How the Atlanta Daily World Covered the Struggle for African American Rights from 1945 to 1985
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Abstract Title of Dissertation: THE CAUTIOUS CRUSADER: HOW THE ATLANTA DAILY WORLD COVERED THE STRUGGLE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS FROM 1945 TO 1985 Name: Maria E. Odum-Hinmon Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation Directed By: Prof. Maurine Beasley, Ph. D. Philip Merrill College of Journalism This dissertation is a study of the Atlanta Daily World, a conservative black newspaper founded in 1928, that covered the civil rights struggle in ways that reflected its orientation to both democratic principles and practical business concerns. The World became the most successful black daily newspaper in the nation after becoming a daily in 1932 and maintaining that status for nearly four decades. This dissertation details how this newspaper chronicled the simultaneous push for civil rights, better conditions in the black community, and recognition of black achievement during the volatile period of social change following World War II. Using descriptive, thematic analysis and in-depth interviews, this dissertation explores the question: How did the Atlanta Daily World crusade for the rights of African Americans against a backdrop of changing times, particularly during the crucial forty- year period between 1945 and 1985? The study contends that the newspaper carried out its crusade by highlighting information and events important to the black community from the perspective of the newspaper’s strong-willed publisher, C. A. Scott, and it succeeded by relying on Scott family members and employees who worked long hours for low wages. The study shows that the World fought against lynching and pushed for voting rights in the 1940s and 1950s. The newspaper eschewed sit-in demonstrations to force eateries to desegregate in the 1960s because they seemed dangerous and counterproductive when the college students wound up in jail rather than in school. The World endorsed Republican Presidents and was not swayed to the other side when the Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for President in 1984. The newspaper, however, drew a line against the conservative agenda when the World wholeheartedly endorsed the merits of affirmative action. Now a weekly under more liberal leadership, the World continues to struggle to find its new role when blacks are more assimilated than ever into the fabric of American society. This dissertation, the first in-depth scholarly study of the newspaper, shows how it has managed to maintain itself as a voice of middle-class African American belief in the democratic process. THE CAUTIOUS CRUSADER: HOW THE ATLANTA DAILY WORLD COVERED THE STRUGGLE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS FROM 1945 TO 1985 By Maria E. Odum-Hinmon Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005 Advisory Committee: Professor Maurine Beasley, Chair Professor Reese Cleghorn Professor Michael Gurevitch Professor Lee Thornton Professor Ronald Walters © Copyright by Maria E. Odum-Hinmon 2005 Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction -- Scope and Purpose……………………………….… 1 Notes for Chapter One………………………………………….......................... 4 Chapter Two: Scholarly Approaches Literature Review………………………………………………………………. 5 The Need for Alternatives to the Mainstream Press…………........................ 5 The Black Press………………………………………….......................... 5 Atlanta History……………………………………............................... 18 Black Conservatism…………………………………………………... 19 Mass Media Theory…………………………………………………………20 Research Methodology…………………………………….......................... 23 Definition of Terms…………………………………………………….. 28 Notes for Chapter Two…………………………………………………. 30 Chapter Three: Historical Context -- The Atlanta Daily World and Black Atlanta... 35 Notes for Chapter Three……...........................................................58 Chapter Four: Ruth Scott Simmons -- The Scott Family and the Atlanta Daily World……………………………………………........ 63 Scott Family World Employees Chart………………………………………….. 70 Notes for Chapter Four…………………………………………………………. 73 Sample Front Page: Supreme Court Outlaws Segregated Schools Chapter Five: Providing a Voice -- Coverage from 1945-1959…………………… 74 Introduction……………………………………………………………………... 74 Focus of Chapter………………………………………………………………... 77 Voting Rights…………………………………………………………………… 77 C. A. Scott………………………………………………………………………. 88 The Monroe Massacre and Proposed Anti-Lynching Legislation……………… 91 William A. Fowlkes…………………………………………………………… 113 Integrating the Senate Press Gallery……………………………………………115 Atlanta’s First Black Police Officers…………………………………………...117 Ernest H. Lyons, Sr. ……………………………………………………………122 The Rosa Lee Ingram Case……………………………………………………..124 School Desegregation…………………………………………………………..130 The Murder of Emmett Till…………………………………………………….150 The Montgomery Bus Boycott…………………………………………………164 ii Desegregating Atlanta’s Municipal Golf Courses………………………………. 