Broadcast journalist Callie Crossley honored with Open Door award

On Phillis Wheatley Sunday, May 14, 2017, Old South Church presented WGBH's Callie Crossley, host of Under the Radar with Callie Crossley, which airs on WGBH, 89.7 FM Sunday evenings, with the Open Door award. A former producer for ABC News 20/20, Ms. Crossley is a public speaker and a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, guest lecturing at colleges and universities about media literacy, media and politics, and the intersection of race, gender, and media.

See Callie Crossley honored at Old South Church via The Boston Globe, May 18, 2017

The Open Door Award is named for the words carved into Old South Church: "Behold, I have set before thee an open door" (from the Book of Revelations). Past award recipients include former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick; Rev. Frank Schaefer, who in 2013 made national headlines after being defrocked by the United Methodist Church for officiating his son’s same-sex marriage; and Sarah-Ann Shaw, Boston's first female African American television reporter.

Phillis Wheatley Sunday is an annual celebration of the first published African American poetess, who opened doors for persons of color and enslaved persons with pen and ink, with poetry and letters, with wit and fortitude. Phillis joined the church in 1771.