Judith Cummings, who was the first black woman to head a national news bureau for The New York Times, serving as chief correspondent in Los Angeles from 1985 to 1988, was found dead on May 6 at her home in Detroit. She was 68.
Neighbors who had noticed newspapers collecting outside her home summoned the police, who found Ms. Cummings’s body in bed, said Charlene Wagner Coleman, a cousin. The cause was not immediately known, she said. There were no signs of foul play.
In 1971, Ms. Cummings was a speechwriter for the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington when she was recruited by The Times to participate in the newspaper’s first program to train minority journalists.
The Times promoted her about a year later to general assignment reporter on the metropolitan desk, where from 1972 to 1979 she covered crime, transit, schools, strikes and parades in New York City and in particular wrote articles about its marginalized citizens.
In one, Ms. Cummings wrote about two Chinese-American teenage sisters who jumped to their deaths from a rooftop because their father had forbidden them to see their non-Chinese boyfriends.
In 1977, Ms. Cummings joined 15 current and former minority journalists at The Times, including Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Earl Caldwell and Roger Wilkins, in a federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in hiring and promotional practices. Ms. Cummings testified that minority reporters were often left languishing on local beats while their white counterparts moved up.
In 2012, on the website of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, a minority journalists’ advocacy group, Ms. Cummings wrote: “In the ’70s, most of us minority reporters were assigned to urban affairs or general assignment (same thing). We were typically trapped there for years, while our white contemporaries racked up crucial experience on a succession of beats.”
The suit was settled in 1981, with The Times agreeing to establish a full-fledged minority training and recruitment program and to give more serious consideration to its black journalists when they sought national and foreign assignments. Ms. Cummings received her first metropolitan beat assignment, covering the city transit system, in early 1981. She joined the Los Angeles bureau as a correspondent in September 1981 and was appointed bureau chief four years later.
In 1988, Ms. Cummings left The Times to care for her ailing parents, Dorothy Daniel Cummings and James E. Cummings Sr., in Detroit, and to help manage the family’s real estate investment business, Ms. Coleman said.
Ms. Cummings was born in Detroit on Dec. 27, 1945, attended public schools and received her bachelor of arts degree from Howard University in Washington in 1967.
That same year, she became chief speechwriter for Clifford L. Alexander Jr., a former Howard University law professor who was chairman of the E.E.O.C. and who in 1977 became the first black secretary of the Army, appointed by President Jimmy Carter. Her survivors include a brother, James Jr.
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Judith Cummings, Former New York Times Bureau Chief, Dies
The veteran journalist was found dead in her Detroit home.
Judith Cummings, a veteran journalist, was found dead in her Detroit home on May 6. The cause of death has not been determined.
Cummings was the first African-American to be in charge of a national bureau at the New York Times in 1985. Cummings was born on Dec. 27, 1945, in Detroit and attended Howard University, where she received her bachelor's degree in 1967.
In 1971, her career in journalism began after she was recruited by the Times in their minority training program. Prior to this, she was a speech writer for Clifford L. Alexander Jr., the head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C.
From 1972 to 1979, Cummings was a general assignment reporter for the Times, where she covered crime and major events in New York City. Unsatisfied with the fact that Blacks and other minorities were pigeonholed into covering local beats, she joined others in filing a federal lawsuit against the paper for neglecting to promote journalists of color to cover national stories.
The Times agreed in a settlement to expand their minority hiring, training and promotional practices. Cummings became a correspondent for the Los Angeles area in September 1981 and became the bureau chief four years later.
In 1988, Cummings retired to care for her parents.
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Cummings was born on December 27, 1945, in Detroit and attended Howard University, where she received her bachelor's degree in 1967.
In 1971, her career in journalism began after she was recruited by the Times in their minority training program. Prior to this, she was a speech writer for Clifford L. Alexander Jr., the head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C.
From 1972 to 1979, Cummings was a general assignment reporter for the Times, where she covered crime and major events in New York City. Unsatisfied with the fact that Blacks and other minorities were pigeonholed into covering local beats, she joined others in filing a federal lawsuit against the paper for neglecting to promote journalists of color to cover national stories.
The Times agreed in a settlement to expand their minority hiring, training and promotional practices. Cummings became a correspondent for the Los Angeles area in September 1981 and became the bureau chief four years later.
In 1988, Cummings retired to care for her parents.
