Deborah Mathis

Deborah Myers Mathis (born 24 August 1953) is an African-American journalist and author. Her journalism career began as a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat, a major newspaper in Arkansas. She also worked in television news in Little Rock and Washington. She was White House correspondent for the Gannett News Service. She returned to Arkansas and newspaper journalism at the Arkansas Gazette as an editorial columnist and associate editor.

Early life and education

Mathis was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on August 24,1953 to Rev Lloyd Myers and Rachel Myers Jones. She attended Central High School, where she was the first black and first female editor of the school's newspaper. She studied journalism at the University of Arkansas.

Career

In 1973, Mathis became a reporter for Channel 11 Dateline News. She was also a reporter for newspapers Arkansas Democrat and the Arkansas Gazette (now merged into the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette), and TV stations KARK-Channel 4 and KATV-Channel 7. From 1993 to 2000 she was the White House correspondent for Gannett.

Mathis is a regular commentator on America's Black Forum and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. In 2002, she published her first book, Yet a Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don't Feel at Home, which met with mixed reviews.

Mathis is an assistant professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Personal life

Mathis lives with her husband and children in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Publications

• Mathis, Deborah (2002). Yet a Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don't Feel at Home. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-52636-3.
• Mathis, Deborah (2005). What God Can Do: How Faith Changes Lives for the Better. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781416510048.
• Mathis, Deborah (2007). Sole Sisters: The Joys and Pains of Single Black Women. Agate. ISBN 9781572846289.
• Mathis, Deborah; Smith, Gregory Todd (2015). Unlucky Number: The Murder of Lottery Winner Abraham Shakespeare. Penguin. ISBN 9780698159259.