The Power of the Black Press


The Power of the Black Press

One of the more powerful strengths the media has is the ability to effect change, both on the social, governmental and political fronts. The power of the press is undeniable and this is especially true of

the black press.

For black readers specifically, the black press has always played an important role in disseminating vital news and information to its target market -- the black reader.

In Chicago, the black press has made its mark, both in terms of being a voice for black people and in terms of entrepreneurship.

Chicago is home to five of the more influential and historical black owned media outlets in the country; the Chicago Citizen

Newspaper (William Garth Sr.), the Chicago Defender Newspaper

(Robert S. Abbott), Johnson Publishing Company / Ebony & Jet Magazine (John H. Johnson), Midway Broadcasting Corporation,

WVON 1690AM (Wesley South & Pervis Spann) and the Crusader Newspaper Group (Dorothy R. Leavell.) The relevancy of the black press continues in 2017 as the nation finds itself operating under new rules and new leadership.

"The black press is more important now in 2017 than it was 190 years ago when the Freedom's Journal was first published in New York City," said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). The NNPA is a trade association of the more than 200 African American-owned community newspapers from around the United States.

“For more than 190 years, the black press has been on the frontlines of not only reporting on the accounts of black people, but African people as well. Now we have to deal with this reaction to having a black man in the White House for the last eight years,” Chavis said. “Whenever we make steps forward, there’s always a reaction to that,” he said.

The Freedom’s Journal was the first African- American owned and operated newspaper published in the United States. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Freedoms Journal was circulated in 11 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Europe and Canada. It was founded by Rev. Peter Williams, Jr. and other free black men in New York City; it was published weekly and the first issue was published on March 16, 1827. The newspaper’s founders selected Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm as senior and

junior editors, respectively.

According to the archives at the WHS, Cornish and Russwurm argued in their first issue: “Too long have others spoken for us, too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentations…” All 103 issues of the Freedom’s Journal have been preserved and digitized

and can found and read in News bank’s African American Newspapers, a commercial online product found in most university libraries.

The Chicago Defender, another voice of the black community, was founded in 1905 and according to Chicago History museum, was considered one of the most important papers of its time. The Chicago Defender played a crucial rolein campaigning and reporting

against Jim Crow violence and influencing blacks from the south to move north. Under the appointed leadership of his nephew, John H.

Sengstacke, the paper took on the issue of segregation, particularly in the U.S. military. Chicagoans of a certain age will never forget the unprecedented coverage of the Emmett Till murder and subsequent trial in both the Defender and Jet Magazine.

Besides being an important voice for black people, the black

press has also left its footprint among black businesses.

Stacy M. Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor) who wrote an article about Black population figures in 2060, noted that Johnson Publishing Company’s (JPC’s) headquarters housed one of the most famous Black-owned firms in the world. Today, JPC is being considered for landmark status. Recently, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel commented on the history of the building.

“As we celebrate Black History Month, it is the perfect time to honor this building that stands tall as a decades-long epicenter of Black history and culture,” said Emanuel. “This designation will cement this building’s status as a landmark that is not just part of

the legacy of the city of Chicago, but the history of our nation.”

Linda Johnson Rice, chairperson of Johnson Publishing Company and daughter of the company’s founder John H. Johnson, said she’s honored that the building is being considered for landmark status.

“My father started Johnson Publishing Company to inform, empower and uplift the African American community,” said Rice in the statement released by the city of Chicago. “With my mother, Eunice by his side, they built an iconic brand. I am thrilled that the

building that housed our company for so many years is being considered for landmark status.

Johnson continued: “It is a true testament to the hard work of my parents and all the people who called Johnson Publishing Company home for decades. I am grateful to Mayor Emanuel and Alderman King for supporting this effort.”

In 1965, the Chicago Citizen Newspaper was owned by Congressman Gus Savage. After that, Savage sold the paper to William “Bill” Garth, Sr. Under Garth, the paper flourished and today stands as the largest black-owned chain of weeklies in the Midwest.

Garth passed away in September of 2016 at the age of 78. His son, Darrell Garth, is now the president and publisher of the Citizen Newspapers. Darrell Garth recognizes the tremendous responsibility that he has been entrusted with.

“The black press is as important and more important today as it was years ago because of the way the news is gathered and distributed,” he said. “With the black press, news is specifically targeted to black readers. It is also distinguishable from the mainstream media in that the mainstream media doesn’t always

have the best interest of the black reader in mind. For instance, not all black young men are gang members, even if our mainstream news is flooded with these images. At the Citizen, we try to make a conscious and consistent effort to tell some of those other stories... stories that the mainstream media forgot or left out. We try to include discussions about what black people really represent and our content is specifically targeted to black people.”

To this point Chavis agrees. It’s a matter of trust. “I see the black and Latino press becoming the mainstream press. The character of the black press in America is that, we are trusted, especially in the black community,” he said.

Melody Spann Cooper is Chairman of Midway Broadcasting Corporation, the parent company of WVON and WRLL Radio Stations in Chicago. She said one of the more significant contributions of the black press, “...is that it is able to give an authentic story, culturally people absorb news based on what’s relevant to them....for instance, Fox news isn’t real news to us,”

she said. The black press can survive in the coming years, “if they are able to be a source of relevant, and timely information. Our media must be cutting edge, by evolving, being competitive, and attracting and retaining a loyal audience,” Spann Cooper added.

Print will always be important, even in an age of social media, propaganda news and technology, said Garth. “Unlike social media where someone can post something and then you go to look for it and they’ve taken it down, with newspapers, once you print

something, it’s always there, it’s reliable,” he said.

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