DOCUMENT RESUME ED 367 976 CS 214 205 TITLE Proceedings of the American Journalism Historians' Association Conference (Salt Lake City, Utah, October 5-7, 1993). Part II: Issues of Race. INSTITUTION American Journalism Historians' Association. PUB DATE Oct 93 NOTE 311p. PUB TYPE Collected Works Conference Proceedings (021) Historical Materials (060) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC13 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Blacks; Catholics; Cultural Context; Females; Jazz; *Journalism History; News Media; *Newspapers; *Racial Attitudes; School Desegregation; World War II IDENTIFIERS African Americans; *Black Press; Cold War; Contempt of Court; Journalists; New Deal; United States (South); Virginia ABSTRACT The Issues of Race section of the proceedings of this conference of journalism historians contains the following 11 papers: "Dan A. Rudd and the 'American Catholic Tribune,' 'The Oply Catholic Journal Owned and Published by Colored Men'" (Joseph H. Lackner); "Rough Flying: The 'California Eagle,' 1879-1965" (James Phillip Jeter); "Simeon Saunders Booker: Washington Bureau Chief" (Barbara Diggs-Brown); "Through Different Colored Glasses: African-American Correspondents in World War II" (Tonya V. Smith); "All That Jazz: Carter G. Woodson's Blue Note: African-American Press Focus on Jazz in the Early '30s" (Leonard Ray Teel); "William Lloyd Garrison's 'Ladies' Department': A Public Forum for Black Women Journalists of the 1830s" (Bernell E. Tripp); "Toward a Common Goal: Jean-Charles Houzeau, P. B. S. Pinchback and New Orleans' Black Press, 1862-1882" (Paul H. Gates, Jr.); "A Voice for White Society: The Role of 'The Virginia Gazette' during School Integration" (Poul Olson); "A Question of Race: A Southern Liberal Journalist's Fight for Freedom and Injustice" (Kevin Stoker); "Newspaper Contempt and the Issue of Race" (Richard Scheidenhelm); and "The Glass Houses of the Cold War: The American Press and Racial Problems on the World Stage" (Richard Lentz and Pamela A. Brown).(RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN JOURNALISM HISTORIANS' ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE (Salt Lake City, Utah, October 5-7, 1993). Part II: Issues of Race. U.S. DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATION Office of Educational Ritsearch and Improvoment EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS CENTER (ERIC) MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY IVdocument has been reproductid as owed from the parson or ONInitetion originating it 0 Minor champ**hoots boon made to improve reproduction quality Points of viewor opinions stated in this docu- mentdonot nrocassanlY reprisant OtfiCisi OERI position or policy TO THE il,ICATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATiON CENTER (ERIC)" BEST 2 Lam Dan A. Rudd And The American Catholic Tribune, "The Only Catholic Journal Owned and PublishedBy Colored Men" by Joseph H. Lackner, S.M. Dan A. Rudd was a remarkable individual. Born as a slave in Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1854, herose to national recognition as a black editor in the United States.1 But unlike other nineteenth century African American editors, hewas a Roman Catholic, when at most there were two hundred thousand Catholicsout of the seven million American blacks.2 Though he was Catholic, he mixed freelywith the Protestant black elite on both local and nationallevels and exerted some influence among them. For example, he participated in the Afro- American Press Association andserved on its committees with journalists of the stature ofHarry C.Smith of the Cleveland Gazette and T. Thomas Fortune, the leadingblack journalist from the middle 1880s into the first decadeof the twentieth century.3 Edward Elder Ccoper of the IndianapolisFreeman featured him as part of his paper's regular serieson young African American leaders.4 And he was nominated at leastonce as one of the "ten greatest Negroes" in a contestsponsored by the Indianapolispaper 2 3 in 1890.5 Rudd, himself, never tired mentioning the visits of fellow black editors to his paper's offices.5 On the local level, Rudd associated with Peter H.Clark, "Cincinnati's most famous colored citizen,"7 William H. Parham, lawyer and principal of Gaines High School (Cincinnati'sonly African American high school at the time), Charles W. Bell, professorof penmanshipin thecity's mixed schoolsand a correspondent for newspapers, and other prominent blacks singled out by Wendell Dabney, author of Cincinnati's Colored Citizensand himself a member of the Queen City's African American eliteat the turn of the century.5 In 1889 some of these men and other Cincinnatians hosted a reception to recognizeRudd's "... services and earnest labors in behalf of hisrace and