Carol Jenkins (activist)

Carol Jenkins is a women’s rights activist, author, television host, and former television journalist.

Education[]

Carol Jenkins earned a B.A. from Wheelock College in 1966,^[1] which has since merged with Boston University and an M.A. from New York University. Both universities honored her as a distinguished alumnus.^[2]

Career[]

Early in her career Jenkins co-hosted one of the first daily public affairs programs in New York City, "Straight Talk" on WOR-TV; and co-hosted "Positively Black" for WNBC-TV, one of the earliest television programs dedicated to Black issues in the United States.^[3]

As an African-American television reporter, Jenkins was an anchor and correspondent for WNBC-TV in New York for nearly 25 years. She reported from the floor of national presidential conventions from the 1970s to the 1990s, and from South Africa she reported on the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and co-produced an Emmy-nominated prime-time special on apartheid.

She hosted "Carol Jenkins Live", her own daily talk show, on WNYW-TV.^[4]

Jenkins is co-president and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality,^[5] sister organizations dedicated to the passage and enactment of the Equal Rights Amendment. A board member since the beginning in 2014, she joined the leadership team in December 2018.

The Coalition comprises over one hundred organizations and leaders across the US, representing people working for equality for women. It claims to provide research, education and advocacy on the issues of constitutional equality, working on the state and federal levels with advocates and legislators.^{[citation needed]}

In the year 2020 the Coalition was supportive of the legislative and advocacy work that brought about the 38th and final state (Virginia) needed for ratification and the House of Representatives vote to dissolve the time limit on the Equal Rights Amendment.^{[citation needed]}

Carol Jenkins hosts the three-time N.Y. Emmy-nominated interview show, Black America, on CUNY TV, as of 2021 in its sixth season.^{[citation needed]} She is also executive producer, writer and correspondent of its documentaries, including the PBS-aired More Than a Building, A Dream Come True,^[6] an award-winning film detailing the creation of the new African American Museum in Washington, DC and Conscience of America: Birmingham's Fight for Civil Rights,^[7] a special on the , which won a national in 2018 and was nominated in the Best Documentary category by the National Association of Black Journalists. The program has been honored by the New York Association of Black Journalists as Best Talk, and Best Documentary.^{[citation needed]}

In 2018 she hosted a limited-edition "Black America" podcast with Black women leaders, and was also co-anchor of CUNY TV’s live election night coverage, which dealt with national as well as local races.^{[citation needed]}

With her daughter, Elizabeth Gardner Hines, Jenkins is co-author of Black Titan: A. G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire (2004). A biography of her uncle, a successful Alabama businessman and civil rights activist, the book won a Best Non-Fiction award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

She was founding president of The Women’s Media Center, a non-profit created in 2004 by Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, and Jane Fonda to increase coverage and participation of women in media. As president, she conceived the Progressive Women’s Voices program to provide media training for women and girls, and she expanded SheSource, the largest portfolio of women experts in the country.^{[citation needed]} At FCC hearings she testified on the "crisis in representation" in mainstream media. Every year WMC presents its WMC Carol Jenkins award to women in extraordinary leadership positions.^{[citation needed]}

As a pioneering African-American television reporter, Jenkins was an anchor and correspondent for WNBC TV in New York for nearly 25 years. She reported from the floor of national presidential conventions from the 1970s to the 1990s, and from South Africa she reported on the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and co-produced an Emmy-nominated prime-time special on apartheid.

As past chair and current board member of Amref Health Africa USA, an arm of the largest health NGO in Africa, she is engaged in efforts to support health programs for African women and girls. Her other board work includes the Feminist Press at CUNY,^[8] the Veteran Feminists of America, The Steering Committee of the Gloria Steinem Chair at Rutgers University,^[9] the Anne O'Hare McCormick Journalism Scholarship Board, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance,^[10] and Certified Humane.

In the spring of 2019 and 2020 Carol Jenkins was chosen as a Grove Leader at Hunter College, leading a semester seminar on Constitutional Equality and working with a cohort of Grove Fellows to produce a virtual gathering on the ERA on campuses across the US.^{[citation needed]}

She holds honorary doctorates from the College of New Rochelle and Marymount Manhattan College. She was a 2017 recipient of the Sackler First Award, given to women who are pioneers in their fields.^[11]

Honors[]

Jenkins is a recipient of both Lifetime Achievement and International Reporting Awards from The Association Of Black Journalists/New York Chapter,^[12] The 2008 Women’s Equality Award from The National Council of Women’s Organizations,^{[citation needed]} and the North Star News Prize.^{[citation needed]}. Women’s eNews recognized Jenkins in 2012 as a "multimedia agitator against bias" and presented her with its Ida B. Wells Award for Bravery in Journalism,^{[citation needed]} and in 2014 she was honored for her life in journalism by Mercy College.^{[citation needed]}

Other honors include those from:

• The Feminist Press • The Daily News with its Front Page Award • YWCA • Girl Scouts of America • Save the Children • Single Parents’ Association • United Negro College Fund • Hale House • National Mothers’ Day Committee as Mother of the Year • The Police Athletic League as Woman of the Year • Abbott House as Humanitarian of the Year

References[]