The First Amendment; History of Afro-American Journalism

"The First Amendment and The Free People," a weekly examination of civil liberties and the media in the United States and around the world. The program is produced cooperatively by WGBH Boston at the Institute for Democratic Communication at Boston University. The host of the program is the institute's director, Dr. Bernard Rubin. [music] [Rubin] With me today is Hank Lebree who is an expert on the black press. Mr. Lebree is a graduate of Bethany College. Got his master's degree at West Virginia University, and his doctorate from the University of Iowa. He has done postdoctoral work recently on the same subject of the black press in its various manifestations at Harvard College, at the Charles Warren Center, and he is currently --at the time of this broadcast-- consultant to the Afro Journalism Program at Boston University. Hank, I cannot resist asking you the initial question which may be too blunt and blatant but nevertheless is

interesting. You're not black, and you've devoted your research efforts to study of the black press. I'm not questioning your interest in the black press, and I don't find it that unusual. But I would be interested in what stimulated your interest in the subject originally? [Lebree] That's a large question, and it covers a lot of different areas. Maybe I can begin at the beginning with where I started to become aware of the fact that there was a black press and a black newspaper in 1969, as I was preparing to finish some graduate studies and research at West Virginia University. My advisor Dr. Guy Stuart mentioned to me that I might be interested in doing some investigation on the black press. My response to him is, "What is the black press?" And I had no concept and no idea at all what a black press was. This was disturbing, initially, because here I was with an undergraduate degree in the mass media

communications under my arm, and I did not recall at all reading any place in the texts on journalism that there was a thing or a medium that you would call a black press. And I think that that was the first part that hooked me into starting to do some research on the subject: the total ignorance of it. And I would guess a lot of people become involved in subjects because, at first, they are totally unaware of the fact that the subject existed. I began to go into the library and start to look at the available materials, and it was obvious and apparent from the beginning that the material available, a great deal of it was superficial. By that, I mean a lot of the articles that were submitted were one-author articles or single-time articles. A person would do a story or a report on the black press, submit it, and he would go on to a totally different subject. And as I began to read these great variety of articles, I found a great deal of sup-- of superficial type

research, a great deal of contradiction. It was not even basic knowledge of how many newspapers existed, how many people worked in the newspapers, or what the circulation was. [Rubin] Now you recently, fairly recently, published a book on the subject have you not? [Lebree] Yes. The book was called "Perspectives of the Black Press," and it brought together a collection of 14 original articles that many of them were written by black journalists who are either now working with the black press or have instead gone on to work in an establishment newspaper, or may have also been written by some press scholars who have done some research on the black press. [Rubin] Well, as one who has toiled in, among other areas, the area of urban communication, and gone through as much of the literature as you can go through, I have been surprised that even urbanologists spend very little time on minority press, the black press, or any other press. You go through the contents of the typical book talking about urban problems

or even books talking about black capitalism and whatnot, and there is a line or a page at most in some of them. Very little by way of the extensive materials on the black press. Perhaps it might be useful, Hank Lebree, to ask you to start at the beginning. What were the first manifestations of the black press in the United States? [Lebree] The black press, I believe-- most of the people who have done some research on it can agree-- began in 1827. So we're now looking at its 152nd year. And the initial paper, the initial journal, was in New York City. Published-- or the publisher was John Brown Russwurm, who was one of the first black college graduates. He came out of Bowdoin College. And Reverend Samuel Cornish. And they combined to issue a paper called "Freedom's Journal" in New York City in 1827. And as I look at the history of the black press, I kind of divide it up into maybe through what you might call three growth periods: 1827 to 1865,

the end of the Civil War. Approximately 50 papers were-- were born, were started, and almost all of them in the North. I think that one is traced to the South in New Orleans. And as I look at that first growth period, and I look at the literacy studies that we've done over the years, and you begin to see that in the beginning, one out of 20 blacks could read. I'm dating back now to, say, the early 1800s. And then you look at 1900, and you find one of two blacks could read. So I have to think that the first black newspapers actually were read and were produced for whites to read so that they could begin to understand the nature of the problem that existed. And the forerunners, or the major voices of that time, about papers like Martin Delaney's "The Mystery" in Pittsburgh and Frederick Douglass's paper, "North Star." Those are the papers that lead the way. And then you go to a second growth period, I can-- consider that somewhere between 1865 and 1905, and

