R.I.P.: Belva Davis, Pioneering San Fran Journalist

(1932-2025)

Belva Davis, a pioneering African American journalist widely regarded as the first Black woman hired as a television reporter on the U.S. West Coast, passed away on September 24, 2025, at her home in Oakland, California. She was 92 years old and had been battling a long illness. Her death was confirmed by family members and multiple Bay Area news outlets, including KPIX, KQED, and KRON4, where she had worked during her nearly 50-year career.

Davis's passing prompted an outpouring of tributes from colleagues, public figures, and the journalism community, celebrating her as a trailblazer who shattered racial and gender barriers in broadcast news. 

KQED President and CEO Michael Isip called her death "a great loss for the Bay Area," highlighting her unflappable demeanor and mentorship role. The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), which inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 2008, mourned her as a barrier-breaker whose legacy would endure.

The Early Years

Born Belvagene Melton on October 13, 1932, in Monroe, Louisiana, Davis grew up amid poverty and racism in the Jim Crow South. Her family fled to Oakland in the early 1940s, where they squeezed into a cramped two-bedroom apartment—eleven relatives in all—before moving to a West Oakland housing project. Despite these hardships, she graduated from Berkeley High School in 1951 and, without a college degree, broke into journalism as a freelancer for Jet magazine in 1957.

Her radio career began in the early 1960s at Oakland's KDIA, where she hosted The Belva Davis Show, interviewing celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Bill Cosby. In 1967, she made history at KPIX-TV (CBS affiliate in San Francisco) as the West Coast's first Black female TV reporter, facing overt discrimination—such as being ejected from press conferences—but persisting with poise and professionalism. She later worked at KRON4, KTVU, and KQED, hosting the acclaimed public affairs show This Week in Northern California for nearly two decades until her retirement in 2012.

Over her career, Davis earned eight Emmy Awards and covered landmark stories, including the 1968 Republican National Convention (where she and her crew were physically attacked by segregationists), Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr., the Patty Hearst kidnapping, Fidel Castro in Cuba, and the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania.