07/15/2026
46 years later and we still need HBCU’s ✊🏾
Before podcasts.
Before YouTube interviews.
Before Black media had room to breathe on national television…
There was Tony Brown.
Tony Brown, the legendary journalist, educator, author, and longtime host of Tony Brown’s Journal, has passed away at 93. He died June 17, 2026, at his home in Newport News, Virginia, from coronary heart disease.
For generations, Brown gave Black America something rare: a national platform where our politics, culture, history, struggles, and brilliance could be discussed with depth and dignity.
He first became known through Black Journal, a groundbreaking public television program created during an era when Black voices were often filtered, ignored, or spoken over. In 1977, the program became Tony Brown’s Journal, and it went on to become one of PBS’s longest-running series.
But Tony Brown was more than a broadcaster. He was also a founding dean of Howard University’s School of Communications, helping shape the next generation of Black journalists and media professionals.
He understood something we are still fighting for today: ownership of our image, our story, and our narrative.
Tony Brown did not wait for permission to tell the truth.
He built a platform.
He asked the questions.
He documented the moment.
And he made sure Black America was not left out of the conversation.
Rest in power to a true media pioneer.
