Inez Jesse Baskin was an American journalist and civil rights supporter who covered the Civil Rights Movement and the Montgomery Bus Boycott for African American readers and publications.

Baskin was born in Florala, Alabama on June 18, 1916. Baskin graduated from what is now Alabama State University with a degree in education. She later also received a degree in divinity from Selma University.

After working as a teacher and typist, she became a journalist and reporter for the “Negro New” section of the Montgomery Adviser newspaper. After the arrest of Rosa Parks, Jet Magazine and the American Negro Press hired her to cover the Montgomery Bus Boycott. As a supporter of the boycott and a journalist, Baskin took a seat right in front of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., when Montgomery’s buses were finally desegregated.

Baskins was also a licensed social worker and a church pianist. She implemented Montgomery, Alabama’s first Head Start program, as well as its first hot-lunch program for low-income children. Inez Bakin died on June 28, 2007 at the age of 91.

sources:

https://aaregistry.org/story/inez-baskin-a-sterling-journalist/