NEGRO PUBLICATIONS. Newspapers. When federal troops marched into Oxford, Miss., following the desegrega­ tion of the University of Mississippi in September 1962, the circulation of Negro newspapers across the country reached an all-year high. As the tension subsided and it became apparent that James H. Meredith, the first known Negro ever to be enrolled by "Ole Miss,” would be allowed to remain, the aggregate circulation of Negro newspapers dwindled again to an approximate 1.5 million. Since the end of World War II, when the nation’s Negro newspapers began a general decline in both number and cir­ culation, racial crises have been the principal spur to periodic —and usually temporary—circulation increases. The editor of a Detroit Negro weekly equated the survival of the Negro press with the prevailing degree of Jim Crow. "If racial discrimination and enforced segregation were ended tomor­ row,” he suggested, "the Negro press would all but disappear from the national scene.” While this statement is a deliberate oversimplification of the situation, it is borne out, to some extent, by the recent history of the Negro press. In 1948, six years before the Supreme Court desegregation decision, there were some 202 Negro newspapers with a total circulation of 3 million. But in 1962, according to the annual report of the Lincoln (Mo.) University School of Journalism, the number of Negro news­ papers—daily, weekly, semiweekly, and biweekly—had shrunk to 133, with a gross circulation of just over half the 1948 figure. The Pittsburgh Courier, which in 1948 boasted a national weekly circulation of 300,000, now sells about 86,000 copies in its various editions. The Negro press came into existence as a means of pro­ testing racial inequities and to serve as a voice for the ostracized Negro minority. As the newspapers broadened their coverage, they also became the medium through which the Negro community kept abreast of its social, religious, and business activity, areas of Negro life usually ignored by the general press. In recent years, northern urban dailies have begun routinely publishing news about Negroes; some papers, such as the New York Times and the Washington Post and weeks, racial desegregation in Tennessee will be totally accom­ Times Herald, include news and photos of Negroes in the plished, and there will be no need for a Negro newspaper. society pages. The effect on the circulation of Negro news­ In a move aimed at stemming losses of circulation and papers has been drastic. However, in matters of severe racial prestige, the Chicago Defender, one of the two Negro dailies crisis or controversy, Negroes still tend to distrust the view­ in the United States (the Daily World, published in Atlanta, point of the general—or white—press and turn to the Negro Ga., is the other), rehired Ben Burns, a white editor who press for what is considered a more enlightened and sympa­ had worked on the paper in the 1930’s and early 1940’s. thetic coverage of the news. Burns is one of the few white editors associated with the The 1962 Lincoln University report indicates that while Negro press. Negro newspapers are steadily declining in number, they are Of the half-dozen Negro newspapers launched in 1962, two again making modest gains in circulation. In 1961, for ex­ of the more important ones come from Chicago, and both are ample, there were 142 Negro newspapers (nine more than in weeklies. The Owl, a sixteen-page magazine-sized paper de­ 1962), but their aggregate circulation was only 1,470,038 voted to expose, was founded by Dan Burley, a columnist, (34,318 less than in 1962). However, a breakdown reveals humorist, and raconteur widely known in the Negro com­ that the most significant increases in circulation were made by munity. Burley died of a heart attack in early November, two papers like the Los Angeles Sentinel (28,457) and the Cali­ months after starting the paper. The other new Chicago-based fornia Eagle (20,550), which are located in areas receiving weekly is the national organ of the controversial Black Muslim huge numbers of Negro migrants. Of the thirty-one Negro sect. Called Muhammad Speaks, it is a twenty-four-page tabloid newspapers which ceased operation in 1961, all but four were with screaming front-page headlines and numerous illustra­ published in the South (twenty-two new Negro newspapers tions. Though given to sensationalism and rabble-rousing, came into existence during that year). The only new Negro Muhammad Speaks is much better edited and is supported by newspaper to invest in expensive press equipment was the far more advertisers than are many older and more respectable Illustrated News, a Detroit weekly which also had the dubious Negro newspapers. It makes a direct appeal to Negro chauvin­ distinction of being censured by the Michigan Fair Campaign ism and to Negro resentment of racial discrimination in