had wrapped it up and the job was open and about 70 women applied and for whatever reason, the westinghouse owned cbs stationed hired the only black in our area, black man named ben williams and six months later, they hired me and so they had two black people in the state of california working on their channel, of all channels. and ben and i took our responsibilities very seriously 'cause we knew that we had to do well, neither of us knew anything about television. but we both had faith that what we wanted to do was a good thing for our time and our place. and that was the beginning of a television career that has now spanned 43 years without a break. never a day without a job. and that's something i'm very proud of. [applause] >> so this charmed life that came from nowhere, from a dream, has taken me on journeys that i couldn't have imagined. i've had the opportunity to come south, to go to georgia. have my chance to do my march. have my opportunity to be spat upon, straight-away in my face. my cute little blonde girl that i asked a question of. i've had the opportunity to go to the white