Harry S. McAlpin (1906–1985) became the first black correspondent to be admitted to a White House press conference, in 1944. A correspondent for the National Negro Press Association and the Atlanta Daily World, he first attended a White House press conference on February 8, 1944. In 1947 the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association and individual newspaper correspondents were accredited to the Congressional Press Galleries and to the State Department. The journalists accredited at this time were James L. Hicks, accredited to the State Department; and Percival L. Prattis and Louis Lautier accredited to the House and Senate press galleries.