This is a summary of the article "America's Black Press, 1914-1918" by Mark Ellis from the History Today. The purpose of this article is to display how America's black newspapers and communities reacted to the United States involvement in the First World War. Ellis begins the article explaining that when the First World War began April 17, a considerable amount of Americans were unsupportive of America's neglect to remain neutral. Among the many Americans who repudiated the idea of alliance with Britain, the black community had a more convoluted outlook on the war.
In southern states, where the black community mainly lived they were constantly rejected the right to vote. By 1910, racial segregation was ingrained legally in the North and South; after 1913 segregation had protracted to federal employees in the workplace. Through violence, white superiority was protected while blacks were harassed by white rioters. In Atlanta, Georgia, and Springfield, Illinois, in 1906 and 1908, an average of sixty-five blacks were lynched annually between 1910 and 1919.
After President Wilson publicized that America had declared war, many black spokesmen refused to support the cause without a guarantee that American democracy would be corrected. With skepticism in the black press, the government replied hastily, for they could not afford millions of Americans to be indifferent. The government pursued to muzzle all objection to the war under the Espionage and Sedition Act. The courts could fine up to $10,000 in fines and twenty years imprisonment on anyone who said, wrote, or did anything to interfere with war. When rumors of a German spy circulated through the black newspapers, federal agents began to scrutinize them for the evidence. The Justice...
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...ot, the owner of the Chicago Defender was the first black editor to be harassed by federal agents after the Texan postmaster criticized the Defender. The Defender enraged white southerners with its vivid narrative of lynchings and its encouragement of black migration to the North. There were many other editors attacked for publishing their opinions including, J.H. Murphy, J.E. Mitchell of the St Louis Argus, junior editor Cyril Briggs, A. Phillip Randolph and Chandler Owen, and G.W. Bouldin of the San Antonio Inquirer.
Of all the approaches the government made to sway the black press, propaganda was the least effective, somewhat because Emmett Scott was not trusted. Flattery of the editors was more efficient. However, threatening by legal action provided the best results. Overall the government succeeded in the efforts to change the most influential black journals.
The earliest system of segregation can be found, interestingly enough, not in the South but in the North. This system, “with the backing of legal and extra-legal codes…permeated all aspects of Negro life in the free states by 1860” (Woodward 18). In the North, blacks were separated from whites in nearly every social aspect of their lives: they sat apart from whites in theatres and concert halls, they were often completely excluded from hotels, restaurants, and resorts (unless they entered as workers), worshipped in all black pews or even sometimes in completely black churches. If they intended to receive Communion with the whites, they were forced to wait until the whites had completed the sacrament. They were even buried in separate cemeteries (18-19). It is also interesting, as Woodward notes, that those who opposed the northern system were usually unable to make any headw...
C. Vann Woodward, who died in 1999 at the age of 91, was America's most Southern historian and the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, for Mary Chestnut's Civil War and he’s also a Bancroft Prize for The Origins of the New South. In honor to his long and adventurous career, Oxford is pleased to publish this special commemorative edition of Woodward's most influential work, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. The Strange Career of Jim Crow is one of the great works of Southern history. The book actually helped shape that historical curve of black liberation its not slowed movement it’s more like a rollercoaster. It says the book was published in 1955, a year after the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education ordered schools desegregated upon blacks and whites.
Glathaar, Joseph T. Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers. New York: The Free Press Inc., 1990.
During the process of reading this compilation of works, Portrait of America, many different point of views were aired. The opinion or attitude on the subject was too tainted. The authors were very biased to their perception of the "story". This book could have been much more beneficial if the facts would have stayed to the straight and narrow. Only the detrimental facts needed to be applied to these chapters. For a history class, as broad as this, this book opened too many doors that could not be explained in as much detail as would be liked. Many of the authors enjoyed mentioning the most scandalous moments of the people's lives then dropped the fact without much support or follow through as to what happened to cause or end these events. Brief summaries only tease the mind, and with the course load of most students, there is hardly extra time to investigate the matter further in detail. For a class such as History 152, biographies and/or documentary style books are more worth the while of the student. For instance make a list of a selection of novels that could be read for the class, so that every student can then explore in depth what that student thinks is interesting. Although the book was teasing in nature the chapters did flow well and were easy to read. The procession of the chapters had wonderful transition as to not loose the student. While proceeding through this book there were several different reoccurring topics that appeared. This paper will discuss these two reoccurring topics: the civil rights movement and former presidents.
