A’Lelia Bundles BIO (pronounced Ah-LEEL-ya)

Read about A'Lelia in the New York Times
"Unpacking Harlem History" NYT 5-8-2003

Video: A'Lelia's interview with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis 2010

Video: A'Lelia's interview with Natalie Cofield/DC Women's Commission 2010

Video: A'Lelia at the Israeli Presidential Conference/Jerusalem 2009
 
Video: A'Lelia's interview with HGTV about Madam Walker's mansion 1998
 
     A’Lelia Bundles--author, journalist and former network television news executive—currently is at work on a biography of her great-grandmother and namesake, A’Lelia Walker, who was a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance. JOY GODDESS: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance will be published by Simon and Schuster in 2011. Her critically-acclaimed, best-selling biography, ON HER OWN GROUND: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker [Scribner/Lisa Drew 2001/S&S Atria 2002], was named a 2002 Borders Books-Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, a 2001 New York Times Notable Book, the 2001 Letitia Woods Brown Book Prize winner by the Association of Black Women Historians for the best book on black women’s history and a 2002 Honor Book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. The first truly comprehensive account of Ms. Bundles’s great-great-grandmother’s life, this nonfiction book is based on nearly three decades of her meticulous research in the libraries, historical societies, courthouses and private homes of more than a dozen U. S. cities. Her young adult biography, MADAM C. J. WALKER: ENTREPRENEUR [Chelsea House 1991] received an American Book Award.
        In early 2006, Ms. Bundles became a fulltime author and professional speaker after enjoying a 30-year career as an executive and producer in network television news. From 2000 to 2006 she was director of talent development for ABC News in Washington, D.C. and New York. She was deputy bureau chief of ABC News in Washington from 1996 to 1999, after twenty years as a network television producer with ABC and NBC News. From 1989 until 1996 she was a producer with ABC’s “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.” While at NBC News from 1976 to 1989 in New York, Washington, Atlanta and Houston, her assignments for “Nightly News,” “Today” and several primetime specials and magazine broadcasts included Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, the 1984 Democratic Convention, the Atlanta youth murders and several hurricanes.
          Ms. Bundles’s speeches about Madam Walker, media and journalism have been well-received by audiences at conferences, libraries and educational institutions including Harvard University, the National Archives, London City Hall, the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem, the Center on Philanthropy at IUPUI, Spelman College, the U. S. Postal Service, Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress and several book festivals. She has appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” NBC’s “Today,” CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “Fresh Air,” C-Span Book TV’s “Public Lives,” WNET/13’s “A Walk Through Harlem” and other national programs. Her articles have been published in the New York Times Book Review, O (The Oprah Magazine),  Parade, Essence, Fortune Small Business, Black Issues Book Review,  the Radcliffe Quarterly, several other magazines and on her website at madamcjwalker.com.
        She is a trustee of Columbia University and a member of the boards of the Madam Walker Theatre Center of Indianapolis, the Foundation for the National Archives and the Friends of Woodlawn Cemetery. She also is a juror for the annual Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards in Broadcast News and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards and a member of the advisory board of the National Library Initiative of Jewish Women International.
           She has served as president of the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association, a Radcliffe College trustee, a Radcliffe Quarterly advisory board member, a member of the Dean’s Council of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, a member of the Board of Governors of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, a Harvard Alumni Association director, a member of the Harvard Alumni Association Nominating Committee for Overseers and Directors, a Harvard Club of Washington director, a National Women’s Hall of Fame board member, co-chair of the National Association of Black Journalists Authors Showcase and chair of the Association of Black Women Historians Letitia Wood Brown Book and Article Prize Committee. She has been a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the Hurston/Wright Foundation’s Writers Week.         
     Among Ms. Bundles’s journalism awards are a du Pont Gold Baton and an Emmy. She has been inducted into the Black Memorabilia Hall of Fame and the North Central High School Hall of Fame. She is a recipient of a 2002 Harvard Alumni Association Award for outstanding service through alumni activities, a 2004 Radcliffe Distinguished Service Award and a 2007 Columbia University Alumni Medalist.
     She has been featured in several books including Jewels: 50 Phenomenal Black Women over 50 by Connie Briscoe and Michael Cunningham, Queens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Phenomenal Hair by Michael Cunningham and George Alexander, Tenderheaded: A Comb-bending Collection of Hair Stories by Pamela Johnson and Juliette Harris,  Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America by Ayana Byrd and Lori Thorps, Midlife Crisis at 30: How the Stakes Have Changed for a New Generation by Lia Macko and Kerry Rubin, Let's Talk Hair by Pamela Ferrell and Why Are Black Women Losing Their Hair by Barry Fletcher.
In 2003, she created the 100 Books, 100 Women campaign to expand the library at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York. As well, she spearheaded the national campaign that led to the 1998 U. S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage stamp of Madam Walker.
  Ms. Bundles graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and Radcliffe College, received a masters degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an honorary doctorate from Indiana University. She is a member of the Alpha Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard College. She lives in Washington, DC.                                                 

      For more information about booksignings and speeches, please contact her at ABundles@gmail.com

Click here to read "Why I Wrote On Her Own Ground"   (See "Interviews & Essays")

A'Lelia Bundles: Wikipedia



AUDIO INTERVIEWS

Click here for Deborah Hardnett's Wealthy Sistas Interview with A'Lelia 2010

Click here for Chris Curtis's Web Business Owners interview with A'Lelia 2007

Audio: A'Lelia's interview--Smithsonian Lemelson Center 2009 (Click #10 & #11)

VIDEO INTERVIEWS

Video: A'Lelia Bundles and the du Pont Broadcast Awards jury

Click here for Natalie Cofield's DC Women's Commission interview with A'Lelia