Chicago film censor Beatrice McGill dies - obituary - Brief Article

Jet, Jan 18, 1993

Beatrice McGill, the first Black to become a film censor in Chicago, died recently in Chicago Osteopathic Medical Center. She was 92.

Mrs. McGill, a South Side resident, was appointed to the Chicago Police Department's five-member Film Censor Board in 1946, and for 37 years she censored numerous movies. She once said she never was for shielding adults from whatever they wanted to see, but "the children need guidance and protection."

A native of Savannah, Ga., she graduated from Atlanta University in 1920 and taught school in Savannah for 13 years. She moved to Chicago in 1933 and was married to Nathan K. McGill, an influential attorney who helped her obtain her job as a film censor.

She is survived by a son, Winston Sr., a stepson, Simuel; three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.