there are approximately 1,300 newspapers that started then. And these were papers that, again, most of them-- I think about 70 percent started in the North. Many of them beckoning that that opportunity existed in the North. And this of course led to migrations from the South to the North by many black families. [Rubin] Now in regard to to Frederick Douglass you mentioned, he was a great orator. And the newspaper, "The Liberator," I-- have you become aware of how powerful he was as a journalist? [Lebree] I would I would say that his paper, which was called "North Star"-- -"North Star." Garrison's paper was "The Liberator." But I would say that he was very well received, as as you said, as a speaker. He had maybe a great ability to persuade and to move groups. I would not-- I can't say I could really tell you the impact of the paper the "North Star" except that he did publish it for abolitionist reasons and to advance the need for the end of slavery.

[Rubin] Now when we get into the post Civil War period, what does the picture begin to look like then? [Lebree] It begins to look like a lot of-- a lot of men and women recognize a need for a voice, and begin to start newspapers. Of course, they're not going to be underwritten by advertisers who probably couldn't see any need at all to place or buy space in the black newspaper. And so most of the papers are become-- become what you might call an avocation rather than a vocation. The editor or the publisher is a mail clerk by day, or a lawyer, or a doctor, or a teacher. And on the weekends, or in the late evenings, they begin to produce the newspaper, and they bring together people, concerned members of the community, to be contributors to that newspaper. And so the paper begins to get off the ground, in a big scale, I would say, in the second growth period. Many, many newspapers as an avocation. It doesn't have a lot of the trappings of a newspaper, and what I mean by that is it doesn't take on all of the sophistication that one would

attach to a journalistic sophistication, that one would attach to a notion of a newspaper. To be honest-- to be frank, it's, in some cases, very shoddy. But it existed. [Rubin] How long do they exist? Do they go in and out of business, as it were? [Lebree] Well, Dr. Armistead Pride who I recognize along with Roland Wolseley. Dr. Pride is at Lincoln, and now retired. And Professor Wolseley at Syracuse. I recognize both of them as deans in the area of black journalism. They have both written and investigated extensively. Dr. Pride did this study once, going back over the years, and he estimated that the average lifespan of a black newspaper all of these years since 1827 has been about nine years. And I should add that that is basically true. You look at the black press today, which is 165 (approximately) newspapers strong, and almost 80 of those newspapers were started since 1960. Only five of that number. Only five of the 165 date back to prior 1900. [Rubin] What have been the great

newspapers in terms of circulation and in terms of influence, let us say, in the period-- since the 1880s or so? [Lebree] I know I'll leave some out here [chuckles] and so I will apologize ahead of time. The newspapers that I can think of that are most commonly known, and most talked about, and most respected for the sacrifice and the commitment that they made over the years-- I think of papers like the "Pittsburgh Courier," the "Chicago Defender," "Chicago Daily Defender," the "Atlanta Daily World," "The New York Amsterdam News," "The San Francisco Sun Reporter." That's more of a newer paper, but it's a paper that's done a great deal in its lifetime. "St. Louis Argus" and the "Kansas City Call," looking more to the Midwest. "San Francisco Bee." "The Elevator," which has-- many of the papers, in fact, take on interesting names. "Defender," "Elevator."

"Rights For All," "Freedom's Journal." You go back over the names of these newspapers and they-- and the names themselves cry out to be heard, the need for an alternative press. [Rubin] Now in regard to this alternative press, like, actually-- it wasn't an alternative press because one would presume that given the low literacy rate because of the conditions of the time, and the struggle of black people and other minorities, that this may have been the only press read by many people or may have been their only way of communicating. There was no radio or television. What was the kind of news that was brought to the attention of the readership? What --what kind of reporting was aimed at? [Lebree] I think you've hit on-- hit upon an important point when you look at the history and growth of the black press. The black newspaper has traditionally been a supplement to the establishment newspaper rather than a substitute for it.

