Wil Haygood

Raised in a Columbus housing project, Wil Haygood graduated from South-Western City’s Franklin Heights High School and became the first in his family to attend college. After he graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, he went on to author five nonfiction books. But, it is his achievements as a journalist for The Washington Post that have been grabbing national headlines recently, throwing his own rags-to-riches story into the spotlight. His front-page story for the Post about longtime White House butler Eugene Allen is the inspiration for “The Butler,” a feature film released last fall. He also was an associate producer for the movie. Haygood joined The Washington Post in 2002 as a national writer. He was one of the first journalists into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck and he covered the story for 33 straight days without a break. Before his time at the Post, he worked as a national and foreign correspondent at The Boston Globe for 17 years, where be became a Pulitzer Prize finalist. While covering the civil war in Somalia in 1990, he was taken hostage by rebels and eventually released with the aid of Pakistani troops. Haygood’s books include several biographies of 20th-century figures: King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.; In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.; and Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson. His other books are: The Chicago Tribune, Parade and Mosaic; Two on the River; and The Haygoods of Columbus: A Family Memoir. His books have helped him earn a National Headliner Award, Sunday Magazine Editors Award and a National Association of Black Journalists Award, among others. In 2013, Haygood was awarded the Ella Baker Social Justice Award, named after the civil rights pioneer. The judges for that award applauded Haygood’s literary career “for shedding a light on those who give much, but are little noticed.” He was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by his college alma mater and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in 2013. Haygood was the first person enshrined in the Lincoln Theatre’s Walk of Fame in Columbus. In November 2013, he was the speaker for the first General Session at OSBA’s Capital Conference and Trade Show.