Celebrate the life and legacy of Mal Goode, a fierce local advocate for Pittsburgh’s Black community. He challenged the police, politicians, and segregation, while providing Black listeners a radio voice that captured their experience before Jackie Robinson dared ABC leadership to give him a chance on TV. Goode was uncompromising in his belief that network news needed Black voices and perspectives if it were to authentically reflect the nation’s complexities and speak to all Americans. His success at ABC initiated the slow integration of network news. Goode’s life and work were remarkable, and his struggles and achievements speak to larger issues of American life and the African American experience.
Dr. Wayne Dawkins, professor of multimedia journalism at Morgan State University, Professor Joe Trotter of Carnegie Mellon University and Brian Cook, Multimedia Journalist will speak. Grandchildren Randy Wilburn and Christee Goode Laster will add their reflections. Pitt history professors Liann Tsoukas and Rob Ruck, whose biography, Mal Goode Reporting: The Life and Work of a Black Broadcast Trailblazer, was recently published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, will contribute remarks.