Alice Allison Dunnigan was a pioneer in journalism and a civil rights activist. She was the first Black woman to get a press pass to cover the White House and her writing on the civil rights movement was in Black newspapers across the country. 

Born in 1906 in Logan County, Kentucky, to Willie and Lena Allison, she was the granddaughter of former slaves. She showed an early interest in journalism. When she was just 13 years old, she submitted news items to the Owensboro Enterprise, a Black newspaper.