During her employment at the Courier, Garland wrote about Black issues including the March on Washington, the Civil Rights Movement, and discrimination in housing, education and the arts, earning her a Golden Quill Award in 1962.
[1][5] In 1965, Garland joined the Chicago staff of Ebony Magazine as a contributing editor and music critic.
[1] In 1973, Garland joined the faculty of Columbia University as an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Journalism.
Garland was known as a tenacious teacher, believing that the arts should be researched and reported as thoroughly and professionally as other traditional journalism subjects.
Students and colleagues noted her deep love for Black music, referring to her very large personal jazz record collection and the listening parties she hosted at her apartment on 8th Street in Greenwich Village.
[citation needed] In 1998, Garland was awarded an honorary doctorate of Human Letters from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she was a frequent guest lecturer.