And what I mean by that is the news-- the homes, the households that take a black newspaper more or less take an establishment newspaper too. The feeling that families have had over the years is after they've read the "Washington Star" or "The New York Times," they may say to themselves, "Now let's see what the 'New York Amsterdam News' says" or "Let's see what the 'Washington Afro-American' says." And there's been over the years a great deal of believability in the black newspaper, a great deal of faith in what the black newspaper has to say. The pages of the black press, I think have pretty much been filled with a great deal of social news because, as you know, social news of the black community was totally ignored by the establishment press. [Rubin] Blacks didn't get married and they never-- confirmed. They never died. They had no children. -They were engaged mostly in crime. [Lebree] Exactly. And the black press did cover this. And, you know, when you look back over the years and we are concerned today with subjects like roots

and the history-- if it wasn't for the black press, the black newspaper, what would be the primary source of information? Because the conditions and the events and the news of the day that went unreported in establishment press was at least reported in the black newspaper. [Rubin] Did the black newspaper, to your knowledge, get into the rural areas or was this a phenomenon of the urban centers? When one thinks of the travails of black people in this country or other minorities, one assumes that the last to be reached are those on the farms, in the plantations, and the ranches. [Lebree] One of the interesting stories I've been told by black journalists was that as the paper began to grow, as the presses began to grow, and I look now to the late '30s and '40s, when we had nationally circulated black newspapers like the "Pittsburgh Courier," or the circulation weekly of 250 to 300,000, "Chicago Daily Defender," the national edition of the "Defender"

with circulation of excess of 200,000, and oftentimes, the paper when it was transported, say, down south, oftentimes, it had to be dropped off the train outside of town, almost in a rural setting because if it got dropped off at the station, it would have been either confiscated, or burned, or something like that. And so in a sense the rural aspect played a role there, in that it was a drop off point. As far as-- [Rubin] So people in the country areas managed to get these newspapers. [Lebree] To get it and at least then take it into the city or the urban area where the concentration of the black community was. But over the years, I would have to say the black newspaper has been an urban medium. It's been in the cities, it's been where blacks have gathered together, and that's the area that they're going to succeed. That's where the audience is. [Rubin] Now in the modern time-- and I hate that phrase "modern times" because we are the ancient Romans, and they are us. But in more contemporary

times, the black newspaper for such organizations as Father Divine and his religious mission, and the other similar organizations has been a very important --"Muhammad Speaks" and so on-- very important phenomenon to represent movements occurring in the black communities. Is that something that's going to persist? [Lebree] At present, there was of course, "The Black Panther" which was a newspaper and "Muhammad Speaks" which is now barely in news, and it still comes out of Chicago. But papers like that, or those two, have greatly decreased in their circulation and their influence, I would say, in the community. And whether that rises again, I say, remains to be seen. The mission of the black press now seems to be-- to be active in the communities that they serve. I believe that if they are not

already, they are soon to be a member of what we call the community press. They will work in a smaller sense, not with circulations of 200,000 and 300,000. But they will concentrate on the problems, identifying problems in their own community, and hopefully posing solutions to those problems. [Rubin] Before I get to a presumption of yours, which I want to question you about, one-- one-- question is that on radio and television, there is a movement toward black involvement and other minority group involvement in radio stations, while the number of stations manager-owned by blacks is fairly small out of the thousands existing in the United States. It is growing by leaps and bounds in percentages and will become an important factor. Do you believe that the access to electronic communication will be economically harmful to small community newspapers of minorities trying to exist with a profit? [Lebree] I would think that the black press would be just as threatened as any other, let's say, any of the weekly presses and

any-- any of the newspapers that now exists. You hear all types of predictions about eventually there will be no newspapers, it will just be computer readouts. And so everything will be electronic. But it seems that there's a place for newspaper, or the place for in-depth reporting in a printed form that's tangible, that will be lasting. And so I think that the black press of the future will definitely be a black press that's consolidated. It won't be 165 strong, it may be 65 strong. But there definitely is a place for it, just like there's a place for some religious press that we have, and foreign language press and other ethnic press. [Rubin] Now let me get to the presumption or the research conclusion that you have arrived at, and please correct me if I'm wrong. You suggest in one of your articles that the black press may have a tough time of it. In the future, existing. Because the only way newspapers will be able to exist if they have definite circulations that are-- are known. If they meet their payrolls with the regular