Practices Commission for allegedly making "racist” appeals to American life. Under a headline reading "A House Doomed the Negro electorate during the election campaigns. In Nash­ To Fall” and the byline of the sect’s leader, Elijah Muhammad, ville, Tenn., a Negro weekly was born with the exotic name a front-page story stated: "We cannot deny the fact that the of The 780 Countdown. The paper’s founder, Raymond W. Christian West is responsible for this universal corruption in Powell, explained that its purpose was to "promote com­ the land and sea. From the same corruption that their hands munity welfare, build community businesses, protect people’s have wrought will come their doom. The Christians preach interests and Constitutional rights” for the next 780 weeks, or that which they do not do, and cannot do. Such as 'Love thy fifteen years. The apparent assumption is that after 780 neighbor.’ I have as yet to meet one who loved his neighbor 423 424 NEGRO PUBLICATIONS as he did himself. 'Thou shall not kill.’ I have as yet to meet Magazines. In 1962, the world’s biggest, slickest, and such a Christian.” A headline below read in two-inch letters: richest Negro magazine grew even bigger, slicker, and richer. "Afro-Asians Tell Kennedy-Khrushchev: LET CUBA LIVE Ebony, which came into existence seventeen years ago as a IN PEACE!” Muhammad Speaks is sold on newsstands and monthly version of Life, attained a circulation peak of 752,- by hawkers on the street. It is also distributed by subscription 000 during the year. And though the advertising volume among the estimated 100,000 Black Muslims in the United (86014 pages) was some eighty-four pages less than the States. record i960 total of 944pages, higher rates brought in Compared to Muhammad Speaks, most other Negro news­ record advertising revenue for the year. papers are pallid in their approach to the problems of racial The rosy statistics which characterized Ebony, however, discrimination and civil rights. Nevertheless, Attorney General were not matched by any other of the small group of maga­ Robert Kennedy was sufficiently concerned about sensational zines aimed at the Negro community. The second most pop­ reporting of racial incidents to make an appeal to Negro ular and prosperous Negro-oriented magazine, Jet, continued publishers. Addressing the annual meeting of the National its decline from a peak 650,000 weekly circulation reached in Newspaper Publishers’ Association (NNPA) (to which pub­ 1955 following the murder of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till lisher Elijah Muhammad does not belong) in Washington, in Mississippi. Jet, a pocket-sized news weekly patterned after D.C., the Attorney General stressed the idea that Negro news­ the now-defunct Cowles magazine, Quick, sells approximately papers have the responsibility to report progress in removing 375,000 copies a week. Like Ebony and the monthly maga­ racial barriers in addition to making protests against existing zines Tan and Negro Digest, Jet is published in Chicago by discrimination. "I do not suggest that you be soft on prejudice the Negro-owned Johnson Publishing Company. or discrimination,” he told the Negro publishers, "but you In a move calculated to challenge Ebony’s near-domination have a duty to tell the full story. If your stories are sensation­ of the Negro picture-magazine field, the Good Publishing seeking, slanted, or vindictive, the Negro community will Company of Fort Worth, Texas, launched a major reorganiza­ mirror this attitude. If you dwell upon the remaining flaws tion plan and advertising campaign for its leading contender, and do not report progress as well, disillusionment will Sepia, a frank imitation of Ebony printed on offset presses in follow.” the firm’s home offices. The Good Publishing Company’s On March 16 the NNPA, which for the past twenty-four president, white Texas millionaire George Levitan, called in years has sponsored National Negro Newspaper Week, cele­ as consultants two former Ebony employees, editor A. S. brated the 135th anniversary of the Negro press in America. Young and artist Ben Byrd, and revamped the magazine’s According to the association, the first Negro newspaper was format. He also hired New York advertising representatives founded in New York City on March 16, 1827, by West to go after a larger share of the Negro magazine advertising Indies-born John B. Russwurm, reputedly the first Negro dollar. Sepia’s circulation is quoted at 100,000. university graduate (B. A., Bowdoin, 1826), and Samuel E. Like the Johnson Publishing Company, the Good Publish­ Cornish, a Presbyterian minister. The NNPA in 1962 pre­ ing Company produces four magazines: Sepia, Bronze Thrills, sented its annual Russwurm Award for "outstanding achieve­ Hep, and Jive. The latter three, as the names suggest, are ment” to Andrew Hatcher, White House press secretary.