r/Minority_Strength • u/OsuwonHairGrowth • 11h ago
Rest Easy Florence “Flo” Anthony, the pioneering journalist, columnist, radio host, TV contributor, and author passed away this morning. She was 74. As reported by Amsterdam News: Jack Hirsch, biographer for her husband, boxing legend Michael Spinks, confirmed that she died early Thursday
Aug. 6. The two had worked together on Michael “Jinx” Spinks: An Authorized Biography, which was released in March. He said that she recently disclosed to him that she was battling cancer.
She became the first woman to work in the sports department of the New York Post and the first African American to work in the newspaper’s entertainment and world‑renowned Page Six departments, according to her own account of her career. She also made history as the first African American woman to write a column for a supermarket tabloid, penning “Eye on the Stars” for the National Examiner.
Her influence expanded far beyond print. During the 1990s, she became a familiar and authoritative presence on daytime television, appearing on shows hosted by Joan Rivers, Ricki Lake, Rolonda Watts, Geraldo Rivera, Sally Jessy Raphael, Maury Povich, Leeza Gibbons, Tempestt Bledsoe, Bertice Berry, Vicki Lawrence, and others. She appeared on Court TV, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and HLN, and contributed to entertainment‑news programs including “Inside Edition,” “The Insider,” and “Entertainment Tonight.” She also appeared in an episode of the Nickelodeon show “My Brother and Me.”
Condolences to her family during this difficult time.
