Jacqueline Bernard
Jacqueline Bernard was a notable French-American journalist, author, and social reformer, born in Le Bourget du Lac, Savoie, France. With a background steeped in diplomacy and public relations, she pursued her education at Vassar University and the University of Chicago. Bernard began her career in media as a reporter for ABC News in 1946 and later transitioned into public relations, working for the Jewish Board of Guardians. In 1956, she co-founded Parents Without Partners, an organization supporting single parents, which later gained national recognition. A passionate advocate for social change, she voiced her concerns on various issues including women's rights, prisoners' rights, and anti-war sentiments, particularly against the Vietnam War. Bernard is best remembered for her influential book "Journey Toward Freedom: The Story of Sojourner Truth," published in 1967, which resonated during the Civil Rights movement. Tragically, her life was cut short in 1983 when she was found murdered in her New York apartment, with the investigation revealing no clear motive or suspect.
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Subject Terms
Jacqueline Bernard
Nonfiction Writer and Biographer/Autobiographer
- Born: May 5, 1921
- Birthplace: Le Bourget du Lac, Savoie, France
- Died: August 1, 1983
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Born in Le Bourget du Lac, Savoie, France, Jacqueline Bernard was already well-versed in diplomacy as the daughter of a public- relations writer and a diplomat when she attended Vassar University and the University of Chicago. She married Allen Bernard in 1943, but they divorced after the birth of their son Joel. After college, Bernard worked for ABC News as a reporter in 1946. She worked as both an editor and copywriter before becoming a public-relations professional (like her mother) for the Jewish Board of Guardians in 1963. From 1968 on she worked as a freelance reporter, writer, and as an activist speaking out against social strife.
She cofounded an organization called Parents Without Partners for single parents in 1956, which later expanded nationally. An outspoken advocate for women’s rights who cared more deeply about social change than social life, Bernard championed the rights of prisoners and minorities and protested the Vietnam War and lobbied for nuclear disarmament.
A social reformer, journalist, and author, Bernard was best known for her book Journey Toward Freedom: The Story of Sojourner Truth, which was published in 1967. The book was praised as a factual popular biography of the slave who overcame adversity to become a well-read and politically active woman. It had a larger impact than to simply provide a factual biography because it was released during the height of the national Civil Rights movement. The writer of two more published books and a third unpublished manuscript, Bernard was found strangled to death in 1983 in her New York apartment at the age of sixty-two. The subsequent investigation revealed neither the murderer or the motive.