A statue of Kentucky native Alice Dunnigan will be on display at the Newseum, the Washington, D.C. museum that promotes an understanding of freedom of the press and the First Amendment. Dunnigan was the first African-American woman to get credentials to cover Congress and the White House.
Dunnigan was a sharecropper’s daughter from Logan County who became a teacher and then a journalist working for the American Negro press. In 1947, she was the first African-American woman to receive Congressional press credentials.
Her statue will be on display at the Newseum beginning September 21 and will remain there for several months. After that, the statue will become part of the West Kentucky African-American Heritage Center in her hometown of Russellville.
Michael Morrow, a volunteer historian in Russellville who serves as a guide at the African-American Heritage Center, said Dunnigan had to push hard to get access to the highest levels of government.