Max Robinson
| Max Robinson | |
|---|---|
Max Robinson on World News Tonight
|
|
| Born |
Maxie Cleveland Robinson, Jr. May 1, 1939 Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | December 20, 1988 (aged 49) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Education |
Indiana University Oberlin College Virginia Union University |
| Occupation | Television journalist |
| Years active | 1959 – 1988 |
| Notable credit(s) | ABC World News Tonight |
| Spouse(s) | Eleanor Booker Hazel O'Leary Beverly Hamilton |
Maxie Cleveland "Max" Robinson, Jr. (May 1, 1939 – December 20, 1988) was an American broadcast journalist, and ABC News World News Tonight co-anchor. He was the first African-American broadcast network news anchor in the United States and one of the first television journalists to die of AIDS. He was a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Robinson was born to Maxie and Doris Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, and went on to attend Oberlin College, where he was freshman class president. He briefly served in the United States Air Force and was assigned to the Russian Language School at Indiana University before receiving a medical discharge. He began working in radio early on, including a short time at WSSV-AM in Petersburg, Virginia, where he called himself "Max The Player," and later at WANT-AM, Richmond.
Robinson began his television career in 1959, when he was hired for a news job at WTOV-TV in Portsmouth, Virginia. He had to read the news while hidden behind a slide of the station's logo. One night, Robinson had the slide removed, and was fired the next day. He later went to WRC-TV in Washington, DC, and stayed for three years, winning six journalism awards for coverage of civil-rights events such as the riots that followed the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was during this time that Robinson won two regional Emmys for a documentary he made on black life in Anacostia entitled The Other Washington.
In 1969, Robinson joined the Eyewitness News team at WTOP-TV (now WUSA-TV) in Washington, D.C. He was teamed with anchor Gordon Peterson, becoming the first African-American anchor on a local television news program, and the newscast took off. During that time, he was so well-liked by viewers that when Hanafi Muslims took hostages at the B'nai B'rith building in Washington they would speak only with Robinson.
...
Wikipedia