[5] The first member of his family to attend college, Payne graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1964 with a degree in English.
[7] Next year, it was published as a book credited to the newspaper staff, The Heroin Trail (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975).
[1][8] In 1975, Payne and other African Americans working in the media established the National Association of Black Journalists.
[9] Payne co-wrote a series of articles about the Symbionese Liberation Army and the kidnapping of Patty Hearst.
[6][10] Payne's reporting from South Africa during the 1976 Soweto Uprising was selected by the jury for a Pulitzer Prize in International Journalism, but the group's advisory board overruled their decision with no explanation.
[15] The book is described as a "powerful and revelatory account of the civil rights activist, built from dozens of interviews, offering insight into his character, beliefs and the forces that shaped him.