February 8, 1944
Harry S. McAlpin became the first African American journalist admitted to a White House press conference. The breakthrough came just days after 13 African American publishers met with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and presented him with 21 goals for a post-war America. These goals included: Abolition of the color bar in industry; Equal opportunity for employment; Equality in all public educational facilities; Unrestricted suffrage in national, state and municipal elections, including primaries; Full government protection of all civil rights and liberties; Government refusal to impose, enforce or sanction patterns of racial segregation; Full protection and equality of treatment and opportunity for [Black] members of the U. S. Armed Forces; Extension of the Social Security plan; and Application of the Atlantic Charter to all colonial and other exploited peoples.
