Sandra Hughes, a journalist, from Durham, North Carolina, is known for breaking barriers. She attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and received her B.S. in English education in 1969 after graduating from Notre Dame High School in 1964. After graduating, she worked for Western Electric as an editor of technical publications until being hired as a general assignment reporter by WFMY-TV in 1972. In 1974, with Sandra and Friends, she became the first African American woman to host her own daily talk program in the Piedmont.
She was the first female broadcaster to be accepted into the European Communities’ Visitors Program in 1976. In 1978, Hughes became the first African American woman to host the widely distributed PM Magazine in the Southeast. In 1985, she started hosting the Good Morning Program alongside Lee Kinard. She was appointed manager of the community affairs division of WFMY-TV in the same year and launched the "2 Those Who Care" project. In 1990, Hughes made a comeback to the newsroom as the anchor of the 6 o'clock nightly news. In 1992, she was a driving force behind the Minority Broadcast Development Program. After retirement she worked as an adjunct journalism professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
Hughes was the first African American in the Piedmont to receive the Edward R. Murrow award for news reporting from the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce in 1981. She was honored as a Distinguished Alumni by North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University in 1995. Sandra Daye Hughes Day was declared by the Guilford County Commissioners on July 24th of that year. In 2002, she was awarded the North Carolina Governor's Order of the Long Leaf Pine. She has received several "Best of Gannett" honors for her work as a news anchor and for particular programs. She was hailed by the International Civil Rights Center and Museum as a "Unsung Hero" in 2006. The National Organization of Black Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc. presented Hughes with the Sojourner Truth Award in 2009, and the newsroom of WFMY-TV was renamed "The Sandra Daye Hughes Information Center" the following year.
Hughes was also given an honorary doctorate in the humanities from her alma mater, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, in addition to being inducted into the Broadcaster's Hall of Fame by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters and the National Academy of Television Art & Sciences in 2010. Hughes was honored by the National Association of Black Journalists with the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
