Callie Crossley is a Boston based radio and tv host, commentator, and public speaker. Her Monday morning commentaries on WGBH’s Morning Edition tackle wide-ranging subject matter—from the removal of Confederate statues, police killings of unarmed Black men, the powerful men who shielded Jeffrey Epstein, commercialization of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, safe injection sites, Jay-Z and the NFL and COVID 19 disparities.

She appears on WGBH-TV’s Beat the Press, examining local and national media coverage, and hosts Basic Black, which focuses on current events concerning communities of color. A frequent commentator on television and radio, she is regularly quoted in the national media.

A former producer for ABC News 20/20, Ms. Crossley is also a CIC Visiting Fellow (formerly Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow), guest lecturing at colleges and universities about media literacy, media and politics and the intersection of race, gender and media.

Callie is a multiple awarding winner journalist and documentary filmmaker, whose awards include a National Emmy, the Gold Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia Award, plus Associated Press, Edward R. Murrow, and Clarion Awards, and top honors for commentary from the Public Radio News Directors. She is the first African-American to win an Oscar nomination in the Documentary Feature category for her work as a Producer on “Bridge to Freedom,” her hour in the documentary series, “Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954-1965.” She also earned a National Emmy and the Alfred I Dupont-Columbia Award (Gold Baton) for this work.

Crossley won the 2020 Clarion Award for Radio Regular Talk or Interview program for a curated collection of segments from “Under the Radar with Callie Crossley.” She also won the 2020 Clarion Award, Local or Regional Television Talk Show for an episode of “Basic Black: Harriet Tubman movie and 1619”

“Basic Black” team honored with the 2020 Governors Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

In January of 2019, Cinema Eye awarded the Legacy Award to Crossley and other members of the Blackside, Inc. “Eyes on the Prize” creative team for nonfiction filmmaking.

Crossley won Second Place in the 2019 Best Commentary award from the Public Media Journalists Association (formerly Public Radio News Directors, Inc.) organization for “The Smith College Incident and Everyday Racism.”

Crossley won 2019 Clarion Award for a curated collection of discussion segments from her WGBH radio show, “Under the Radar with Callie Crossley”
and for Hosting the TV talk show, “Basic Black: What the Midterm Election Means for People of Color.”

Crossley won a 2017 Award from National Association of Black Journalists for Hosting in the Television Public Affairs: Interview Discussion for the program “Basic Black: Celebrating a Prince, a Queen and a General”

Crossley was honored with the 2017 Open Door Award from Old South Church whose previous winners include former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Reverend Frank Schaefer, and Sarah Ann Shaw.

Crossley is the recipient of the 2017 Barbara Stone Hollander Award for Women’s Leadership from the Women’s Institute at Chatham University.

Crossley won the 2016 Best Commentary award from the Public Radio News Directors organization for “Tomorrow Is Not Promised: Life After Hurricane Katrina.”

She was also awarded both the 2016 and 2015 National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence Awards for a compilation of commentaries, “Observations on Ferguson: America’s Racial Ground Zero” and “Race Matters: Echoing History.”

In 2014 three awards –the Associated Press, Edward R. Murrow, and Clarion awards for writing, producing and co-hosting the hour radio documentary, “Witness to History: WGBH’s 1963 Coverage of the March on Washington.”

She is a graduate of Wellesley College, and holds three honorary degrees, a Doctor of Humane Letters from Wheaton College, a Doctor of Arts degree from Pine Manor College and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Cambridge College.

Crossley has been honored with many community awards including the 2019 Justice in Action Award from Jane Doe, Inc., the 2016 GK100 List, identified as one of Boston’s Top 100 Influential People of Color, the 2012 George W. Coleman Award from the Ford Hall Forum, and a Leading Woman award from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts.

She is also featured in the 2011 book, “Boston’s Inspirational Women” co-authored by award winning photographer Bill Brett, Kerry Brett, and Carol Beggy.

Go to top of page