Veteran television journalist and broadcaster Monica Kaufman Pearson will present the 2019 Holmes-Hunter Lecture Feb. 12 in the University of Georgia Chapel.
Named in honor of Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes, the first African American students to attend UGA, the lecture is sponsored by the Office of the President and focuses on race relations, civil rights and education. It has been held annually since 1985.
Pearson became the first African American to anchor an Atlanta-area evening newscast when she debuted on WSB-TV in 1975. She spent almost 40 years as WSB-TV’s Channel 2 Action News anchor, and garnered more than 30 local and regional Emmy awards over the course of her reporting.
Since her retirement in 2012, Pearson has gone on to host a weekly radio show and obtain a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from UGA.