Known as the "First Lady of the Black Press," she fulfilled many roles over her career, including columnist, commentator, lecturer, and freelance writer.

[5][8] The fifth of six children, Payne's siblings were Alice Wilma, Thelma Elizabeth, Alma Josephine, Lemuel Austin, and Avis Ruth.

In 1917, they bought a house located across the street from the Greater Saint John AME Church, where the family belonged and participated in community events.

[8] She held this job from 1948 to 1951, eventually becoming the Director of the United States Army service club at the quartermaster depot in Tokyo, Japan.

Impressed, the reporter took the journal back to Chicago and soon Payne's observations were being used by The Defender, an African-American newspaper with a national readership, as the basis for front-page stories.

[10] In addition to national assignments, Payne was afforded the opportunity to cover stories overseas, becoming the first African-American woman to focus on international news coverage.

[7] During Payne's twenty-five year career with The Chicago Defender, she covered several key events in the Civil Rights Movement, including the Montgomery bus boycott and desegregation at the University of Alabama in 1956, as well as the 1963 March on Washington.

The President's angry response that he refused to support special interests made headlines and helped push civil rights issues to the forefront of national debate.

She subsequently covered the Nigerian civil war and the International Women's Year Conference in Mexico City, and accompanied Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on a six-nation tour of Africa.

[14] In 1972 she became the first African-American woman radio and television commentator on a national network, working on CBS's program Spectrum from 1972 to 1978, and after that with Matters of Opinion until 1982.