Black Press Scholarship: Where We Have Been, Where We Are, and Where We Need to Go

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the black press has been the topic of numerous television documentaries, books, scholarly and trade articles, and theses and dissertations. They have included biographies of the people who provided the content, as well as information on the way black newspapers covered civil rights, sports, wars, and other major events of the twentieth century. They have revealed a powerful institution that recognized, supported, and expressed the aspirations of a group marginalized by an oppressive, dominant society. While the information is rich, it has revealed other gaps in the knowledge of this institution. As the black press continues to be a topic for dissertations and theses and with digitization, the closing of these gaps looks promising.

Notes

1 John D. Stevens, “Black Journalism: Neglected No Longer,” in Mass Media and the National Experience: Essays in Communication History, edited by Ronald T. Farrar and John D. Stevens (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 97.

2 Ibid., 99–104, 110.

3 Patrick S. Washburn, “The Black Press: Homefront Clout Hits a Peak in World War II,” American Journalism 12, no. 3 (Summer 1995): 359–366.

4 Kim Gallon, “Silences Kept: The Absence of Gender and Sexuality in Black Press Historiography,” History Compass 10, no. 2 (2012): 208–209.

5 Ibid., 211.

6 Edward Abie Robinson, A Separate World, “The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords,” directed and produced by Stanley Nelson (San Francisco: California Newsreel, 1998), Kanopy, 42:50.

7 See transcript, “Newspaper of Record: The Pittsburgh Courier, 1907–1965,” http://mreplay.com/transcript/newspaper_of_record.

8 Patrick S. Washburn, “The Pittsburgh Courier’s Double V Campaign in 1942,” American Journalism 3, no. 2 (1986): 73–86; Jerry Gershenhorn, “Double V in Carolina,” Journalism History 32, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 156–167; Jinx Coleman Broussard and John Maxwell Hamilton, “Covering a Two-Front War: Three African-American Correspondents During World War II,” American Journalism 22, no. 3 (Summer 2005): 33–54.

9 The Negro Newspaper Publishers Association’s name changed to the National Newspaper Publishers Association in 1956.

10 Earnest L. Perry, Jr. “It’s Time to Force a Change: The African-American’s Press’ Campaign for a True Democracy During World War II,” Journalism History 28, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 85; Earnest L. Perry, Jr., “A Common Purpose: The Negro Newspaper Publishers Association’s Fight for Equality During World War II,” American Journalism 19, no. 2 (Spring 2002): 32; and Earnest L. Perry, Jr., “We Want In: The African American Press’s Negotiation for a White House Correspondent,” American Journalism 20, no. 3 (Summer 2003): 31–47.

11 The Espionage Act prohibited communication considered to be disloyal toward the U.S. Constitution, the government or the military. The Trading with the Enemy Act prohibited trade with any country considered to be hostile to the United States.

12 Theodore Kornweibel Jr., “‘The Most Dangerous of all Negro Journals’: Federal Efforts to Suppress the Chicago Defender During World War I,” American Journalism 11, no. 2 (Spring 1994): 168.

13 Patrick S. Washburn, “J. Edgar Hoover and the Black Press in World War II, “Journalism History 13, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 26–33.

14 Broussard and Hamilton, “Covering a Two-Front War.”

15 John Stevens, “Black Correspondents of World War II Cover the Supply Routes,” Journal of Negro History 57, no. 4 (October 1972): 395–397, 406; “From the Back of the Foxhole: Black Correspondents in World War II,” Journalism Monographs 27 (February 1973): 1–61.

16 See Nikolas Kozloff, “Vietnam, The African American Community, and the Pittsburgh New Courier,” Historian 63, no. 3 (Spring 2001): 522, 536–538; Lawrence Eldridge, “Chronicles of a Two-Front War: The African-American Press and the Vietnam War,” (PhD diss., University of Illinois at Chicago, 2002).

17 See Ethan Michaeli, The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America from the Age of the Pullman Porters to the Age of Obama (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), 61–79; Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, Vol. I (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1944), 194; An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, Vol II (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1962), 914; Roi Ottley, The Lonely Warrior: The Life and Times of Robert S. Abbott (Chicago: Regnery, 1955), 162.

