Mable Haddock, who was the founding president of and the first CEO of Black Public Media passed at age 74 on July 23rd in New York City after being ill with kidney disease. Haddock spent her whole life working to bring diverse stories to public media. In 1979, she began her mission by co-founding National Black Public Media in Columbus, Ohio. She helmed the non-profit for 25 years and saw its eventual move to Harlem. The organization received more than six million in funding and was dispersed to several television and film producers as well as documentaries and programs she produced including The Fannie Lou Hamer Story, Unnatural Causes, Mandela, Matters Of Race and The State Of Black America (I&II). Her leadership was responsible for NBPC working with other like-minded organizations to form the National Minority Consortium which is now the National Multicultural Alliance.
Haddock was also a curator, producer and television programmar. She was a founding director of the Firelight Media Documentary Lab and she was also a panelist/reader for ITVS, POV, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), The NationalEndowment for the Humanities (NEH), Ohio Arts Council, Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, theJerome Foundation and anemeritus board member of BPM. Haddock served on the Columbus Cable Advisory Board, the Pittsburgh and Columbus Public Access Boards, the PBS ProgrammingBoard, the National Minority Consortia and the Ohio Arts Council multicultural advisory board.
She was the recipient of many film, television and media awards during her more than 30-year career. The Founders Awards from the Black Women’s Preservation Project, three Communications Excellence to Black Audiences (CEBA) Awards, the Leo Award from the Flaherty International Film Seminars, a New York Women in Film & Television Award, Women of Achievement Awardfrom the Columbus YWCA, a Trailblazer Award from Blackfilm.com and a leadership awardf rom the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC), now known as The Alliance were some of the honors she achieved.
A private funeral was held Thursday August 4th in Clover, Virginia. There will be public memorials in New York City and Columbus, Ohio announced later. For more information, visit blackpublicmedia.org. Follow BPM on social media at @blackpublicmedia on Instagram and Facebook and @BLKPublicMedia on Twitter.
