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Discover the impactful history of early alternative newspapers post-abolition and women's voting rights, exploring pioneering publications like Freedom’s Journal and The North Star. Learn about influential figures such as Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells, and the role of the Black press during critical periods like the Reconstruction and Red Summer of 1919. Delve into the evolution of Black media, from the Chicago Defender to contemporary challenges faced by publications like Ebony and Jet Magazine. Explore the intersection of politics, economics, and community representation in Black journalism, and the vibrant future of ethnic and community media in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
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Abolition of slavery and women’s voting rights led to the rise of early alternative newspapers
First Black newspaper: Freedom’s Journal was founded in New York City in 1827 That same year, New York abolished slavery.
Founders: Rev. Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm, freedmen Freedom’s Journal lasted only 2 years. Russwurm (right) used the paper to promote an early back to Africa movement, and it lost favor. He then migrated to Liberia.
Frederick Douglass was a journalist He founded The North Star in 1847, the most influential Af-Am pre-Civil War publication
Between 1827-1861, there were more than 2 dozen black newspapers established. The Reconstruction was a “golden age” for African American journalists After the Civil war, there was an enormous burst of energy, a desire to communicate, a desire to connect, with black people establishing newspapers in any town, even tiny ones.” – Phyl Garland
Ida B. Wells, co-owner & editor of Memphis Free Speech and Headlight, late 19th century Between 1876 and 1919, at least 3,000 black men were murdered by white lynch mobs. Wells, a crusading journalist, put her life at risk to bring the story to light.
Plessy vs Ferguson, 1896 Impact on the black press? Sparked the black media to cover the new separate but (un)equal law of the land.
Chicago Defender, founded in 1905 as “the world’s greatest weekly” Circulation of 100,000 ballooned to 500,000 readers. The paper was distributed in the South, encouraging black men and women to go North where there was work in factories in big cities.
The Defender covered the Red Summer, 1919. Riots broke out in large cities after white men returned from the war and found their jobs taken by black men
In heyday, black press = 2,700 newspapers, magazines and quarterly journals
Launched by W.E.B. Du Bois, as mouthpiece of the NAACP • It will record important happenings and movements in the world which bear on the great problem of inter-racial relations, and especially those which affect the Negro-American. • Secondly, it will be a review of opinion and literature, recording briefly books, articles, and important expressions of opinion in the white and colored press on the race problem. • Thirdly, it will publish a few short articles. • Finally, its editorial page will stand for the rights of men, irrespective of color or race, for the highest ideals of American democracy, and for reasonable but earnest and persistent attempts to gain these rights and realize these ideals. • Circulation increased from 1,000 copies to 100,000 by 1918
Jessie Redmon Fauset, literary editor of The Crisis in the 1920s
Literary magazine of Harlem Renaissance Featured Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and other artistic luminaries
Social issues and crusades The magazine lives on and online
The Negro Digest, founded in 1942 by John Johnson, patterned after Reader’s Digest
Ebony, founded in 1945 John Johnson used his mother’s furniture as collateral for a loan after no one – black or white – fund his idea to create an Af-Am “Life” magazine.
Ebony Mission Statement Ebony celebrated African American life and culture by depicting the achievements of black Americans. It honored black identity by portraying black life, refuting stereotypes, and inspiring readers to overcome racial and other barriers to success.
Jet Magazine, 1951 John Johnson wanted weekly “jet-fast” news in response to rapid societal change.
Jet also offered serious coverage of early Civil Rights movement
Essence Magazine, 1970grew from 50,000 to 1.6 million in its heyday Magazine as born at the height of black power and women’s liberation movements.
Trends in black publishing When mainstream publishing sneezes, black newspapers and magazine catch pneumonia Jet, R.I.P. June 2014
Not the only game in town Celebrities have options – and so do readers.
Oprah, the queen of all media, creates competition for black publications
Economics of Magazines • Cover Price: $3.99 an issue • Subscription: $12.99 a year discounted • Full page 4-color ad: about $121,000 for one month • essence.com: free
Analog Dollars vs Digital Dimes The death of print….. At all media, ethnic and mainstream, advertising migrates to less expensive online sites.
Challenge of Black Media • How do you critically cover issues in the community? (Bill Cosby! Clarence Thomas?) • White ownership, Essence, BET, Black voices, • Politics vs economics (Nelly, Essence Music festival?) • Multi-culturalism & interracial marriage • The career as black journalist – where to put your talent
Community and Ethnic Media: future of print 37 % of New York’s population = foreign born. The combined circulation of these 18 dailies exceeds 500,000. (By contrast, the New York Daily News delivers about 270,000 papers to the city’s five boroughs.)