18 Carolyn A. Stroman, “The Chicago Defender and the Mass Migration of Blacks, 1916–1918,” Journal of Popular Culture 15, no. 2 (Fall 1981): 62–66.

19 Alan D. DeSantis, “Selling the American Dream Myth to Black Southerners: The Chicago Defender and the Great Migration of 1915–1919,” Western Journal of Communication 62, no. 4 (1998): 474–511.

20 See Mark K. Dolan, “Extra! Chicago Defender Race Records Ads Show South From Afar,” Southern Cultures 13, no. 3 (2007): 106–124; Joel E. Black, “A Theory of African-American Citizenship: Richard Westbrooks, The Great Migration, and the Chicago Defender’s ‘Legal Helps’ Column,” Journal of Social History 46, no. 4 (2013): 869–915.

21 Felecia J. Ross and Joseph P. McKerns, “Depression in the Promised Land: The Chicago Defender Discourages Migration,” American Journalism 21, no. 1 (2004): 55–73; Loren Saxton Coleman and Elli Lester Roushanzamir, “All is ‘Wells’ With My Soul: Analysis of Conditioned Agency via The Defender’s Coverage on the Construction and Opening of the Ida B. Wells Homes,” Howard Journal of Communications 29, no. 4 (2018): 368–386.

22 See Mary M. Cronin, “A Chance To Build For Our Selves: Black Press Boosterism in Oklahoma, 1891–1915,” Journalism History 26, no. 2 (2000): 71–80; Felecia G. Jones Ross, “Preserving the Community: Cleveland Black Papers’ Response to the Great Migration,” Journalism Quarterly 71, no. 3 (1994): 532–539; Henry Lewis Suggs, “P.B. Young of the Norfolk Journal and Guide: A Booker T. Washington Militant, 1904–1928,” Journal of Negro History 64, no. 4 (1979), 369–370.

23 See Margaret Spratt, Cathy Ferrand Bullock, Gerald Baldasty, Fiona Clark, Alex Halavais, Michael McCluskey, and Susan Schrenk, “News, Race, and the Status Quo: The Case of Emmett Louis Till,” Howard Journal of Communications 18 (2007): 169–192; Jinx Broussard, “Saviors or Scalawags: The Mississippi Black Press’ Contrasting Coverage of Civil Rights Workers and Freedom Summer, June–August 1964,” American Journalism 19, no. 3 (Summer 2002): 65–75.

24 Julian Williams, “The Truth Shall Make You Free: The Mississippi Free Press, 1961–1963,” Journalism History 32, no. 2 (Summer 2006): 107–112; Julian Williams, “Percy Green and the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission,” Journalism History 28, no. 2 (2002): 66–73.

25 Cathy Ferrand Bullock, “‘Freedom is a Job for All of Us’: The Arkansas State Press and Divisions in the Black Community During the 1957–59 School Crisis,” Howard Journal of Communications 22 (2011): 83–100.

26 Patrick S. Washburn, The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2006), 5.

27 Paula M. Poindexter and Carolyn A. Stroman, “The Black Press and the Bakke Case,” Journalism Quarterly 57, no. 2 (Summer 1980): 267–268.

28 Kathleen Fearn-Banks, “African-American Press Coverage of Clarence Thomas Nomination,” Newspaper Research Journal 15, no. 4 (Fall 1994): 103, 112.

29 Mark K. Dolan, John H. Sonnett, and Kirk A. Johnson, “Katrina Coverage in Black Newspapers Critical of Government, Mainstream Media,” Newspaper Research 30, no. 1 (Winter 2009): 38–40.

30 David T.Z. Mindich, “Understanding Frederick Douglass: Toward a New Synthesis Approach to the Birth of Modern American Journalism,” Journalism History 26, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 20–21.

31 See Frank E. Fee Jr.’s, “Intelligent Union of Black with White: Frederick Douglass and the Rochester Press, 1847–48,” Journalism History 31, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 41–42.

32 See Fee, “To No One More Indebted: Frederick Douglass and Julia Griffiths, 1849–63,” Journalism History 37, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 16; Sarah Meer, “Public and Personal Letters: Julia Griffiths and Frederick Douglass’ Paper,” Slavery & Abolition 33, no. 2 (June 2012): 253–257; Janet Douglass, “A Cherished Friendship: Julia Griffiths Crofts and Frederick Douglass,” Slavery & Abolition 33, no. 2 (June 2012): 265–274.

