April Ryan

White House Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief for The Grio, Ryan is a graduate of Morgan State University with a B.S. in broadcast journalism, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from her alma mater in 2017. Ryan also holds honorary doctorates from Claflin University and Goucher College. She began her media career as a jazz disc jockey before turning to reporting. Prior to working for the White House press corps, she worked for various radio stations in the northeast and southeastern portions of the United States, including Morgan State University radio station WEAA-FM and WXYV-FM in Baltimore, Maryland, where she served as news director. Ryan has been a member of the White House press corps for 27 years reporting for the radio company American Urban Radio Networks from January 1997 through November 2020. She is a member of the National Press Club, and is one of only three African Americans to have served on the board of the White House Correspondents' Association. As a White House correspondent, Ryan has covered five presidential administrations. Ryan has conducted one-on-one interviews with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, George W. Bush, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Thabo Mbeki, and John Kerry, among others. Following the election of Donald Trump, Ryan participated in exchanges with him and his press secretary Sean Spicer. In March 2017, Spicer accused her of having an agenda when she asked about Trump's ties with Russia and then berated her for shaking her head. As one of the few African Americans in the White House press corps, Ryan frequently asks questions on issues concerning minorities and has made statements suggesting that she resents that other journalists do not ask such questions as often. She said in an interview in May 2017: "Why can't the dynamic of all people be in that room? Why can't it be? All people are covered under the White House. Am I correct? So I really dislike that, but I have no qualms with it. If you want to call me a black reporter, I am the black reporter who also asks other issues and questions on China, Russia, Syria, North Korea. So if you want to label me a black reporter, I take it with a badge of honor." Her blog, Fabric of America, is devoted to minority issues and stories in the United States. ==Awards and honors==

In May 2017, the National Association of Black Journalists named Ryan as the "Journalist of the Year". On July 11, 2019, she was inducted as an honorary member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. ==Controversies==

At an April 2018 White House press conference, Ryan asked whether or not Trump considered resigning, which drew the ire of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who called Ryan's question "absolutely ridiculous." Ryan said she subsequently received death threats and hired a bodyguard. Ryan gave the keynote speech at the NJ Parent Summit, held on August 3, 2019, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Before she began her speech, her bodyguard ordered a local journalist to remove his camera. Any reporters present were to request permission from event organizers to record at the private event. Her bodyguard, Joel Morris, ejected the reporter. In an August 25 interview, Ryan stated that she was unaware of the incident as it was happening, and that she "did not order anyone to do anything." Ryan ultimately fired the bodyguard. ==Personal life==

Ryan was raised in Baltimore, where she lives with her two daughters, Ryan and Grace. Ryan married retired naval officer James Ewing on October 14, 2023. ==Bibliography==