Gary G. Yerkey

{{short description|American journalist}} {{autobiography|date=April 2016}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}} thumb|Gary G. Yerkey in 2024 '''Gary G. Yerkey''', born in Chicago, is an American author and journalist currently based in Washington, D.C., contributing to ''The Christian Science Monitor'' and other publications.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christiancentury.org/contributor/gary-g-yerkey|title=Gary G. Yerkey - The Christian Century|work=The Christian Century|date=March 21, 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ripon.edu/2015/10/26/gary-g-yerkey-66-publishes-new-non-fiction-book/|title=Gary G. Yerkey '66 publishes new non-fiction book|publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| url = https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2015/1112/T.Mac-Howard-opened-a-school-for-disadvantaged-youths-in-a-small-Southern-city| title = T.Mac Howard opened a school for disadvantaged youths in a small Southern city - CSMonitor.com| journal = Christian Science Monitor}}</ref>

==Career == A graduate of Ripon College with B.A. in philosophy, he later undertook post-graduate work at the American University of Beirut and spent more than a decade in Europe and the Middle East, reporting for Time Life, ABC News, ''The Christian Science Monitor'', the ''International Herald Tribune'' and other U.S. news organizations. He was also a staff reporter for Bloomberg BNA covering Congress and the Executive Branch. He has reported from India, Morocco, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Colombia, Canada, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and many other countries and has interviewed and written profiles of dozens of famous and not-so-famous individuals—from influential jazz drummer Art Taylor to civil rights movement icon John Lewis and award-winning Mexican poet and environmental activist Homero Aridjis. He has also served in the United States Air Force and is a former pilot.

==Awards== In 2015, he was among the "foot soldiers" of the civil rights movement who received the Congressional Gold Medal—the nation's highest civilian award—for their participation in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, led by John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ripon.edu/2016/04/14/congressional-gold-medal-presented-to-1965-foot-soldiers-including-four-representatives-of-ripon-college/|title=Congressional Gold Medal presented to 1965 'foot soldiers,' including four representatives of Ripon College|publisher=}}</ref> In 2024, he was the recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Citation from Ripon College.

==Works== *''Still Time to Live: A Biography of Jack Belden'', {{ISBN|0615458882}} *''South to Selma: 'Outside Agitators' and the Civil Rights March that Changed America'', {{ISBN|1484868951}} *''Dying for the News: Honoring Tom Treanor and the Other Reporters Killed Covering World War II'', {{ISBN|1517205174}} *''A Pilot's Pilot: Gen. Caleb V. Haynes and the Rise of American Air Power, 1917–1944'', {{ISBN|1984121480}} *''A Fever in My Blood: The American Life and Tragic Death of Darrell Berrigan'', {{ISBN|1091536880}} *''The Two Wars of Bruce C. Hopper: From WW I Bomber Pilot to WW II Spy'', {{ISBN|9798705570287}} *''Troublemakers: On the March for Civil Rights From Selma to Black Power'', {{ISBN|9798714083310}} *''He's Coming to Start Riots: On the Road to Black Power with 'The Reverend' Willie Ricks'', {{ISBN|9781530507566}} *''When the Yanks Came to Sweden: How Thousands of American Airmen, Spies and Diplomats Changed a 'Neutral' Nation in World War II'', {{ISBN|979-8322297161}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yerkey, Gary}} Category:Living people Category:Journalists from Chicago Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Journalists from Washington, D.C. Category:Ripon College (Wisconsin) alumni Category:American civil rights activists Category:Selma to Montgomery marches Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients Category:Academic staff of the American University of Beirut Category:The Christian Science Monitor people Category:ABC News people Category:American male journalists Category:Year of birth missing (living people)