Belva Davis, a journalist who opened doors for a generation', dies aged 92

"Unflappable. Fair. A mentor. The trailblazing journalist Belva Davis carried all of these traits, according to friends and colleagues, as they remembered the first Black woman hired as a television reporter on the west coast in the days following her death. Davis entered television news in the 1960s, when the industry was dominated by white men, making her presence on screens especially pioneering."

"Davis, the oldest of four siblings, was born in Monroe, Louisiana, in the middle of the Great Depression and the Jim Crow era. Her mother was only 14 when she gave birth, Davis wrote in her memoir Never in My Wildest Dreams: A Black Woman's Life in Journalism. Apparently if I was going to be lucky in life, I would have to be patient, Davis wrote."

"Belva's passing is a great loss for the Bay Area and KQED, said Michael Isip, president and CEO of KQED, Northern California's PBS member television station and public radio station. For a half a century she covered the region's most indelible stories with courage, integrity, grace and humanity. Along the way she fearlessly broke down barriers and opened doors for a generation of reporters."

Belva Davis was the first Black woman hired as a television reporter on the West Coast and entered television news in the 1960s when the industry was dominated by white men. She was born in Monroe, Louisiana during the Great Depression and Jim Crow era, and her family moved to the East Bay in California during World War II. Without a college degree she worked at KPIX-TV, KRON and KQED, becoming host of KQED Newsroom and This Week in Northern California and retiring in 2012. Colleagues described her as unflappable, fair, a mentor and a trailblazer who broke down barriers and opened doors for future journalists. She died at age 92.

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