Spectrum

Carolyn Bailey Lewis is a woman who has been determined to always push herself and to set new standards throughout her career. She has been a pioneer in her field, but it hasn’t been easy. While forging her path, as a black woman, Carolyn has had to fight battles against racism, bigotry, and prejudice as well as sexism. Coming from the small town of Bluefield, West Virginia where she attended segregated schools and lived in a segregated neighborhood, Carolyn became the only black woman in her class of journalism students at West Virginia University. Being able to adapt to a “white world” and function as the only person of color took great strength, will, and dexterity. In 1971, Carolyn became the first black woman to graduate from the Perley I Reed School of Journalism, now the Reed College of Media at West Virginia University. She continued her trailblazing in 1993 when she became the first African American woman named to manage a full-service public television station in the continental United States a