33 Rachelle C. Prioleau, “Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist and Humanist,” Howard Journal of Communication 14 (2003): 188–189.

34 See Rodger Streitmatter’s, “Alice Allison Dunnigan: An African-American Woman Journalist Who Broke the Double Barrier,” Journalism History 16, nos. 3–4 (Autumn–Winter 1989): 86–97; Rodger Streitmatter, “No Taste for Fluff: Ethel L. Payne, African-American Journalist,” Journalism Quarterly 68, no. 3 (Fall 1991): 528–540; Jinx C. Broussard, “Mary Church Terrell: A Black Woman Journalist and Activist Seeks to Elevate Her Race,” American Journalism 19, no. 4 (Fall 2002): 20–25; Jinx Coleman Broussard, “Exhortation to Action: The Writings of Amy Jacques Garvey, Journalist and Black Nationalist,” Journalism History 32, no. 2 (Summer 2006): 87–95; Streitmatter, Raising Her Voice: African-American Women Journalists Who Changed History (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1994), 50; David T. Z. Mindich, Just the Facts: How Objectivity Came to Define Journalism (New York: NYU Press, 1998), 117–124; Kimberly Mangun, “Boosting the Bottom Line: Beatrice Morrow Cannady’s Tactics to Promote The Advocate, 1923–1933,” American Journalism 25, no. 3 (Summer 2008): 38.

35 See Streitmatter, “Gertrude Bustill Mossell: Guiding Voice for Newly Freed Blacks,” Howard Journal of Communications 4, no. 4 (Summer 1993): 320; Raising Her Voice, 47. Neither Streitmatter’s article nor book explains why she earned such high wages. The article and book both note that the 1900 U.S. Census listed that the annual income of a white woman working in Pennsylvania was $275. The census did not list the incomes of black women; Streitmatter, “Alice Allison Dunnigan,” 92.

36 See Broussard, “Mary Church Terrell,” 13–35; DeSantis, “A Forgotten Leader,” Journalism History 23, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 63–72; Mary Cronin, “C. F. Richardson and the Houston Informer’s Fight for Racial Equality in the 1920’s,” American Journalism 23, no. 3 (Summer 2006): 85.

37 John W. “Bud” Fowler was the to be salaried in organized baseball when he signed with an all-white team in New Castle, Pennsylvania in 1872. In 1884, Moses Fleetwood “Fleet” Walker became the first black to play for the major leagues. See Renford Reese, “The Socio-Political Context of the Integration of Sport in America,” Journal of African American Men 3, no. 4 (Spring 1998): 5–22.

38 See Ronald Bishop, “A Nod From Destiny: How Sportswriters for White and African-American Newspapers Covered Kenny Washington’s Entry into the National Football League,” American Journalism 19, no. 1 (Winter 2002): 81–106; Mark James Sharman, “A Study of How Four Black Newspapers Covered the U.S. Masters Tournament 1994 Through 2001” (Master’s thesis, East Tennessee State University, 2007); Stevens, “Black Press and the 1936 Olympics,” American Journalism 14 (1997): 97–98; and David K. Wiggins, “The Olympic Games in Berlin (1936): The Response of America’s Black Press,” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 54, no. 3 (1983): 278–292; Carrie Teresa, “‘We Needed a Booker T. Washington…and Certainly a Jack Johnson’: The Black Press, Johnson, and Issues of Representation, 1909–1915,” American Journalism 32, no. 1 (2015): 23–40.

39 See Brian Carroll, “From Fraternity to Fracture: Black Press Coverage of and Involvement in Negro League Baseball in the 1920s,” American Journalism 23, no. 2 (2006): 69–95; Carroll, “Early Twentieth-Century Heroes: Coverage of Negro League Baseball in the Pittsburgh Courier and Chicago Defender,” Journalism History 32, no. 1 (Spring 2006): 34–42.

