Dianne White Clatto, first black weathercaster in America, dies at 77
Source: St Louis Post-Dispatch
Dianne White Clatto, who was the first black weathercaster in the country when she joined KSD-TV in 1962, said she “felt the weight of the world on my shoulders” during her early years of broadcasting.
“I knew young (black) women looked up to me,” she said during an interview with the Post-Dispatch in 2005. “To be a good model, you had to work hard. You had to develop your own style. You had to be disciplined. You just couldn’t stay up all night and model in the day.”
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Mrs. White Clatto, the descendant of a Civil War general’s “mistress slave,” was the first African-American model at several major St. Louis department stores. She earned the curator’s scholarship to the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she recalled she was one of 22 black students on campus. She spent more than 25 years at what’s now KSDK, working as a co-anchor, weather anchor and general assignment reporter.
She was fired in 1986, and filed suit, alleging harassment and age discrimination. The case was settled. She worked several years in radio and then cable television, where she hosted, wrote and produced a show called “Shades of Success” for more than nine years.
I watched Diane White for years. She was cool.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/dianne-white-clatto-first-black-weathercaster-in-america-dies-at/article_8c22a774-d0ac-5219-ab3c-f3b23bc59524.html
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Diane White Clatto had to have a lot of courage to hold her own so well, so long. It was wonderful hearing just how hard she struggled ro keep her position, too. She was a trailblazer, no doubt about it.
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