Elsa Knight Thompson, née Elsie Eloise Knight (April 6, 1906 – February 12, 1983), was an American

radio documentary A radio documentary is a spoken word radio format devoted to non-fiction narrative. It is broadcast on radio as well as distributed through media such as tape, CD, and podcast. A radio documentary, or feature, covers a topic in depth from one or ...

maker and broadcaster. Knight Thompson was Public Affairs Director at Pacifica Radio's KPFA in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, from 1957 to the early 1970s. She later worked as KPFA's Program Director. Her documentary programs and interviews won numerous broadcasting awards. She was a pathfinder for women in broadcasting and a leading figure in the history of Pacifica Radio and KPFA. Her style of radio influenced generations of public broadcasters. While at KPFA, Thompson produced programs on civil rights issues, the rise of the Black Panther Party and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, as well as her 1960 documentary on the House Un-American Activities Committee called ''Black Friday''. She worked for the

Pacific News Service Pacific News Service (PNS) was an American nonprofit alternative news media organization. PNS ceased operations in 2017. The organization was located in Berkeley, California. History PNS was founded in 1969 by historian and sociologist Fr ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

from 1975 to 1979. She was born in

Bonners Ferry Bonners Ferry (Kutenai language: ʔaq̓anqmi) is the largest city and the county seat of Boundary County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,543 at the 2010 census. History When gold was discovered in the East Kootenays of British ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

, to Murel Bolden and Earl Knight. At the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

in London during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, she headed the international desk of the program '' Radio Newsreel''. Thompson was one of the first journalists to interview survivors of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

concentration camps. She died at the age of 76 in Oakland, California.

Famous quotations

"The truth is always left of center!"

External links

New York Times obituary

Guide to the Elsa Knight Thompson Papers
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

References

20th-century American journalists American radio journalists American women radio journalists Pacifica Foundation people Journalists from the San Francisco Bay Area People from Oakland, California People from Bonners Ferry, Idaho 1906 births 1983 deaths 20th-century American women {{US-radio-bio-stub