Sarah-Ann Shaw, Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient 2010

Printer-friendly version

Retired Journalist and Community Activist

Sarah-Ann Shaw was born in Roxbury at what was then the New England Hospital for Women and Children. The buildings and grounds of that former hospital are now The Dimock Community Health Center. She has been a Roxbury resident all her life.

Sarah-Ann grew up in Roxbury and attended Boston Public Schools. She has been an activist throughout her personal and professional life. As a teenager she was active with the NAACP Youth Council, The Girl Scouts, The Young People’s Fellowship, The Resthaven Leaguettes and other groups involved in community service. As an adult Shaw has volunteered and worked with many organizations dedicated to the fight for human and civil rights.

In the 60’s Shaw was the director of the Northern Student Movement, a civil rights group that recruited hundreds of Greater Boston college students to work as volunteer tutors for Roxbury, Dorchester, South End and Columbia Point children who were students in Boston Public Schools. NSM also worked with the families of these children around issues such as voter education and registration, welfare rights, housing and advocacy. Parents were urged to learn about the civil rights movement and take part in marches, rallies and the political process. NSM parent organizers Ellen Jackson and Elizabeth Johnson were able to spin off the base developed by the tutorial program to found another organization called Operation Exodus.

Following her work at NSM, Shaw moved on to be the director of Neighborhood Operations for ABCD, the city’s anti-poverty program. Following that job, she went to work for the Ecumenical Center as Director of a pilot program called the Community Health Education Program that was based at Academy Homes in Roxbury. Although these were the jobs that put bread on the table, she also spent a significant amount of time as a volunteer for and with many different organizations that were seeking justice for all people.

In 1969 Shaw accepted a job at WBZ-TV where she became the first Black female reporter hired at that station. She remained at the station as a general assignment reporter for 31 years, retiring in the year 2000. During those years Shaw covered a wide range of daily news stories, and also developed special reports that highlighted the positive contribution made by Black, Asian, and Latino/Latina residents of Massachusetts. In this way she tried to dispel stereotypes held by Whites about people of color. Her reports were designed to provide positive images of urban life that contradicted those most often presented by media outlets.

Shaw currently serves as a board member of: The Boston Neighborhood Network, Ford Hall Forum, Central Boston Elder Services, The Executive Service Corps, the Friends of Dudley Library Inc., and The League of Women for Community Service. In the past she has served on the boards of several other agencies and organizations.

Sarah-Ann Shaw has received several awards over the years, 2009 Unsung Hero Award from the Roxbury Collaborative, 2008 Broadcasters Hall of Fame induction, 2008 In Sight Award from Roxbury Action Program, 2007 Roxbury Community College Community Service Award, a Local Hero Award from Charles Hamilton Houston Institute and the City of Boston during the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Integrating of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, An Intergenerational Activist Award presented to Shaw and her daughter Klare by Teen Voices, 2006 The Advent School Mona Hull Award for Education for Social Justice and Charles Yancey Literacy Award from the Harlem Book Fair-Roxbury 2005, Boston Women’s Fund Take A Stand Award and, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Community Legend Award 2004, Muhammad’s Mosque No. 11 and Prince Hall Grand Loge Grand Chapter Award for Outstanding Service & Commitment to our Community, 2003 Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus Abigail Adams Award, 2002 Community Service Awards from the Psi Omega Chapter of AKA Sorority, and from The Women of Courage, 2001 “A Hero Among Us” award from the Boston Celtics, and an award during the Boston Food Bank’s 20th Anniversary Celebration.

In 2000 she received 2 major media awards: a Lifetime Achievement Award from Emerson College RTNDA (Radio Television News Direction Association) and the Yankee Quill Award from the Society of Newspaper Editors. In 1998 The National Association of Black Journalists honored her with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Shaw has also been presented with awards by the Black Educator’s Alliance of Massachusetts, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, The Boston Branch NAACP, The Boston Association of Black Journalists, The Irish Immigration Center, Action for Boston Community Development, Rosie’s Place, the Cambridge YWCA and other groups and organizations.

Shaw has 3 children, 3 grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.