Summary: | Author, journalist and publisher Samuel F. Yette was born on July 2, 1929 in Harriman, Tennessee. After high school, he briefly attended Morristown College and Tennessee State University, before joining the Air Force in 1951. Teaching in Chattanooga, he completed his B.S. degree from Indiana University. In 1956, Yette teamed with Gordon Parks as special correspondent for LIFE magazine. Yette reported for the Afro-American Newspapers, and integrated the Dayton Journal Herald. As associate editor of Ebony and director of information for Tuskegee University, Yette's reputation grew. In 1963, he was selected executive secretary of the Peace Corps, then special assistant for civil rights to the director of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity. Yette became the first black Washington correspondent for Newsweek in 1968. Authoring The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival In America in 1971, Yette garnered numerous awards. He later founded Cottage Books, a publishing company. He passed away on January 21, 2011.
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