Don Hickman was an American television broadcaster for WICS

WICS

WICS is the ABC-affiliated television station for Springfield and Decatur, Illinois. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 from a transmitter south of Dawson and I-72/US 36. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 2 and Suddenlink channel 10...

 (April 1972 - February 2001) in Springfield

Springfield, Illinois

Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

Early life

Hickman was born September 1, 1937 in Trenton, Tennessee to Reese Ervin Hickman and Janie Bowers Hickman. His father was a mechanic who worked for Allis-Chalmers

Allis-Chalmers

The Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. of West Allis, Wisconsin, is an American company known for its past as a manufacturer with diverse interests, perhaps most famous for their bright Persian Orange farm tractors...

 as a field representative and his mother was a housewife. Both of Hickman's parents did not finish school.

Broadcasting Career

Hickman began his broadcasting career in 1957 with a start in radio and then switching to television. His earliest telecasts covered the Civil Rights Movement

Civil rights movement

The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...

. In 1961, Hickman covered the enrollment of James Meredith

James Meredith

James H. Meredith is an American civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. In 1962, he was the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by President...

, the first black student at University of Mississippi

University of Mississippi

The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...

. In 1968, Hickman was the first to report on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..

Business & Politics

Hickman was the founder and publisher of Springfield Scene Magazine, a bi-weekly publication that reports on the prominent local people in Central Illinois

Central Illinois

Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central section of the state, divided in thirds from north to south. It is an area of mostly flat prairie. The western section was originally part of the Military Tract of 1812 and forms the distinctive western...

. He also unsuccessfully ran for the mayor of Springfield in 2003.