Robin N. Hamilton

Robin Nicole Hamilton is an American journalist, writer, television host, and principal at "ARoundRobin Production Company". She has worked as a broadcast journalist in Florida, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. She directed the 2015 documentary short film This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Hamer.

Education

A native of Columbia, Maryland,Jones, Vanessa E. [http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2005/12/15/tressed_for_success/?page=full "Tressed for Success: Black Women Speak Volumes with Their Hair"],The Boston Globe, December 15, 2005, page D1. Hamilton attended Duke University, earning her undergraduate degree in English. She wrote her thesis on desegregation in Durham. She obtained a master's degree in broadcast journalism from New York University. She also earned a master's degree in public administration with a focus in policy and media from the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.{{cite web|title=Many Paths to Freedom: Looking Back, Looking Ahead at the Long Civil Rights Movement|url=https://www.loc.gov/folklife/civilrights/events/bios.html|publisher=The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress|accessdate=28 July 2015}}[http://baystatebanner.com/news/2011/aug/23/robin-hamilton/ "Robin Hamilton"], Bay State Banner (Boston, Massachusetts), August 23, 2011.{{cite web|title=This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer - Documentary Screening and Conversation with Filmmaker Robin Hamilton & NPR Host Michel Martin|url=http://hillcenterdc.org/home/programs/2404|publisher=Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital|accessdate=28 July 2015|archive-date=10 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910100858/http://hillcenterdc.org/home/programs/2404|url-status=dead}}

Television and film

Hamilton's first on-air reporting duties were as a television reporter in Florida. After a stint in New York, Hamilton became a reporter for WBZ-TV in Boston, Massachusetts in March 2001.{{cite news|title=New for WBZ|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8635414.html|work=The Boston Globe|date=March 23, 2001|url-access=subscription }}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} After four years, Hamilton was promoted to become the host of the UPN38 Morning Show on UPN38 (WSBK-TV) in Boston, a sister-station of WBZ-TV. The UPN38 Morning Show was modeled as a local version of The Today (U.S. TV program) Show, interspersing news, weather, and traffic with features on fashion, parenting, gardening, and party planning.{{cite news|last1=Ryan|first1=Suzanne C.|title=UPN38 Plans Chatty A.M. News|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/04/02/upn38_plans_chatty_am_news/|accessdate=1 August 2015|publisher=The Boston Globe|date=April 2, 2005}}{{cite news|title=Features, not news, will drive UPN38's show|url=http://article.wn.com/view-travelagents/2005/04/01/Features_not_news_will_drive_UPN38s_show/|accessdate=1 August 2015|publisher=Boston Herald|date=April 1, 2005}}Radsken, Jill. "Networking: TV Anchor Visits Favorite Haunts on Hunt for New On-Air Winners",Boston Herald, June 9, 2005, page 52. Hamilton then moved back to Washington, D.C., where she currently works at Tribune-owned CW-affiliate DCW50 TV (WDCW), as a correspondent for the newsmagazine program NewsPlus. She has also hosted DCW50's Living Black History series for the past six years.{{cite web|title=Living Black History 2015|url=http://dcw50.com/living-black-history/|publisher=WDCW|accessdate=28 July 2015}} Hamilton has also made an appearance in the 2012 feature film comedy Ted as a news anchor.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1637725/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm "Full Cast & Crew for Ted (2012)"], Internet Movie Database. accessed July 26, 2015. She also serves as principal of ARoundRobin Production Company, a video production company.{{cite web|title=Executive Team|url=http://aroundrobinproduction.com/sample-page/executive-team/|publisher=ARoundRobin Production Company|accessdate=28 July 2015|archive-date=14 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814055328/http://aroundrobinproduction.com/sample-page/executive-team/|url-status=dead}}

In 2015, Hamilton wrote, produced and directed the film This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Hamer,Smith, Jada F. [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/18/movies/stirring-others-to-action-with-civil-rights-films.html "Stirring Others to Action With Civil Rights Films"], The New York Times, July 17, 2015.Davis, Marcia. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/march-on-washington-film-festival-mines-history-has-eye-on-the-future/2015/07/17/bee991d6-2c90-11e5-a5ea-cf74396e59ec_story.html "March on Washington Film Festival mines history, has eye on the future"], The Washington Post, July 17, 2015.Berry, Deborah Barfield. [http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/07/16/fannie-lou-hamers-work-honored-washington-event/30268753/ "Fannie Lou Hamer’s work honored at Washington event"], The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi), July 16, 2015.Croom, Kia. [http://washingtoninformer.com/news/2015/jul/22/film-festival-showcases-civil-rights-struggles/ "Film Festival Showcases Civil Rights Struggles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811031518/http://washingtoninformer.com/news/2015/jul/22/film-festival-showcases-civil-rights-struggles/ |date=2015-08-11 }}, The Washington Informer, July 22, 2015.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4421746/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm "Full Cast & Crew for This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Hamer (2015)"], Internet Movie Database. accessed July 26, 2015. a documentary film about the Mississippi civil rights sharecropper who fought for voting rights. Fannie Lou Hamer is most known for her famous testimony during the Democratic National Convention credential committee hearing in 1964, describing brutality blacks faced living in the Jim Crow South. This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Hamer was the opening film for the March on Washington Film Festival on July 15, 2015, and will also screen at the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival{{cite web|title=This Little Light of Mine|url=http://www.mvaaff.com/events/event/film-screenings-2/|publisher=MVAAFF|accessdate=28 July 2015}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and the NYC Independent Film Festival.{{cite web|title=Home|url=http://fannielou.com/|publisher=Robin N. Hamilton|accessdate=28 July 2015}} Additionally, the film screened at the Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C., on August 5, 2015, as part of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center's civil rights program series, "Many Paths to Freedom: Looking Back, Looking Ahead at the Long Civil Rights Movement". Following the screening, Hamilton will be interviewed by NPR host Michel Martin.