payroll budget. And this is rather difficult to do in a competitive world. It's com-- the community press world is very competitive. It's mostly marketing for real estate and shopping in many ways. And the black press exists not only for that purpose but for more important purposes. For one-- one thing it was the only way that people could find out what jobs were available at one point. As you say, it was the only outlet for social news. But to get back to your view that the black press may be in for some difficult days, would you elaborate on that? [Lebree] Well, we talked a bit about the history of the black press, and I said the first growth period was 1827 to 1865. And the second one would be roughly 1865 to, I would say, 1905. And now we come upon the third growth period which is 1905 to maybe the 18-- the 1950s, it was 19-- sort of 1960. And in this particular growth period, the black press

began to really be heard, I would say, there were more and more people listening, and more and more people recognizing the problems of minorities in this country. More and more people willing to-- --to --to make some difference in that area. [Rubin] And that period includes the Great Civil Rights Movement in one of its heydays. [Lebree] That's right. And as I look at the black press, it really began to take off in 1905. And we had some people of foresight like Robert S. Abbott, who saw the need for a nationally distributed newspaper-- black newspaper and used the the national distribution plus certain forms of yellow journalism and large headlines to be very successful. He started-- John Sengstacke, now the head of that newspaper, and Robert S. Abbott's nephew once told me that his uncle started with a quarter, a kitchen table, and half a dozen pencils. Something to that nature. [Rubin] Isn't that funny? That's the way I started and I've ended with a quarter, a kitchen table, and half a dozen pencils. So he had--

he had a different career, obviously. [Lebree] He-- he did fairly fairly well, and he put the paper out, and peddled the paper in the snow of Chicago. [Rubin] The name of this newspaper? [Lebree] The Defense-- "Chicago Daily Defender." And it blossomed into a paper with a quarter million circulation. Eric Roberts, who's a veteran black journalist, once told me that when Robert S. Abbott rode around the streets of Chicago in a Rolls-Royce, and when he wore the clothes that he wore, and when he showed the riches that he had, then Roberts and other blacks knew that there would be others coming along-- in other words, other Abbotts. And so the black press, in a way, began to reach a good deal of success and really wield some influence in America. [Rubin] But that wasn't-- that wasn't an affront. I mean, it wasn't simply the display ostentatiously of position in society in the days you were talking about. For a black person to present himself or herself in a normal way, depending upon economic class, was considered an affront to many people. So it was actually a-- an act of bravado,

an act of black righteousness demanding-- demanding rights as much as a display, wouldn't you say? [Lebree] Yes, I would say. But I key on that business of setting an example. It was it was-- it was an inspiration to see this, I think, and others knew that there would be papers like "The Defender," and the "Afro-American," and the "Norfolk Journal And Guide," which I've been remiss in mentioning in that, at one time, was referred to as "The New York Times" of the black press. [Rubin] What happened to that? [Lebree] It is also-- that is still active. I should finish up the third growth period though. The paper continued-- newspaper, the press began to grow, I would say, through the '20s and the '30s, and had national circulation at that time into the '40s. And after World War II, I believe it was this time period that the advertising space began to switch from advertising that concentrated on skin bleachers and hair straighteners to advertising of major corporations that began to awaken

and recognize that black America had a significant buying power. And we now look at the studies of the late D. Parke Gibson who just authored the book about the "80 billion Dollar Negro" or "80 Billion Dollars in The Black." I think that's the title of the book. It's showing that 80 billion dollars a year are spent on black and black America, and corporations-- certain specific ones especially-- recognize that although black America may have been 10 percent of the population, they were buying 24 percent of their particular product. And so post 1945, we begin to see advertising grow, and it grew and grew until, I would say, the mid 1950s when we had Brown versus the Board of Education. And we really get involved with the Civil Rights Movement and right straight through the '60s. However, I believe that as as much of a significant success as the Brown versus Board of Education decision was, or as important as it was, it was in a sense a a shock to the black press. Suddenly, the establishment press recognized that there was a thing called

