Miami Proud: Writer Bea Hines breaks barriers as Herald's first Black female reporter
MIAMI - There's a little name dropping, as Bea Hines shows off the photos and memorabilia in her Miami Gardens home.
"Maya Angelou is one of my mentors. I knew her personally," Hines gestures to the photo and signed poem, a gift from the late iconic poet.
Born in Williston, Florida, Bea Hines always knew she wanted to be a storyteller. She used to write plays for church and stories for her little brother. Her family moved to Miami, and she grew up in Liberty City, a place she would cover in her career as a reporter.
Her journey with the Miami Herald started in 1966 as a file clerk in the library, while Hines was going to school at Miami Dade College studying journalism. The articles she wrote for the school paper would lead to her big break in 1970 as the Herald's first Black female reporter.
On her first day as reporter there was a riot in her Liberty City neighborhood, but she wasn't aware of it yet.
"I wasn't dressed for a riot you know - everyone else had on sensible clothes and sensible shoes to cover a riot in June."
She went to the area, and connected with a man outside a pool hall who shared that the riot was bad for his business- hustling. That story made it on the front page the next day as her editors thought a story with a lighter feel was needed.
Assimilation into the newsroom culture would come with some difficulty.
"The city desk people just didn't know what to do with this Black female that was also green," she laughs adding, in all seriousness, "this was a white male domain."
They sent her on wild goose chases- in her own car, one time arriving to find the address was the city dump. She was not amused.
"At that time, it was a big mound of dirt with buzzards flying overhead. I was really angry - but being a Christian and having faith I let the Lord speak to me."
So she sang a gospel song all the way back, and eventually approached her editor.
"I said, 'the guys at the desk are playing games with me. Why don't you let me cover the black community because you never have done a good job of it,'" Hines recalled.
And they did.
"I wrote stories about Overtown- I told them about second avenue. I wrote about Liberty City -one of my first front page story features was entitled Growing up in Liberty City."
From there she would cover features, religion, teach workshops at colleges, and earn several accolades including a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for her columns, in the early 1980s.
Hines retired from full time work in 2001, took care of her ailing mother, but continued her weekly column. To this day she is a community voice and an influencer in the truest sense of the word.
"I think I introduced Miami and white Miami and people of other cultures to life as a Black person," she said.
Hines says one of her most amazing moments was interviewing Rosa Parks. Aside from writing her column, raising her sons, and now spending time with great grandchildren, she is always been active in her church and the community. She is a champion for the importance of preserving and teaching Black history. She also authored a children's book, called The Ugly Feeling, which is available here.