Renee Poussaint
{{Short description|American broadcast journalist (1944–2022)}}
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| name = Renee Francine Poussaint
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| birth_place = New York City
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| death_place = Washington D.C.
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Renee Poussaint (August 12, 1944 – March 4, 2022) was an Emmy Award-winning American broadcast journalist and educator known for reporting and advocacy related to Black history.
Early life and education
Poussaint was born on August 12, 1944, in Manhattan and grew up in Spanish Harlem. Following her parents divorce, she was raised primarily by her mother and family who emphasized the importance of education. Her uncle, Alvin Francis Poussaint, is a psychiatrist who consulted on The Cosby Show. Poussaint graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1964 with a B.A. in English literature and completed an M.A. in African studies at UCLA in 1970.{{cite web |title=Renee Poussaint's Biography |url=https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/renee-poussaint |website=The HistoryMakers |access-date=24 February 2023 |language=en}} During her undergraduate studies she also took courses at Yale Law School and Sorbonne University in Paris, France.{{cite book |last1=Riley |first1=Sam G. |title=African Americans in the media today : an encyclopedia |date=2007 |publisher=Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-33679-9 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/africanamericans0002rile/page/364/mode/2up?q=%22Renee+Poussaint%22 |access-date=24 February 2023 |chapter=Poussaint, Renee Francine (12 August 1944 - )}}
She began doctoral studies in comparative literature at the Indiana University before changing course after students expressed that they got most of their information from television. She enrolled in a journalism program at Columbia University in 1973 and was hired as a news writer in by WBBM-TV the same year.
Career
In 1967, after completing her undergraduate studies, Poussaint danced with the Jean Leon Destine Haitian Dance Company. She edited the Los Angeles Based African Arts Magazine from 1969 to 1973 and worked as a translator at the University of California in 1970.
Poussaint's broadcast career started in 1973 in Chicago.{{cite news |last1=Shokraei |first1=Carrie |title=Former DC news anchor Renee Poussaint dies at 77 |url=https://wtop.com/dc/2022/03/former-news-anchor-renee-poussaint-dies-at-77/ |access-date=24 February 2023 |work=WTOP News |date=9 March 2022 |language=en}} She began working as a Washington correspondent for CBS News in the mid-1970s and was hired in 1978 by WJLA-TV as an evening and late-night news co-anchor.{{cite news |last1=Dalphonse |first1=Sherri |title=You Must Remember…the Women Anchors Who Changed Local TV |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/10/12/washington-dc-legends-women-anchors-maureen-bunyan-renee-poussaint/ |access-date=24 February 2023 |work=Washingtonian |date=12 October 2015}} In the mid-1970s she worked at WBBM-TV, hosting the lunch hour program Channel 2: The People. Poussaint would go on to work for ABC News, often sitting in for Peter Jennings on World News Tonight and appearing as a correspondent for PrimeTime Live and in news segments on Good Morning America.
In 2001 Poussaint founded the National Visionary Leadership Project in 2001 with Camille Cosby.{{cite news |title=Renee Poussaint, award-winning journalist who worked for CBS 2 in the 1970s, dies |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/renee-poussaint-former-cbs-2-reporter-dies/ |access-date=24 February 2023 |work=www.cbsnews.com |date=9 March 2022}} Funded by Camille and husband Bill Cosby, the oral history project interviewed Black elders 70 years of age and older. Included among the interviewees were Maya Angelou, Roscoe Lee Browne, Shirley Chisholm, and Katherine Dunham. Some of the interviews compiled by the organization were featured in the book A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak, which was co-edited by Poussaint and Camille Cosby.
Poussaint was also the founder of her own non-profit documentary company, Wisdom Works, which produced Tutu and Franklin: A Journey Towards Peace which examined racial reconciliation with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and American historian John Hope Franklin.
Later in life Poussaint taught at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
Awards
Poussaint won three Emmy Awards over the course of her career. She was recognized for reporting about Haitian migrant workers at a labor camp on Maryland's Eastern Shore, an account of the return of the American hostages from Iran, and a profile about Washington Commanders owner Jack Kent Cooke.
Death
Poussaint died of lung cancer on March 4, 2022, at her home in D.C.{{cite news |last1=Estrada |first1=Louie |title=Renee Poussaint, award-winning newscaster, dies at 77 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/03/09/renee-poussaint-tv-news-dies/ |access-date=24 February 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post}}{{cite news |last1=Starling |first1=Alison |last2=Ford |first2=Sam |title=Renee Poussaint, former 7News anchor and journalist, passes away at age 77 |url=https://wjla.com/news/local/renee-poussaint-former-7news-wjla-anchor-dc-journalist-passes-away-77-on-your-side-abc-washington-wjla |access-date=24 February 2023 |work=WJLA |date=8 March 2022 |language=en}} A service in her honor was held at the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ.{{cite web |title=Renee Poussaint Obituary (2022) - Washington, DC - The Washington Post |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/renee-poussaint-obituary?id=33636624 |website=Legacy.com |access-date=24 February 2023}}
Publications
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Cosby |editor1-first=Camille O. |editor2-last=Poussaint |editor2-first=Renee |title=A wealth of wisdom : legendary African-American elders speak |date=2007 |publisher=Washington Square |location=New York |isbn=9780743482295 |edition=1st Washington Square Press trade pbk.}}
References
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Category:African-American journalists
Category:American women television journalists
Category:American television reporters and correspondents
Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni