Samuel F. Yette, who was the president of the D.C. Pro chapter in 1972-73 and a member of the chapter's Hall of Fame, died on Jan. 21. He is believed to be the first African-American president of the chapter. Below is the Washington Post's story about his death.
Editor's note: An interview with Yette interview has been archived in the National Visionary Leadership Project's Collection of African American Oral Histories at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center. Go to www.visionaryproject.org/yettesamuel.
Below are excerpts is the obituary that the Washington Post ran Jan. 24 by T. Rees Shapiro
Samuel F. Yette, influential newsman, first black Washington correspondent for Newsweek
Samuel F. Yette, 81, a journalist, author and educator who became an influential and sometimes incendiary voice on civil rights, died Jan. 21 at the Morningside House assisted-living facility in Laurel. He had Alzheimer's disease.
In a career spanning six decades, Mr. Yette (pronounced "Yet") worked for many news organizations and government agencies and held positions in academia, including as a journalism professor at Howard University.
As a young reporter, he covered the civil rights movement for black publications including the Afro-American newspaper and Ebony magazine. In the mid-1960s, he served as executive secretary of the Peace Corps and special assistant for civil rights to the director of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, which administered anti-poverty programs.
In 1968, Mr. Yette became the first black Washington correspondent for Newsweek. He said his three years at the magazine were rocky and blamed his firing in 1971 on the publication of his book "The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival in America."
The book asserted that the federal government showed a pattern of repression against African Americans that, left unaddressed, could lead to genocide.
—
A few months after his book was published, Mr. Yette was dismissed from Newsweek. He sued his former employer and claimed that he was fired because of "incipient racism" among leaders at Newsweek, which then was owned by The Washington Post.
—
Mr. Yette turned the rest of his career to education as a professor at Howard. Mr. Yette was a charismatic classroom presence who required his students to read the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
—
Lawrence Kaggwa, a professor and former chairman of Howard's journalism department, called Yette "a mind builder [who] wanted his students to be able to talk intelligently about any issue."
—
Samuel Frederick Yette, born July 2, 1929 in Harriman, Tenn., was the grandson of a slave.
—
In the mid-1980s, Mr. Yette started his own publishing firm, Cottage Books, and reprinted his book in 1982. He released a book in 1984 titled "Washington and Two Marches, 1963 & 1983: The Third American Revolution," a photographic journey of the civil rights movement written and photographed in collaboration with his son, Frederick.
—
During his career at Howard, Mr. Yette passed on his belief in the power of education to generations of students.
As Mr. Yette once said: "I remember my mother telling me, 'Keep stretching your arms for learning. Someday, somebody will ask you to show how long they are and they won't ask their color.'"
