Race News: How Black Reporters and Readers Shaped the Fight for Racial Justice, 1877--1978
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2012 Race News: How Black Reporters and Readers Shaped the Fight for Racial Justice, 1877--1978 Frederick James Carroll College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, African History Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Carroll, Frederick James, "Race News: How Black Reporters and Readers Shaped the Fight for Racial Justice, 1877--1978" (2012). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623352. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-ptak-p544 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Race News: How Black Reporters and Readers Shaped the Fight for Racial Justice, 1877-1978 Frederick James Carroll Newport News, Virginia Master of Arts, The College of William and Mary, 2004 Bachelor of Arts, Northern Illinois University, 1993 Associate of Arts and Science, Illinois Central College, 1991 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History The College of William and Mary January, 2012 Copyright © 2011 by Fred Carroll. All rights reserved. APPROVAL PAGE This Dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Approved by the Committee, November 2011 .j:::;..,._~~. ~· CA.y>:J Co 1ttee Cha1r Dean of Human1t1es and Soc1al Sc1ences, Kimberley L Ph1ll1ps Brooklyn College l ~~ Legum Professor of H1story, Scott Nelson, H1story The College of Wilham and Mary Assoc1ate Prof ssor, Earnest L erry , Journalism Stud1es Umvers1ty of M1ssoun ABSTRACT PAGE Between 1877 and 1978 black reporters, publishers and readers engaged m a never-end1ng and ever-sh1ftrng protest agarnst Amerrcan racrsm Journalists' m1lltancy oscillated as success1ve generat1ons of c1vrl rrghts actrvrsts defrned anew therr relat1onsh1p w1th rac1sm and debated the relevance of black rad1callsm rn the f1ght for rac1al JUStrce Journalrsts achreved therr greatest rnfluence when therr polrtrcal perspectrves aligned wrth the vrews of therr employers and readers Frequent drsputes, though, erupted over the scope and meanmg of racral JUstrce wrthrn the process of reportrng the news, compellrng some wnters to start alternative publlcatrons that challenged the assrmrlatronrst polltrcs promoted by profrt-mrnded publishers and mrddle-class communrty leaders Thrs natrona! network of news by, about, and for Afrrcan Amerrcans emerged rn the late nrneteenth century as the edrtor-proprretors of small, but wrdely crrculated, newspapers defended the freedoms and rrghts garned durrng Reconstructron In the early twentreth century, edrtors and publishers rushed to establish new publlcatrons armed at Afncan Amencans leavrng the southern countrysrde for urban rndustnal employment Partrcularly rn the North, many edrtors adopted mrlltant edrtorral polrcres to wrn the loyalty of readers who mrght otherwrse buy competrng publrcatrons Dunng the rnterwar years reporters and readers rnfused black JOurnalism wrth an unprecedented racral mrlltancy and polrtrcal progressrveness by endorsrng the pol1t1cs and sensrbrilt1es of Harlem's rad1cal orator-edrtors New Negro authors and artrsts, and Popular Front actrvrsts Thrs style of racral advocacy extended beyond the restoratron of crvrl rrghts as wrrters condemned Western colonrallsm, crrtrcrzed Amencan caprtalrsm, and explored black separat1sm Dunng World War II, JOurnalrsts' progressrve outlook propelled black newspapers to therr peak populanty and natrona! rnfluence By the early 1950s, the ascendancy of antrcommunrsm moved publrshers to Jettrson wnters associated wrth the polrtrcs of antr-colonrallsm, antr-caprtallsm, and black separatrsm They were replaced by younger JOurnalists who accepted the narrower mtsston of fightrng for domestrc crvrl nghts In the 1960s, Afncan Amencans rnfunated by the slow pace of desegregation accused commercral publishers of berng too ready to compromrse therr mrlltancy Radrcal wnters and edrtors tapped mto th1s frustratron by creatrng an alternatrve press that defrned and debated the ments of Black Power In the 1970s, JOUrnalists began to broaden the reach of black JOUrnalism by f1ghtrng to rntegrate whrte newsrooms They ultrmately transformed, albert frtfully how mamstream med1a covered and portrayed Afncan Amerrcans and other mrnorrty groups Thrs drssertatron complicates and challenges the hrstorrography of black JOurnalism It supplants scholarshrp that deprcts press protest as unchangmg and dnven by publrshers by argurng JOurnalrstrc agrtat1on was contrnually