Yamiche Alcindor Is Cromwell Day Speaker

Yamiche Alcindor—an award-winning journalist who serves as the White House correspondent for the PBS NewsHour—will deliver the keynote address at Smith’s virtual celebration of Cromwell Day at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10. Her talk—which will focus on “The 2020 Election in Black and White”—is open to the public at no charge. Smith students, faculty and staff are invited to participate via a Zoom link that will be posted to the Cromwell Day page a few days before the event. Members of the general public are invited to watch via livestream on Smith’s Facebook page.

Cromwell Day will also feature online workshops, speakers, readings and other events for students, faculty and staff. A complete schedule and information about Zoom registration will be posted online a few days before the event. This year’s events are built around the theme of “Tackling Anti-Blackness: Moving Past the Abstract.”

About Yamiche Alcindor

Alcindor is the White House correspondent for the PBS NewsHour. She is also a contributor to NBC News and MSNBC, appearing on programs including Morning Joe, Andrea Mitchell Reports, The Rachel Maddow Show and Meet the Press with Chuck Todd.

Before joining the NewsHour, Alcindor was a national political reporter for The New York Times, covering Congress, as well as the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders. She has written about the impact of President Trump’s policies on working-class people and people of color, and on how police killings affect communities and children. She has also produced videos and documentaries about societal concerns such as wrongful convictions and gun violence.

Before joining The New York Times, Alcindor was a national reporter for USA Today, traveling across the country to cover breaking news stories, including the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut; the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida; and the police-related protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland.

Alcindor says her goal is to be a civil rights journalist, and she notes that she was inspired by the late PBS NewsHour anchor Gwen Ifill.

Alcindor has been widely honored for her work. Earlier this year, she received the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage from the White House Correspondents’ Association. Simmons University presented her with its Ifill Next Generation Award, and she received the NextGen Leader Award from the Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance. In 2017, Alcindor was honored in a tribute to Ifill during Syracuse University’s Toner Prize ceremony. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and was named the organization’s “Emerging Journalist of the Year” in 2013.

Alcindor holds a master’s degree in broadcast news and documentary filmmaking from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in English, government and African American studies from Georgetown University.

About Cromwell Day

Established in 1989, Cromwell Day provides dedicated time and space for reflection and education about diversity, racism and inclusion. Through this work, we seek to take individual and community responsibility for our behavior with an awareness of how it furthers and disrupts patterns of structural oppression.