40 See William Kelly, “Jackie Robinson and the Press,” Journalism Quarterly 53, no. 1 (1976): 138–139; and Chris Lamb and Glen Bleske, “Democracy on the Field: The Black Press Takes on White Baseball,” Journalism History 24, no. 2 (1998): 51–59; Samuel Edward Gale, “A Bitter Partnership: The Black Press’ Contentious Relationship with the Negro Leagues in the Struggle to Integrate Major League Baseball,” International Journal of the History of Sport 33, no. 16 (2016): 1885–1903.

41 Lauren Kessler, The Dissident Press: Alternative Journalism in American History (Newbury Park: Sage, 1984), 21–47.

42 Spratt et al., “News, Race, and the Status Quo,” 178–185.

43 See Todd Fraley and Elli Lester-Roushanzamir, “Revolutionary Leader or Deviant Thug? A Comparative Analysis of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Daily Defender’s Reporting on the Death of Fred Hampton,” Howard Journal of Communications 15 (2004): 162.

44 Timothy F. Grainey, Dennis R. Pollack, and Lori A. Kusmierek, “How Three Chicago Newspapers Covered the Washington-Epton Campaign,” Journalism Quarterly 61 (1984): 352–355, 363.

45 See Arnold Shankman, “‘Asiatic Ogre’ or ‘Desirable Citizen’? The Image of Japanese Americans in the Afro-American Press, 1867–1933,” Pacific Historical Review 46 (1977): 567–587; Michael C. Thornton, “Meaningful Dialogue? The Los Angeles Sentinel’s Depiction of Black and Asian American Relations, 1993–2000,” Journal of Black Studies 42, no. 8 (2011): 1292–1295.

46 Gregory Conerly, “Queering the Black Church: Notes from the Black Press, 1945–1960,” Journal of African American History 104, no. 2 (2019): 201–226.

47 Windy Y. Lawrence, Benjamin Bates, and Mark Cervenka, “Politics Drawn in Black and White: Henry J. Lewis’ Visual Rhetoric in Late-1800s Black Editorial Cartoons,” Journalism History 40 (2014): 138–147; Harry Amana, “The Art of Propaganda: Charles Alston’s World War II Editorial Cartoons for the Office of War Information and the Black Press,” American Journalism 21 (2004): 79–111.

48 Benjamin R. Bates, Windy Y. Lawrence, and Mark Cervenka, “Redrawing Afrocentrism: Visual Nommo in George H. Ben Johnson’s Editorial Cartoons,” Howard Journal of Communications 19 (2008): 279.

49 Bates, Lawrence, and Cervenka, “Politics Drawn in Black and White,” Journalism History 40 (2014): 292–294.

50 See Amy Mooney, “Seeing ‘As Others See Us’: The Chicago Defender Cartoonist Jay Jackson as Cultural Critic,” MELUS 39, no. 2 (Summer 2014): 115–116; Stevens, “‘Bungleton Green’: Black Comic Strip Ran 43 Years,” Journalism Quarterly 51, no. 1 (Spring 1974): 122–124; and Stevens, “Reflections in a Dark Mirror: Comic Strips in Black Newspapers,” Journal of Popular Culture 10, no. 1 (Summer 1976): 239.

51 See Stephen Lacy and Karyn A. Ramsey, “The Advertising Content of African-American Newspapers,” Journalism Quarterly 71, no. 3 (Autumn 1994): 521–530; Mary Alice Sentman and Patrick S. Washburn, “How Excess Profits Tax Brought Ads to Black Newspapers in World War II,” Journalism Quarterly 64 (1987): 769–867.

52 See Gilbert A. Williams, “The Role of the Christian Recorder in the African Emigration Movement, 1854–1902,” Journalism Monographs 111 (1989): 1–32; Eric Gardner, “Remembered (Black) Readers: Subscribers to the Christian Recorder, 1864–1865,” American Literary History 23, no. 2 (Summer 2010): 229–259; and Dianne Gordon-Lyles, “Early Black Religious Press: Christian Recorder,” Media History Digest 9, no. 1 (Spring–Summer 1989): 53–59.

53 Bakari Akil, II, “African American News Websites: Publishers’ Views, Perspectives and Experiences in Relation to the Social Construction of News, Online News and the Black Press,” (PhD diss., Florida State University, 2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Felecia Jones Ross

Felecia Jones Ross is an associate professor in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. She is the author of several articles on the black press.