Belva Davis, the first Black woman hired as a television reporter on the west coast of the United States, has died at the age of 92. She passed away on Wednesday, surrounded by friends and colleagues who remembered her as unflappable, fair, and a mentor to many.
Davis entered television news in the 1960s, a time when the industry was dominated by white men. She worked for KPIX-TV, KRON, and KQED, where she became a trusted host of KQED Newsroom and This Week in Northern California before retiring in 2012. Her reporting covered pivotal moments including the assassination of Harvey Milk, the Aids crisis, and numerous elections.
Born in Monroe, Louisiana, during the Great Depression and Jim Crow era, Davis moved to California as a child. Without a college degree, she began her journalism career freelancing for Jet and Ebony magazines in the 1950s. Throughout her career, she faced sexism and overt racism, including racial slurs while covering the 1964 Republican National Convention.
Michael Isip, president and CEO of KQED, described her as covering stories with “courage, integrity, grace and humanity” and breaking down barriers for a generation of reporters. Carla Marinucci, a longtime political reporter, said Davis “took many of us under her wing” and “had to jump countless hurdles as a Black woman”.
Oakland mayor Barbara Lee called Davis a “steady source of inspiration, guidance, and friendship” who “opened doors that had long been closed”. Davis was married to Bill Moore, one of the country’s first Black television news cameramen, and had two children from her first marriage.
