African-American journalist Ed Bradley was born June 22, 1941, in Philadelphia. Bradley grew up in a single-parent household, and learned the value of hard work from his mother. He attended Cheyney State College, graduating in 1964 with a degree in education. Bradley’s first job was teaching sixth grade. While he was teaching, he also worked at KDAS in Philadelphia, initially for free and later for minimum wage. He programmed music, read news, and covered basketball games. His introduction to news reporting came during the riots in Philadelphia in the 1960s. In 1967, he landed a full-time job at WCBS radio in New York City.Four years later he moved to Paris. Mainly for financial reasons, he became a stringer for CBS News in France, where he covered the Paris Peace Talks. In 1972, he was transferred to Saigon to cover the Vietnam War. He also spent time in Phnom Penh covering the war in Cambodia, where he was injured by a mortar round while covering the war. In 1974, he moved to Washington, D.C. He covered Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign in 1976 and then became CBS News' White House correspondent for two years.
From 1978 to 1981, he served as principal correspondent for "CBS Reports." In 1981, he joined the staff of "60 Minutes" when Dan Rather left to replace Walter Cronkite as the anchor of the CBS Evening News. He has been there for more than 20 years.
Reference: Maynard Institute on Ed Bradley