Bonnie Angelo Has Died: A Journalism Pioneer
I was sad to see that journalist Bonnie Angelo had died. She started in the women’s pages and went on to be a significant political reporter.
I often include Angelo in my research – especially about her description of women’s role at the National Press Club in the 1960s. Below is from my book, Women Politicking Politely:
Women journalists were excluded from membership in the Washington, D.C., based National Press Club until 1971. This was a significant exclusion as important politicians and celebrities delivered speeches at the press club. Prior to 1955, women were not even allowed in the club building to cover the speeches that made news. As a compromise, the male members came up with a plan that allowed women journalists to cover speakers from the balcony of the ballroom; but they had to stand—because the balcony was too narrow for chairs—while their seated male colleagues ate, drank and asked questions from below.
According to Bonnie Angelo, chief of the Newsday bureau in Washington,
“Here were the people in the balcony, distinguished journalists treated like second-class citizens. I had to cover the stories there. Some people equated the balcony with the back of the bus, but at least the bus got everybody to the same destination just as well. We could not ask questions of the speakers. All this standing—it was like a cattle car. And all the time you were really boiling inside. You entered and left through a back door, and you’d be glowered at as you went through the club quarters. It was discrimination at its rawest.”