Minority Affairs. And how do you cover this? Well, what you do is you hire black reporters. Black press, I believe, was stunned. Many of the most professional black reporters were hired away. And I don't think that they could be blamed for what they did. They felt getting into the system was one way to change the system. And so the black press was almost shocked. Here it had a monopoly on the news. Now suddenly it's been-- it's in competition for that news. [Rubin] Something similar to what's going on today when newspaper publishers from minority newspapers say that television is stealing away the best reporters. Thank you, Lebree. To pursue this point of the black press existing in a multi institutional press world-- now you suggest that advertisers now are shifting away from this 1960s attitude toward advertising to what? [Lebree] Well I think that the advertising that began

after the '40-- I would say, mid '40s and continued to go through, say, the mid '60s was advertising of an awareness of buying power but also advertising in almost the sense of social responsibility. That we need to do this, we need to show some affirmative action in a sense of advertising. I'm afraid that today, as we could begin to look through the '70s, that the black press is being stunted by the very fact that advertisers, corporations are beginning to bend away from this, and they're asking questions of the black press just as they're asking questions of the establishment press. What is your verified circulation? What is your audited circulation? What marketing surveys have you conducted? Do you conduct yourself as a business? Does the receptionist know the workings of the newspaper and who is writing this, and who isn't responsible for this? Some basic business type characteristics that I believe the black press has gotten along without for many years and only has begun to take along-- to take hold of in the last 25 years. When you look at the

books written about black capitalism and the major texts, almost across the board, they ignore the black press. And so this is, I would say, a matter of concern to black newspaper in the future, if it's going to exist and and exist healthfully, will need to have some kind of good business sense. [Rubin] Now we have a local newspapers, such as we have in Boston, "The Bay State Banner," which is a first-rate newspaper. Do you think that it will have to improve? I just described it as a first-rate newspaper. Do you think it must find new raison d'etre? [Lebree] I see the "Bay State Banner" and the "San Francisco Sun Reporter," and the "Norfolk Journal of God," which is again growing, and other black newspapers like that. Those, I think, will be the cornerstones of the new black press, a black press that will have a place in the American media mix of the future. [Rubin] Do the cards that you're looking at for the future hold the prospect at all of a first class "New York Times" or "Boston Globe" or what have you? A newspaper which happens to be owned

by black ownership? [Lebree] It seems to me that the National Newspaper Publishers Association and other groups have been concerned about providing trained members for these newspapers. Unfortunately, I think a Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern survey in 1977 reflected that from '72 to '77, 50 percent of the money of scholarship funds for minority students in the area of media has dried up. 50 percent has dried up. I would say this is a matter of concern. [Rubin] And we talk about 50 percent we're talking about 250 or 22,500 to start with. [Lebree] That's right, and that's not very much. And so now you're down to 22,500. This problem needs to be addressed. We need to have-- the black press needs to have trained professional members in turns It is, in a sense, an important area. And it's got to-- it has to take place at the NNPA, which is the organizational branch of the black press. Needs to be more concerned having professional workshops. Need to be more concerned about underwriting

or providing, or stimulating scholarship money. [Rubin] Well, it seems to me that your interest-- I asked you the first question. I said how does it happen as a curiosity that not being black, you devoted most of your research time to the black press? And I think that is what is happening in America that we are interested in the American press, and that it is not at all unusual for you to be interested in the life, and growth, and development of any aspect of it. Certainly, your work has been of fundamental importance because there is so little written on it, and I wish you good luck as you continue, Hank Lebree. The black press must be understood better and should be a more vital part of American society. Thank you again for this edition. Bernard Rubin. [music] "The First Amendment and The Free People," a weekly examination of civil liberties and the media in the United States and around the world. The engineer for this broadcast was William Busic, and the program is produced by Greg Fitzgerald. This broadcast is produced cooperatively by WGBH

Boston and the Institute for Democratic Communication at Boston University, which are solely responsible for its content. [music] This is the station Program Exchange. [end]