Before the Byline: A Journalist’s Roots – Author Talk

How did a Black kid from the segregated rural South find his way to the heights of American newspaper journalism? Don Wycliff discusses his memoir, Before the Byline: A Journalist’s Roots, recounting his family’s migration out of the South, his matriculation to the University of Notre Dame, and his discovery—during the turbulence of the 1960s—of his vocation in journalism.

A retired newspaper journalist, teacher, and author, Wycliff’s distinguished career includes writing editorials for The New York Times and nearly a decade as editorial page editor of the Chicago Tribune, where his staff earned a Pulitzer Prize, and he was a finalist in 1996.

He later served as Distinguished Journalist in Residence at Loyola University Chicago. Wycliff, a 1969 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, lives in South Bend with his wife Pamela and is the proud father of two grown sons.