African American Press

views updated

African American Press

"We wish to plead our cause. Too long have others spoken for us." This statement, written in 1827, was the lead sentence for an editorial in the first African American publication, Freedom's Journal, published in New York City. From that time until the present there have been more than 3,000 African American newspapers, magazines, and book presses. The African American press, also referred to as the black press, is strongly based on color, that is, on publications that are for black readers, by black staff members and owners, dealing largely with black issues and society. The black press has been largely made up of newspapers, a format that dominated the first 130 years. From the beginning, most newspapers have been driven by a mission—to improve the plight of African Americans. Through the Civil War, the mission was emancipation of slaves followed by later issues of citizenship and equality. Not only did the press serve as a protest organ, but also documented normal black life, especially as it existed under segregation and Jim Crow laws. In many cases, these papers provide the only extant record of African American life in forgotten and remote towns.

The purposes of the African American press often followed the beliefs of the publishers or editors, for example, Frederick Douglass, founder and editor of The North Star in 1847. Douglass believed that a successful paper managed by blacks "would be a telling fact against the American doctrine of natural inferiority and the inveterate prejudice which so universally prevails in the community against the colored race." A number of African American editors were also noted leaders in black liberation and civil rights, for example, P.B.S. Pinchback, Ida B. Wells Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. These individuals, and many more like them, challenged the status quo by questioning social objectives in schools, the legal system, political structures, and the rights extended to minorities.

The high point of African American newspaper distribution came in the 1940s and 1950s, when circulation rose to more than two million weekly. The top circulating black newspaper during this period was the Pittsburgh Courier. Following World War II, African Americans began demanding a greater role in society. Because of a significant role in the war, black social goals were slowly starting to be realized, and acts of overt discrimination moved toward more sophisticated and subtle forms. The civil rights movement made it seem that many battles were being won, and that there was less need for the black press. From the 1960s on, circulation dropped. There were additional problems in keeping newspapers viable. Advertising revenues could not keep pace with rising costs. Established editors found it difficult to pass on their editorial responsibilities to a new generation of black journalists. Mainstream presses had partially depleted the pool of African American journalists by offering them employment and giving space to the discussion of black issues.

African American magazines began in 1900 with the Colored American. Failures in the black magazine industry were frequent until John H. Johnson started the Negro Digest in 1942. The Johnson Publishing Company went on to publish some of the country's most successful African American magazines, including Ebony (beginning in 1945), a general consumer magazine that has outlasted its competitors including Life and Look, and Jet (beginning in 1951), a convenient-sized magazine that summarized the week's black news in an easy-to-read format. Among specialty magazines, the most successful has been Essence. Founded in 1970, it is a magazine dedicated to addressing the concerns of black women. The popularity of Ebony and Essence expanded to traveling fashion shows and television tie-ins. Examples of other specialty magazines include Black Enterprise, founded in 1970 to address the concerns of black consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs, and The Black Collegian, a magazine addressing black issues in higher education. There have been a number of magazines from black associations and organizations, foremost The Crisis, a publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People started by W.E.B. DuBois in 1910. There have also been a number of black literary and cultural magazines. Examples include Phylon: A Review of Race and Culture, founded by W.E.B. DuBois, and CLA Journal, a publication of the College Language Association. These journals have provided an outlet for works of scholars and poets, and have represented a social as well as literary effort where the act of writing became synonymous with the act of justice.

African American book presses have primarily published African American and multicultural authors. Typically, black book presses have been small presses, generally issuing fewer than a dozen titles per year. Examples of book presses include Africa World Press, Third World Press, and two children's book publishers, Just Us Books and Lee and Low. Publishers at these presses have been unable to give large advances to authors, and therefore have found it difficult to compete with large publishing houses. Large publishing houses, on the other hand, have regularly published books by black authors, though many have been popular celebrities and sports figures who were assisted by ghostwriters. These books have done little to add to the development of black literary voices, and have left the illusion that black writers are published in greater numbers than has been the case.

Throughout its history, the African American press grew out of distrust; that is, blacks could not trust white editors to champion their causes. Too many majority publications have portrayed blacks in a one-dimensional way—if they were not committing a crime or leeching off of society, they were running, jumping, joking or singing. It has taken the black press to portray African American people in non-stereotypical ways and present stories of black achievement. When a black news story broke, these publications reported "what really went on." In addition, much of what has been found in the black press was not reported elsewhere, for example, special dispatches from Africa oriented toward American readers.

Despite more than 170 years of publishing, most African American presses struggle to survive. While the oldest, continuously operating African American publication, the Philadelphia Tribune, dates back to 1884, virtually thousands of others have come and gone. Of the approximate 200 plus current newspapers, most are weekly, and none publish daily, though there have been a number of attempts at providing a daily. Those that do survive are generally in urban areas with large black populations. Examples include the Atlanta Daily World, the Los Angeles Sentinel, and the New York Amsterdam News (in New York City). These newspapers and others like them compete for scarce advertising revenue and struggle to keep up with the changes in printing technology.

The attempts at building circulation and revenue have philosophically divided African American newspapers. Throughout its history, black journalism has been faced with large questions of what balance should be struck between militancy and accommodation, and what balance between sensationalism and straight news. Focusing on the latter, in the early 1920s, Robert Sengstack, founder and editor of the Chicago Defender, abandoned the moral tone common to black newspapers and patterned the Defender after William Randolph Hearst's sensationalist tabloids by focusing on crime and scandal. The formula was commercially successful and many other black newspapers followed suit.

The struggle of the African American press for survival, and questions of purpose and direction will likely continue into the foreseeable future. However, as long as a duel society based on skin color exists, there will be a need for an African American press. Given the dominance of majority points of view in mainstream publications and the low number of black journalists, it is more important than ever for the African American press to provide a voice for the black community. If African Americans do not tell their story, no one will.

—Byron Anderson