Dorothy Butler Gilliam, the first Black woman reporter hired at the Washington Post donates $10,000 to laid-off reporters

After making history as the first Black woman at the Washington Post, Dorothy Butler Gilliam is supporting the reporters hit with mass layoffs.

When you’ve spent a lifetime fighting for representation in American newsrooms, watching history repeat itself hits different. Dorothy Butler Gilliam knows this better than most. The legendary journalist, who, in 1961, became the first Black woman ever hired as a reporter at the Washington Post, was shaken when news broke in early February of mass layoffs at the very paper that launched her storied career.

“It made me very sad, even upset,” Gilliam told Washingtonian, “because I know many people read the Post and depend on the Post, and this certainly is one of those times when we need some balance in the information that’s available.”

Turning her emotion into action, the 89-year-old donated $10,000 to the GoFundMe established for laid-off Washington Post Guild members, which has now raised over $500,000. 

“I was inspired by the people who work at the paper who continue to make a significant difference in the city,” Gilliam said of her large donation. 

From 1961 to 1965, Gilliam worked as a freelancer for the Washington Post. In 1971, she returned to the Post as assistant editor of the Style section, a role she kept until her retirement in 2003. Despite breaking barriers as the first Black female reporter in the legacy newspaper’s newsroom, Gilliam still faced adversity as a reporter at a time when segregation was still very public, trials she documents in her memoir “Trailblazer.” 

“Unfortunately, the nation’s capital was very segregated in 1961,” the journalist turned author said during a book release in 2019. “President John F. Kennedy was talking about some things that needed to happen for the Black population. But as a reporter, when I would get my daily assignment and go out to try to hail a taxi to cover it, it took forever.  I would walk and try to write my story and get back to file it before the deadline.”

Now, in the wake of the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-DEI push, the advances Gilliam and her colleagues worked so hard to build are being actively dismantled across industries. According to the Washington Post Guild, the recent layoffs disproportionately impacted journalists of color.

This shows the true scope of these layoffs — and it’s deeper than numbers on a page.

These numbers aren’t just statistics. They reflect careers, communities, and a profound shift in who gets to shape the journalism and mission of The Washington Post. pic.twitter.com/nMB3s2bayK— Washington Post Guild (@PostGuild) February 13, 2026

And while the trailblazing retired reporter finds this reality “very alarming” and “very, very disappointing, because it’s important for the readers of the Post to read diverse opinions.” She is not letting that stop her commitment to doing the right thing. 

“It’s important for me not to let the things that are happening stop me from doing those things that I know are correct, those things that are positive, those things that can help,” she says. “That’s why I’m glad I was able to make a reasonable, monetary contribution.”