. >> melva douglas was the first female news anchor on the west coast. she recounts her life and the many stories she covered during the appearance at the bookstore in new york city. >> a thanks of you being part of my dream, a dream realized. i never could have imagined myself in this place at this time talking to people about a life that i had been privileged to live. everything that's happened to me i consider a gift. so when you hear, which i will tell you in just a minute, how i started, where i started from and then realize where i am today, you too will say never in my wildest dreams. but i basically am a southern girl. i wasn't part of the great migration. we got there a couple minutes before that started. i was born in monroe, louisiana. that's the northern part of louisiana. it doesn't even have the romance of being, you know, new orleans and all of those customs. but i was born in 1932 and you can do the math in this town right after what they called the flood of the century. my mother was 15 years old when i was born. she worked as a laundres