Merri Dee (Finding Aid)

Merri Dee

1936 -

Favorite Color: Pink

Favorite Food: Rice

Favorite Time of Year: Summer

Favorite Vacation Spot: Home

Interview Length: 167 minutes

Interview Date(s): July 25, 2000

Interview Location(s): Chicago, Illinois

Abstract

Merri Dee recounts an upbringing worthy of a Charles Dickens novel--her mother dies at a young age, and her father remarried a cruel woman who sent her away to an orphanage, changed her name so her other family members could have no contact with her, separated her from her entire family, and then refused to pay for any schooling after the age of fourteen. Dee managed to survive the cruelty and find her own way in her new hometown of Chicago, Illinois.

Merri Dee details her life as a teen raising herself in Chicago. She recalls the racism and sexism encountered while job hunting. Yet, with her strong sense of self-reliance, Dee either landed the job or kept searching. She also describes the important role her grandparents played in instilling her with a sense of dignity and purpose. Dee remembers her stepmother's death and the sense of freedom her passing left behind.

Merri Dee shares the story of the breakup of her marriage to a profligate spending husband. The divorce caused her to reexamine her life and leave the comfort of working for IBM to enter broadcasting. Merri Dee recounts the harrowing kidnapping and shooting that happened in front of her job location. A visitor to the television station was kidnapped with her and later died from his gunshot wounds.

Merri Dee describes her life as that of a survivor. Taking one year to recover from being shot point-blank in the head, Dee details the aftermath of the prosecution, incarceration and subsequent release, just twelve years later, of her assailant. Angered by his early release, Dee worked tirelessly to create victims' rights in the state of Illinois. Working with Jesse White and future mayor, Richard M. Daley, Dee helped create legislation to ensure the rights of crime victims. Dee also discusses her trials and travails as a black woman in broadcasting in the early 1970s. Encountering racism and sexism from both blacks and whites, she maintained her equilibrium and has been part of the WGN, Chicago television station, family for more than three decades.

Merri Dee details her rather abrupt transition from regular on-air talent to the director of community relations for WGN television. She also describes her extracurricular broadcasting jobs. Dee takes on the roles and relationship of blacks in the media. She offers her admiration of black leaders like Jesse Jackson, Sr. and Illinois state senate president, Emil Jones. The segment closes with her thoughts on the importance of friendship and her decades-long friendship with singer Nancy Wilson.

Merri Dee reveals the importance of her relationship with her only daughter, Toya. It was vital to Dee to create the loving mother-daughter relationship she never had while growing up. Dee admires her daughter's and granddaughter's strength. Dee shares her thoughts on adoption and her involvement in organizations devoted to adoption, a cause dear to her as she was forced to live in an orphanage as a child by her cruel stepmother. The interview closes with 15 photos spanning Dee's broadcasting career.

66 Stories (See Ordered Story Set)