was "as if Ed Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe f ...
had died at a young age".[
Clark is the namesake of Michele Clark Magnet High School, a high school in Chicago, Illinois.] The school was originally called Austin High School when it opened in 1972, but was renamed in honor of Clark in 1974.[
After Clark's death, the summer program that she attended at ]Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
was renamed the Michele Clark Fellowship Program for Minority Journalists, partly in recognition of efforts she had made to keep the program running when it had run low on funds.[
Clark is also the namesake for the first fellowship of the ]Radio Television Digital News Association
The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...
, the Michele Clark Fellowship. She has continued to be memorialized on CBS television.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Michele
1943 births
1972 deaths
People from Gary, Indiana
20th-century American journalists
African-American journalists
American women journalists
African-American women journalists
Journalists from Indiana
American political journalists
American television reporters and correspondents
American women television journalists
CBS News people
Grinnell College alumni
Roosevelt University alumni
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1972
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States