In 1947, Dunnigan became the Washington bureau chief for the Associated Negro Press, and that same year, she became the first Black woman correspondent accredited to cover the White House, breaking a barrier that had excluded Black women from the press corps entirely.
Dunnigan went on to become the first Black woman admitted to both the Senate and House of Representatives press galleries, and the first Black member of the Women's National Press Club. She covered every major civil rights story of the era, often facing exclusion, hostility and discrimination from officials and fellow journalists alike, including being denied access to press events available to her white colleagues.
Dunnigan travelled extensively covering President Truman's 1948 whistle-stop campaign, becoming the only Black correspondent — and the only woman of any race in that specific press pool — to accompany the campaign across the country, often paying her own expenses when her employer would not. She later worked within the Kennedy and Johnson administrations before spending her later years writing and advocating for greater recognition of Black women in journalism.
I had two strikes against me. One, I was a woman, and two, I was a Negro.
Alice Allison Dunnigan broke through press-corps barriers that had excluded Black women entirely, often at direct personal and financial cost, and her decades of reporting provide an essential first-hand documentary record of the civil rights era from a perspective largely absent in mainstream coverage at the time.
- 1906Born in Russellville, Kentucky.
- 1942Moves to Washington, DC, to work for the federal government during World War II.
- 1947Becomes Washington bureau chief for the Associated Negro Press.
- 1947Becomes the first Black woman correspondent accredited to the White House press corps.
- 1948Covers President Truman's whistle-stop campaign as the only Black correspondent in the press pool.
- 1961Joins the Kennedy administration in an education and information role.
- 1983Dies in Washington, DC, after a decades-long career in journalism and public service.
- ★ First Black woman correspondent accredited to the White House press corps (1947)
- ★ First Black woman admitted to the Senate and House press galleries
- ★ First Black member of the Women's National Press Club
- ★ Only Black correspondent to cover President Truman's 1948 whistle-stop campaign in full