Wendi C. Thomas is an investigative journalist and the founder of MLK50, a nonprofit digital newsroom with the goal of reporting on economic justice.

Education

Thomas graduated from

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

with a degree in journalism in 1993.

Career

Thomas worked for ''

The Commercial Appeal ''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, also ...

'' as a columnist from 2003 to 2014. In 2016, she was selected for the 2016 Class of the

Nieman Fellowship The Nieman Fellowship is a fellowship from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. It awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists The Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. In 2017, Thomas founded MLK50: Justice Through Journalism to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the

assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05& ...

In 2020, Thomas won the

Selden Ring Award The Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting, given by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California is a journalism award that includes $50,000 cash in recognition of investigative reporting t ...

and the

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Awards, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was e ...

for local reporting for her reporting on predatory

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

practices in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

Lawsuits

Thomas was involved in a 2018 federal police surveillance trial, where the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

sued

Memphis Police Department The Memphis Police Department is a law enforcement agency in Memphis, Tennessee in the United States. Organization The Memphis Police Department (MPD) provides police services to the people of the city of Memphis in a 288-square-mile area wi ...

for violating a 1978 decree preventing them from surveilling on citizens for political purposes. A white police officer in the trial admitted to posing as a person of color on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and following

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

related groups and people to get intel on the movement, also admitting that Thomas was one of the people he followed. In 2020, Thomas sued the city of Memphis for not including her in the city's media advisory list. Her lawyer claimed that it was unconstitutional for her to not be included and that they didn't include her because they " id notlike the content of her reporting".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Wendi C. American women journalists Butler University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Gerald Loeb Award winners for Local 21st-century American women