reconcerved by Journalists and readers It broadens the defrnrtron of who was a JOurnalrst by foregorng a narrow focus on the "black press" for a more rnclusrve exam matron of "black pnnt culture " It charactenzes black radtcals and therr publications as rntegral, not margtnal, rn shaprng commerctal black Journalism It argues the tenets of black Journalrsm, whrle drluted, gamed greater salience as black JOUrnalists mtegrated white-owned medta To Lisa, Emma, Melissa, Mom, and Dad CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii Introduction: Crafting an Interdisciplinary Approach to Black Journalism 1 Chapter One: The Militancy of Modern Black Journalism 14 Chapter Two: The "New Crowd" Journalists 54 Chapter Three: From Ethiopia to Berlin: The "New Crowd" Triumphant 98 Chapter Four: "Persons of Questionable Leanings": The "New Crowd" Driven Out 144 Chapter Five: Black Power Assaults the Black Newspaper 188 Chapter Six: The White Newsroom 226 Bibliography 242 Vita 263 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I thank my dissertation committee members. Kimberley Phillips encouraged me to approach my topic from an interdisciplinary perspective and continually pushed me to hone my arguments. James La Fleur and Scott Nelson provided advice, support, and encouragement over many years. Earnest L. Perry Jr. of the University of Missouri, Columbia, offered penetrating insights and criticisms. More broadly, I thank the professors and students of the Lyon G. Tyler Department of History and the American Studies Program at the College of William and Mary. They have been a source of inspiration and an example of intellectual rigor. For their research assistance, I thank the staffs of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University; Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Chicago; Oberlin College Archives; University Archives and Records Center at the University of Louisville; Peabody Collection in the William R. and Norma B. Harvey Library at Hampton University; and Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary. I also thank moderator Philip Jeter of Winston-Salem State University and the participants of the Media and Civil Rights History Symposium, which was held in March 2011 at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Their comments helped me revise portions of the first two chapters. I could not have finished this dissertation without the support of my wife Lisa and the patience of my daughters, Emma and Melissa. II 1 Introduction Crafting an Interdisciplinary Approach to Black Journalism A problematic disciplinary division devalues the historical significance of modern black journalism, which I define as the practice and profession of reporting and writing news and commentary on current events by African American journalists for a primarily black readership. The historiography of black journalism illuminates how journalism historians and cultural studies scholars pose contrasting narratives on overlapping subject matter but- with a few groundbreaking exceptions- seldom engage with one another's fields. This bifurcation stems from methodological differences concerning who scholars study, which publications they examine, and how they define black journalism. Journalism historians draw upon an older historiography that tends to equate the history of black journalism with the circumscribed professional perspective of newspaper publishers. The problematic nature of viewing black journalism through the eyes of newspaper publishers is illustrated by the commonplace conflation of black journalism with the "black press"- a troublesome term that fuzzily foregrounds owners' control of mechanical production over writers' intellectual creation. This scholarship is overly determined by personal and institutional biography dominated by publishers' lives, careers, and politics. Another branch of study examines the federal government's efforts to censor black newspapers in wartime, emphasizing publishers' interactions with white officials. History written from publishers' viewpoint becomes a narrative of declension- the influence of black journalism rises and then falls in tandem with newspapers' circulation and profitability. 1 1 Patrick S. Washburn reviews influential histories about black newspapers in'" A Dozen Best': Top Books on Black Newspaper History," American Journalism 23 (Summer 2006): 124-131. Personal and institutional biographies ofleading publishers and their newspapers include Ann Field Alexander, Race 2 By overstating newspaper