Join the Chicago Headline Club Foundation and fans, friends and family members Sun., Aug. 28 for our annual Les Brownlee summer party.
We will start at 2 p.m. at the southeast Evanston home Les shared with his wife, Priscilla Ruth MacDougall, at 537 Judson Ave. A brief program starts at 4 p.m.
Two Chicago Headline Club Lifetime Achievement Award winners — Felicia Middlebrooks of WBBM Radio and Greg Hinz of Crain’s Chicago Business — will speak. We also will hear from one of Les’s students from his Columbia College years, Cynthia Pelayo. Harriet Ellis will entertain at the keyboard before and after the speakers. Dancing after 6 p.m.
A $25 donation is requested to benefit the Les Brownlee Scholarship Fund. In addition to visiting with old friends and meeting new ones, you’ll have fabulous food from Hecky’s BBQ, MamaT’s, Chicken Shack, plus pizza, brats, burgers, and beverages of all kinds.
Les was best-known for his “Les Brownlee: Channel 7 Eyewitness News.” He also worked at the Chicago Daily News, Chicago’s American and Chicago Defender. He was the first African-American member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the first black president of the Chicago Headline Club.
We honor Les each year with a $3,000 scholarship to an outstanding Chicago area journalism student. Your contribution at this party goes into that scholarship fund. If you cannot attend, you can still contribute. Write a check for a tax-deductible contribution to the Chicago Headline Club Foundation, care of CHCF Treasurer Howard Dubin, Manufacturers News, 1633 Central St., Evanston, IL 60201.
Copies of “Les Brownlee: The Autobiography of a Pioneering African-American Journalist” will be for sale at the party.