One of the original women reporters to be called a "sob sister," Winifred Black wrote some 16,000 articles under the pen name "Annie Laurie" in her forty-seven-year career on the San Francisco Examiner. She interviewed President Benjamin Harrison and African explorer Henry Stanley; rode with William Jennings Bryan on his 1896 campaign train; became one of the first female reporters to interview a prizefighter; and befriended prostitutes, juvnile delinquents, criminals, policemen, and judges. As a"sob sister," she was a spokesperson for the downtrodden, children, and women. Her writing was prolific, empathetic, compassionate, and persuasive. Black successfully fought for civic reform, initiated crusades, and contributed to the development of a sensationalized form of news writing that became a genre for newspapers during the early twentieth century.

An extremely energetic woman, Black juggled a career in journalism with the rearing of three children at a time when women were considered only...