Golden Owl Simeon Booker Honored by Congressional Black Caucus

NPC Golden Owl Simeon Booker will receive the Phoenix Award from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Sept. 18.

The Club's 1982 Fourth Estate Award winner, Booker will be recognized for his more than 55 years as Washington bureau chief of Ebony and Jet magazines, during which his coverage of the civil rights movement became a part of the nation’s history.

Booker retired from Johnson Publishing Co. in January 2007 at age 88. He is working on memoirs of his experiences as the first black reporter on the Washington Post (1951-53), his coverage of the Emmett Till trial, the Freedom Rides, Vietnam and the administrations of 10 U.S. presidents.

Booker is the only journalist among the CBFC’s four honorees this year. He joined the NPC in 1956.

-- Carol Booker, [email protected]