Venice Tipton Spraggs Explained

Venice Tipton Spraggs
Birth Date:	1905
Birth Place:	Birmingham, Alabama
Occupation:	Journalist

Venice Tipton Spraggs (1905 – 1956) was an American journalist. She is known for being the Washington Bureau Chief for The Chicago Defender.

Spraggs née Tipton was born in 1908 in Birmingham, Alabama. She attended Spelman College.^[1] Spraggs was the Washington Bureau Chief for The Chicago Defender.^[2] Her column in The Chicago Defender was titled "Women in the National Picture".^[1] In 1947 Spraggs became the first Black to be elected to Theta Sigma Phi (now the Association for Women in Communications).^[3]

Spraggs died in 1956 at the age of 51.^[1]

The printing plate of a portrait of Spraggs that was used by The Chicago Defender is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.^[4]

Further reading

• "To Speak When and Where I Can": African American Women's Political Activism in South Carolina in the 1940s and 1950s, by Cherisse Jones-Branch, The South Carolina Historical Magazine Vol. 107, No. 3 (Jul., 2006), pp. 204–224

Notes and References

1. Web site: Fletcher . Charlene J. . Venice Tipton Spraggs (1905-1956) . BlackPast.org . 2 February 2024 . 4 February 2014.
2. Web site: Meet the first two African American women in the White House press corps . Columbia Journalism Review . 2 February 2024 . en.
3. Book: Smith . Elaine M. . Mary McLeod Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women: pursuing a true and unfettered democracy . 2003 . Alabama State University, for the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, National Historic Site, National Park Service . 19 . en.
4. Web site: Printing plate of Venice Spraggs used by The Chicago Defender . National Museum of African American History and Culture . 2 February 2024 . en.