the Catholic Church."9 Included among those who toasted Ruddwas George H. Jackson, "the wealthiest colored man in Cincinnati,"1°a lawyer and future member of the Ohio State legislature. And though Rudd was black, he had the attention,at least for some time,of important menbers of the white eliteamong the Catholic laity.For example, his name appeared along withthose of two other prominent Catholic laymen, WilliamJ. Onahan ard Henry J. Spaanhorst, on the letter calling for the firstgeneral congress of Catholic laity in United States." And just as Rudd developed friendships with African Americans journalists,so he cultivated ties with white editors of Catholicnewspapers,12 even to the point of being present at the founding meetingof the Catholic Press Association.13 Because Rudd spearheaded theAfro-American Catholic 3 4 Congresses," held from 1889-1894, and distinguished himselfas a lecturer on the "Negro Question" in the east and midwestof the United States, he was likewise well-knownamong the elite of Catholic African Americans." Rudd also solicited and received the support ofmany bishops and archbishops in the United States,"even travelling to Europe asa delegate to the International Anti-Slavery Congress and carrying with him a letterof supportfromCardinal James Gibbons.17 At the reception mentioned above, WilliamHenry Elder, Archbishop of Cincinnati, congratulated him with the words: To Mr. Dan A Rudd was due the inception andsuccess of the late Colored Catholic Convention whichmet in Washington City in January last. That Convention was for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the Coloredrace,and the good that resulted from it can not be estimated. I am glad to see members of all denominations here to-nightto do honor to Mr. Rudd. ...Mr. Rudd is doing his part toward dissolvingthis [race prejudice] problem." ) Rudd came to Cincinnati in the latesummer of 1886, after several years in Springfield and Columbus,Ohio, where he served as an editor of newspapers and a champion for civil rightsfor African Americans, particularly for the endof segregation in the public schools."The American Catholic Tribunewas his first attempt at Catholic journalism and it wouldprove one of his most outstanding successes. Like its editor, thepaper was unique among the more 4 0 r PAGE02 06/30/1994 14:11 5132294188 UD SCHOOL EDUCATION than twelve hundred Cath,qic newspapers publishedduring the nineteenth century2° and an equal number of black papers founded from 1866 to 1905.21 As a declaration printed on the editorial page of every issue claimed, the AmericanCatholic Trf..bune was "The only Catholic Journal owned and published by Colored Men." This assertion accurately expresses the newspaper's mission and captures its distinctiveness.A more expanded statement of purpose is found in aletter,dated August 22,1886, published at the paper's beginnings: We will do what no other newspaper published by Colored men has ever dared to do -- give the great Catholic Church a hearing and show that she is worthy of atleast a fair consideration at the hands of our race, being as she isthe only ona on this Continent, where rich and poor, whiteand black, must drop preludice at the threshold and go handin hand to the altar. We will also continue to fight for the eternalprinciples ofliberty, justice and equality before the laws. The publishers will endeavor to make the AMERICAN CATHOLICTRIBUNE national in its character and fearlessin adynnating the policy adopted.22 To fulfill the paper's mission, Rudd put before his subscribers news about blacks,no matter what theirreligious affiliation, who had succeeded and who were worthyof imitation. His intent was to sensitize whites,making them aware of the race's achievement and equality, and to encourageamong AfricanAmericans 5 6 race pride, an important catalyst to their advancement. In this effort he was at one with other black editors ofthe day. But whatmade Ruddexceptional amongAfrican American journalists was his aim to giverace pride a particular Catholic turn. There were some black journalists, Smith" andFortune" among them, who occasionally suggested that the "color line" did not exist in the same way among Roman Catholicsas it did among white Protestants.Such was Rudd's absolute conviction, rooted in his memory of the Catholicism of his parishchurch in Bardstown." And so he was indefatigable in assertingthat the Catholic Church had no color line and was "...the onlytrue solution of that catch question The'Negro Problem."26 "Her[the Catholic Church's] solution," he wrote, "is simple justiceto all concerned. ...The whole Christirn religion is basedon the unity of the human race. Destroy this and fundamental lawsare swept from existence. The Catholic Church has always taught thistruth and by that