Elijah Lovejoy: (1802-1837)
Lovejoy used his press to exercise the freedom of speech. He worked to abolish slavery through his printed words. Angry mobs, in opposition to Lovejoy's views, destroyed his printing presses three times. Lovejoy was eventually a victim to his opponents as he continued to speak, write and publish whatever he pleased on any subject.

 

Margaret Fuller: (1810-1850)
Fuller marked the first female on the New York Tribune staff, the first female foreign reporter, and the first female war reporter. Opening many doors for women in journalism, Fuller tragically died with her work at sea.

 

Mathew Brady: (1823-1896)
Brady was a photographer pioneer. He learned the daguerreotype process from artist-inventor Samuel F.B. Morse. Brady had a portrait business in New York and Washington where the public could view photographs of famous people of the day. Brady received special permission to photograph the Civil War and had to hire ten other photographers, set up field units in several states and had a traveling dark room pulled by horses. Abraham Lincoln along with the battles at Antietam and Fredericksburg were captured on camera by Brady himself.

 

Samuel Clemens: (1835-1910)
Samuel Clemens is better known as his penname, Mark Twain. Before his humorist writings, Clemens had learned the trade of a printer. His printing career was out west in Nevada and California. He traveled to the Sandwich Islands and the Holy Land as a travel correspondent and his letters were published in newspapers. He became known and famous from coast to coast.

 

Jacob Riis: (1849-1914) Riis, a Danish immigrant, had a flair for writing and wrote about what he saw on the New York streets. He was able to help change the city by his photographs and writings about living conditions in the slums. He is noted as a reformer and famous for documentary photography.

 

Nellie Bly: (1867-1922)
Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman took the penname of Nellie Bly to begin her reporting career. She was angry about an article titled "What Girls Are Good For" and wrote a letter in response, thus landing her first job with a Pittsburgh newspaper. She later moved to New York to do investigative reporting. Becoming a world traveler and reporter she made her mark in history.

 

H.L. Mencken: (1880-1956)
Following his dream to become a journalist, Mencken became to youngest reporter for a Baltimore newspaper. His career is sited at the Baltimore Sun where he wrote the editorial column, "The Free Lance". He is seen as influential to American thought and literature.

 

Grantland Rice: (1880-1954)
Rice was a well-known and respected sports writer. His column "Sportslight" appeared in more than 100 newspapers. Estimating that he traveled 15,000 miles a year, wrote one million words a year or 3,000 words a day, it is no wonder Rice saw sports as his life.

 

Walter Winchell: (1897-1972)
From the stage to the press, Winchell became a gossip columnist. Starting as a singer he would write backstage gossip. It caught the eye of a New York newspaper and he was hired as a drama critic and columnist. At the peak of his career his column was found in over 800 newspapers and he was almost as big a celebrity as the ones he covered.

 

Ernie Pyle: (1900-1945)
Pyle was famed for his folksy, chatty style of conveying the "human side" of the news. He traveled throughout the United States with his wife looking for ordinary heroes. World War II found him beside the soldiers in Europe and the Pacific Ocean. His reports to the states gave his followers what he called "the worm's eye view".

 

Margaret Bourke-White: (1904-1971)
Bourke-White was a journalist who used photographs to tell the story. She is known for her contributions during the Great Depression and World War II. Using her photo essays she could show us significant events and people. Churchill, Stalin and Gandhi are amongst the most famous leaders she photographed.

 

Alice Dunnigan: (1906-1983)
Dunnigan wrote diligently about efforts to end segregation. Starting as a teacher and writing for an African-American newspaper Dunnigan was elated to finally receive a full-time correspondent position. She was a spokesperson for her people and with pride witnessed the making of history.

 

Ethel Payne: (1911-1991)
Payne was hired by the Chicago Defender to be a feature writer, but she was drawn to hard news. Civil rights became her focus and she tracked them tirelessly. At presidential press conferences she would ask the difficult questions, hoping her reporting would help bring about the civil rights being sought at the time. In 1964 and 1965 Payne was at the White House amongst the Civil Rights leaders to see President Johnson sign the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

 

Robert Capa: (1913-1954)
Capa was a combat photojournalist. He covered the Spanish-American war, World War II and lost his life covering the Vietnam War. Capa felt, "if your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough."

 

Katharine Graham: (1917- 2002)
Graham took over the Washington Post after the death of her husband, the publisher at the time. She made many changes to the paper and under her leadership they cover stories like; the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate story. Making the Washington Post the nation's leading political paper Graham became a role model for women journalist.

 

Ben Bradlee: (1921- Working under Graham, Bradlee was the executive director of the Washington Post newspaper. Going before the Supreme Court for permission he oversaw the publication of the series of articles on the Vietnam War that have become known as the Pentagon Papers. He was also involved with the work on the Watergate story.

 

Seymour Hersh: (1937-
Hersh earned the Pulitzer Prize for his independent tracking and story about civilians killed in the Vietnam War. As a member of the New York Times staff, Hersh continued to be a dedicated investigative reporter.

 

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward: (1944- ) and (1943- )
Working as a team on the Watergate story these two men changed how American thought about politics. They won a Pulitzer Prize for the Washington Post for outstanding public service.

Anna Quindlen: (1951-
Quindlen wanted to be a writer all her life. Writing to her generation of Baby Boomers, Quindlen won a Pulitzer Prize for her commentary column in 1992 for the New York Times.