Julia Scott Reed

Who was Julia Scott Reed?

Julia Scott Reed was a journalist, editor and radio broadcaster. She wrote a weekly column for the Dallas Morning News and edited the African-American "Dallas Express". She retired in 1979.

She was born and raised in Dallas, Texas by her parents, Nina and Johnnie McGee. As a Booker T. Washington High School graduate, she attended Wiley College for two years, and went on to graduate from Phillip’s Business School, where she accumulated her journalism skills. She started her career as the Texas correspondent for the Kansas City Call. In 1951, she joined the black newspaper Dallas Express, where she used her own camera to take pictures for her articles. Among the historical topics covered, after experiencing it for herself, were the early years of desegregation in schools and in public transportation. She became the editor of the Dallas Express. Thereafter, she serviced KNOK Radio for eight years, covering the segment “News and Views.” In 1967, she was the first black woman to report for The Dallas Morning News.

Mrs. Reed ‘s column in the Dallas Morning News, “The Open Line,” contained important content that would have gone unnoticed in mass media.