This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference from our community authored by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.
When she was born, the idea of having a Black president was far beyond most people’s dreams.
Now, 55 years later, April Ryan is the longest serving Black female journalist in the White House.
Ryan has been a member of the White House press corps for 25 years, reporting for the American Urban Radio Network from January 1997 to November 2020. She also served as an anchor for WTOP.
Now, she is a White House correspondent and the Washington Bureau Chief at The Grio.
The Baltimore-bred and Morgan State alum has seen presidents come and go from former Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump to current President Joe Biden.
“To watch presidents come and go is history,” she said.
She says she’s also watched different political parties come and go, “The difference in how they govern, the difference in their humanity. Each one comes at it differently.”
Ryan told WTOP that seeing Obama become president was something she said her parents never thought they would never see.
“I didn’t cry when he became president,” she said. “I cried when he left.”
Ryan said she cried because she witnessed him serve eight years as president when so many people feared he might be assassinated before finishing his terms in office.
Ryan said the White House was once an exclusive club whose doors were closed to people of color, but today, “People who look like me are in this space.”
When Ryan served on the board of the White House Correspondents Association, she said she was only one of three Black members.
She was also named Journalist of the Year in 2017 by the National Association of Black Journalists.
She tells aspiring journalists to make sure that journalism is truly what they want because, “The times of being a journalist without worrying about repercussions, having to worry about someone following you or calling you names, or threatening you are gone. We are now in a realm where it’s dangerous for you to be a journalist. ”
Her award-winning book, “The Presidency in Black and White,” was born out of her “running for her life.” In the book, Ryan tells the story of how supporters of former President Donald Trump came after her because she says she was “asking questions about an underserved community.”
The mother of two girls said her book “At Momma’s Knee” is about policing and having “the talk” with your children. Her other book “Black Women Will Save the World,” is a celebration of Black women and their strength. Ryan calls all of her books labors of love.
