Bonnie Boswell Hamilton

Television reporter and producer Bonnie Boswell Hamilton was born on October 6, 1951 to Arnita Young Boswell and William Yancy Bell, Jr. in New York, New York. She attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts before receiving her B.A. degree in anthropology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1972. She went on to earn her M.A. degree in city, urban, community and regional planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1975.

Boswell joined WNBC-TV as a broadcast editorialist in 1976. In 1995, she was hired as the co-host of Lawson Live with civil rights leader James M. Lawson, Jr. Then, in 1997, Boswell began producing Positively Black, one of the earliest TV programs dedicated to Black issues in the United States and one of the longest-running WNBC Television programs. In 1998, she was hired as an associate producer for ABC News’ 20/20 and Primetime. Boswell became a television news reporter for WCMH-TV (NBC4) in 2012. The following year, Boswell was the executive producer and co-writer of The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights, a PBS documentary on the life of her uncle, civil rights activist Whitney Young. She then became an executive producer and reporter for PBS SoCal in Los Angeles, California in 2016. With PBS, Boswell created the Bonnie Boswell Reports series, where she covered topics related to life in Los Angeles, California.

Boswell has served on the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) board since 2016. She is also a board member of Community Partners, Lightcast, and The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Boswell delivered two TEDx Talks at the TEDxLAWomen and TEDxOrangeCoast conferences.

Boswell has received numerous honors for her achievements, including an LA Emmy Award for her “Saving Mom” documentary special episode of the Bonnie Boswell Reports in 2024. “Saving Mom” was additionally awarded a Best Feature Award from the LA Press Club. Boswell was honored with the Best News Special for “Seeds of Peace” by the Golden Mike Awards, an Excellence in Media Award from Black Enterprise, and a Public Broadcasting Award for Senior Producers by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Boswell and her husband, William Roderick “Rod” Hamilton, live in Los Angeles, California. They have two children: Taylor Whitney Hamilton and Evan Boswell Hamilton.

Bonnie Boswell Hamilton was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 28, 2025.