Mollie Belt

Mollie Finch Belt is the Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of The Dallas Examiner. She attended elementary school in Tuskegee, Ala.; Cambridge, Mass.; and Dallas, Texas. In 1961, she graduated from Lincoln High School with honors and attended Spelman College and then the University of Denver, where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She did graduate work at Tulane University.

In 1965, Belt began a career in public service. She worked at the Texas Employment Commission in Harlingen as an employment counselor for nine years, as Assistant Manager of the Harris County Manpower Program for three years, and as manager of the City of Dallas Title VI Program for one year and for 21 years Branch Chief of Investigations in the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In March 1986 after publishing only a couple of issues of The Dallas Examiner, Mr. and Mrs. Finch were murdered in their home. Belt was determined not to see her father’s vision die. She and her husband, Attorney James C. Belt Jr. put their resources in the newspaper to keep it alive.

In August 1999, Belt retired from government service to devote her time as publisher of The Dallas Examiner newspaper.

Mollie Belt is a member of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (50 plus years), a lifetime member of the NAACP, served as president of Texas Publishers Association and served on the executive board of directors for the National Newspaper Publishers Association for over 6 years as secretary and first vice chair. She also served on the board of the National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation Board for four years. Her life is recorded by the HistoryMakers and housed permanently in the Library of Congress. In April 2020 Belt was recognized as a Living Legend in Dallas along with Rev. Zan W. Holmes, County Commissioner John Wiley Price and Federal Judge John Lindsey.