168 Housing for African Americans in Atlanta ……………………………………... 170 Summary of Coverage from 1945 to 1959……………………………………… 174 Chapter Summary Chart………………………………………………………… 181 Notes for Chapter Five………………………………………………………….. 182 Sample Front Page: Student Sit-Ins Chapter Six: Conservatism and Civil Rights -- Coverage from 1960-1969…… 201 Introduction……………………………………………………………………… 201 Focus of Chapter………………………………………………………………… 204 George M. Coleman…………………………………………………………….. 204 Sit-in Demonstrations…………………………………………………………… 210 March on Washington…………………………………………………………… 213 Birmingham Church Bombing………………………………………………….. 222 John F. Kennedy Assassination…………………………………………………. 235 Civil Rights Workers Killed……………………………………………………. 240 King-Led Civil Rights Demonstrations…………………………………………. 241 Northern Protests………………………………………………………………... 245 Urban Riots……………………………………………………………………… 246 A Call for Rioting to End……………………………………………………….. 248 After King’s Assassination……………………………………………………… 259 Attempts to Restrain Poverty and Racism………………………………………. 261 Civil Rights Issues Continue……………………………………………………..269 Curtis M. Cooper………………………………………………………………... 273 Summary of Coverage from 1960 to 1969……………………………………… 276 Chapter Summary Chart………………………………………………………… 284 Notes for Chapter Six…………………………………………………………….285 Sample Front Page: Andrew Young Sworn in as Ambassador Chapter Seven: Remaining Relevant -- Coverage from 1970 to 1985…………….. 302 Introduction……………………………………………………………………… 302 Focus of Chapter………………………………………………………………… 303 Portia A. Scott…………………………………………………………………… 304 Atlanta Public Schools Busing………………………………………………….. 310 Maynard Jackson Becomes Atlanta’s First Black Mayor……………………….. 316 Hank Aaron Breaks Babe Ruth’s Homerun Record……………………………...322 Andrew Young Becomes Congressman, Ambassador, Mayor………………….. 327 iii Black Elected Officials………………………………………………………….. 333 Blacks and the Republican Party…………………………………………………338 First Black Miss America……………………………………………………….. 345 Affirmative Action………………………………………………………………. 347 Jesse Jackson Runs for President…………………………………………………351 Summary of Coverage from 1970 to 1985……………………………………….356 Chapter Summary Chart………………………………………………………….364 Notes for Chapter Seven………………………………………………………… 365 Sample Front Page: 2004 Presidential Race/Death of Founder’s Ex-Wife Chapter Eight: Epilogue -- M. Alexis Scott and the New Atlanta Daily World…… 378 Notes for Chapter Eight 382 Chapter Nine: Conclusion – Longevity, Its Greatest Accomplishment .…………... 383 Notes for Chapter Nine…………………………………………………………. 405 Appendices: Newspapers Printed By Scott Newspaper Syndicate………………… 406 Sample Scott Newspaper Syndicate Brochure Bibliography……………………………………………………………………….. 407 iv Chapter One: Introduction -- Scope and Purpose The Atlanta Daily World has been a newspaper of paradox -- an African American-owned newspaper that once had a conservative Republican publisher and liberal Democratic staffers. For several decades, when most black-owned newspapers barely survived as weeklies, it thrived as a daily. Later, when many black newspapers closed their doors, the World simply cut back on the number of issues per week it produced. In more recent times, as the newspaper industry has faced frequent mergers and buyouts, the Atlanta Daily World has remained afloat and family-owned. The bustling backdrop to the World has been the city of Atlanta, Georgia -- once dubbed a city “too busy to hate.”1 Ironically, what seemed like a lack of hate was actually a symptom of a segregated society in which African Americans created their own small world, including clothing stores, colleges, universities, restaurants, theaters, neighborhoods, churches and newspapers. This African American microcosm of moderate prosperity circulated around a street formally named Auburn Avenue, but sentimentally dubbed “Sweet Auburn.” At a time when the South was home to Jim Crow laws designed to oppress minorities, African Americans in Atlanta sought to rise above the plight of their circumstances, while never being content with injustice. Chronicling the simultaneous push for civil rights, for better conditions in the black community, and for the recognition of black achievement has been the Atlanta Daily World’s task. The newspaper’s past has made the World noteworthy for being both an instrument of African American achievement as well as a puzzling phenomenon. The fact 1 that it was a conservative newspaper for so many years is all the more perplexing, since the paper was published in a city with a strong liberal heritage that has produced African American political and social leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rep. John