 
|
|||||||||
              
|
Broadcaster Mal Goode remembered hometown roots
Wednesday, February 14, 2001
Malvin (Mal) R. Goode grew up in Homestead and graduated from Homestead High School. Goode captured much of the civil rights activity of the 1960s on film and audiotape as he pushed for equality in broadcasting.
He was a strong supporter of civil rights and never hesitated to let someone know the side of the fence on which he stood.
Goode was working on the staff of the Pittsburgh Courier when he received a call from ABC Television asking him to come to New York for an interview as a reporter. He calmly and with confidence read a script he had prepared for the interview.
At 54, Goode was offered the job as the first African-American news reporter for a major network. His first assignment upon joining ABC News in 1962 was to cover the United Nations.
As a TV journalist, he interviewed many famous and influential people. Among them were notables such as baseball legend Jackie Robinson, civil right leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, musician Nat King Cole, boxer Muhammad Ali and former president George Bush.
Goode always remembered friends and family in his hometown of Homestead. He often returned there for homecoming at his boyhood church of Clark Memorial.
Goode's creeds of life came from his parents: "It does not cost you anything to treat people right" and "You're no better than anyone else, and no one else is any better than you ... now go out and prove it!"
- From the History Center's "Beyond Adversity" textbook by Patricia Pugh Mitchell
|
||||||||