To promote This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Hamer, Hamilton was a guest on the July 19, 2015, episode of Spirit of Jazz on WPFW.{{cite news|last1=Alias|first1=Lona|title=Spirit of Jazz|url=http://www.wpfwfm.org/radio/programming/archived-shows|accessdate=29 July 2015|publisher=WPFW|date=19 July 2015|location=2:09}} Additionally, All Digitocracy wrote a feature story on Hamilton and the film{{cite web|last1=Hill|first1=Glynn|title=Film Festival Showcases Pioneering Civil Rights Heroine|url=http://alldigitocracy.org/film-festival-showcases-pioneering-civil-rights-heroine-2/|website=All Digitocracy|accessdate=29 July 2015|archive-date=1 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150801221703/http://alldigitocracy.org/film-festival-showcases-pioneering-civil-rights-heroine-2/|url-status=dead}} and on August 4, 2015, Hamilton was a guest on the Kojo Nnamdi Show.{{cite web|title=Fannie Lou Hamer and the Fight for Voting Rights|url=https://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2015-08-04/fannie-lou-hamer-voting-rights-act|website=The Kojo Nnamdi Show|publisher=WAMU 88.5|accessdate=4 August 2015}}

Awards

Hamilton has won and been nominated for several awards for her work on the DCW50 TV (WDCW) Living Black History series. On June 15, 2013, Hamilton won a regional Emmy Award for The Dream Began Here,[http://www.capitalemmys.tv/sites/default/files/2012_Emmy_Recipients.pdf 2012 Emmy Award Recipients] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305043947/http://www.capitalemmys.tv/sites/default/files/2012_Emmy_Recipients.pdf |date=2016-03-05 }}, National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Accessed July 26, 2015 a historical documentary which explores the evolving roles that African Americans have had in Washington, D.C. In 2012, she won a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media for her work on Hattie's Lost Legacy,[http://thegracies.org/gracies/past-award-winners/2012-gracie-awards-winners 2012 Gracie Awards Winners] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417094040/http://thegracies.org/gracies/past-award-winners/2012-gracie-awards-winners |date=2015-04-17 }}, Alliance for Women in Media Gracie Awards, Accessed July 26, 2015. which traces the career of the first African American Academy Awards winner Hattie McDaniel and the mystery of her lost Oscar statuette."Disappearance of McDaniel's Historic Oscar Explored in 'Hattie's Lost Legacy'", Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2011. Hattie's Lost Legacy was also nominated for a 2011 regional Emmy Award for historical documentary.{{cite web|title=2011 Emmy Award Recipients|url=http://www.capitalemmys.tv/sites/default/files/2011%20Emmy%20Awardees.pdf|publisher=National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences|accessdate=29 July 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828163505/http://www.capitalemmys.tv/sites/default/files/2011%20Emmy%20Awardees.pdf|archivedate=28 August 2014}}

In addition, Hamilton won a pair of National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Salute to Excellence Awards. In 2013 she won for The Dream Began Here[http://www.nabj.org/?page=STEWinners2013 2013 Salute to Excellence Winners], National Association of Black Journalists, accessed July 28, 2015 and in 2011 she won for Howard Theatre: A Century in Song, a documentary about the historic Howard Theatre.{{cite news|title=IN the news: Robin Hamilton|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2461943011.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410000044/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2461943011.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 10, 2016|work=The Boston Banner|date=August 25, 2011|url-access=subscription }}[http://www.nabj.org/?page=STEWinners2011 2011 Salute to Excellence Winners], National Association of Black Journalists, accessed July 26, 2015. Hamilton was also nominated for a 2012 NABJ Salute to Excellence Award for Hattie's Lost Legacy.{{cite web|title=2012 Salute to Excellence Television Finalists|url=http://www.nabj.org/?STETELEVISION2012|website=www.nabj.org/|publisher=National Association of Black Journalists|accessdate=29 July 2015}}

Public service

In the fall of 2010, Hamilton served as a Public Media Corps (PMC) Fellow which allowed her to promote social media tools to underserved communities.{{cite web|title=The PMC Fellows|url=http://publicmediacorps.org/fellows/|publisher=National Black Programming Consortium|accessdate=28 July 2015}} PMC is a project of the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC).{{cite web|title=About|url=http://publicmediacorps.org/about/|publisher=National Black Programming Consortium|accessdate=28 July 2015}} Hamilton is on the board{{Cite web |title=Board {{!}} Energy Justice Network |url=https://www.energyjustice.net/about/board |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=www.energyjustice.net}} of the [https://www.energyjustice.net Energy Justice Network], an environmental justice advocacy group.