Lives were lost based on claims that were never found to be completely accurate. The author’s speak about how Hoke Smith, who was running for President at the time, used his power and raised tensions among Whites and Blacks. His power was superior and he was able to use it to sway and impact the newspapers into releasing certain stories. Smith wanted Blacks to stay stagnant and didn’t want them becoming too smart or powerful. Hoke created and initiated Jim Crow laws that were known to support and encourage the separation and exclusion of Blacks. He did this by ensuring literacy tests that were meant to discourage Blacks from prospering and gaining rights. The author’s said “The eventual winner, race-baiting Hoke Smith, might have conspired with ruffians who masqueraded as blacks and assaulted white girls, while Atlanta editors published unsubstantiated accounts of black beasts raping white women.” “739:52”. Editors and writers didn’t bother to investigate or confirm if these allegations were true. Since this was the early 1900’s most people were for the idea of Blacks being inferior to Whites and Whites being superior. They also didn’t care to hear whether of not Blacks were right or
Pfeifer, Michael J. (2004). Rough Justice: Lynching and American Society: 1874-1947. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Retrieved October 30, 2006 from . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_County_War.
Commenting about journalism and equality for black Americans, Phyl Garland, a prominent reporter and journalism professor, said, “After the Civil War there was an enormous burst of energy, a desire to communicate, a desire to connect with black people establishing newspapers...It was the first opportunity to use the written word without fear of reprisal.” From that time forward, black journalists in the United States gained further opportunities in the press and used the media to galvanize support and communicate news relating to the Civil Rights Movement. Civil rights movements can be defined as political campaigns for equality by members of an oppressed group of people and their allies. It is crucial to understand the history of the African American Civil Rights Movement during the mid-1900s to understand how the role of black journalists changed. Before the Civil Rights Movement, blacks were disrespected and underrepresented in society and in the white press, because of racism and the legacy of slavery, persisting long after the Civil War ended in 1865. Emphasizing civil disobedience and non-violent protests, the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement aimed to end race-based segregation and discrimination against black Americans. Journalists and reporters, or people who provide news and analysis to the public through newspapers, television, and radio, documented and called attention to the progress of the movement. Black journalists laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement, and then saw their role and treatment change as the movement advanced.
World War II presented several new opportunities for African Americans to participate in the war effort and thereby begin to earn an equal place in American society and politics. From the beginning of the war, the black media urged fighting a campaign for a “Double Victory”: a global victory against fascism at the warfront and national victory over racism at the homefront. In spite of the literary and artistic achievements of the Harlem Renaissance, the economic or political gains that the black community expected did not come to light from the African American participation in the First World War. (Perry 89) Thus the black media aimed to obtain that foothold that would bring about racial equality. They emphatically declared that there would be no lessening of racial activism, in order to present a consolidated front to America’s enemies.
“For African Americans, World War II was a fight on two fronts. It was a struggle to prevail over the nation’s external enemies and a battle against a familiar home-grown foe: bigotry” (Allen). When World War II began in Europe in 1939, blacks demanded better treatment than they had experienced during World War I. Black newspaper editors insisted during 1939 and 1940 that black support for this war effort would depend on fair treatment. They demanded that black soldiers be trained in all military roles and that black civilians have equal opportunities to work in war industries at home.
Yellow journalism played a big role in fueling the war by tugging at the hearts of sympathetic and empathetic Americans. The United States faced oppression from Great Britain ...
War can have many affects on people and cause serious mixed emotions. The early 1900's can be considered the post-war era. This era was a time of reflection on the evils of war that carried a frightened national feeling, as well as a sense of hate. Dr. John Moffatt Mecklin, one of the leading theorists on the Klan in the 1920's, tells us that "The Klan owes its marvelous growth to post war co...
Television has come a long way since it was first introduced. Originally, it was thought that the masses that watch television enjoyed the more simple shows that would tell you exactly what was going on from start to finish. In Steven Johnson’s article, “Watching TV Makes You Smarter”, Johnson argues that this is actually not the case. In fact, Johnson argues that much more people enjoy shows that involve multi threading, or multiple plots that are all connected.
With tensions at an all time high and the nation at a potential breaking point, the decision in the Dred Scott Case came as a surprise to both the North and the South. The decision had drastic consequences, southern principles were validated while northern liberties were threatened. Therefore it is not surprising that The New York Herald and The Charleston Mercury had very different view points and reporting styles. The northern newspaper viewed the decision’s impact as having “tremendous consequences,” the article included how the Supreme Court’s ruling dismantled northern states’ rights, threatened their liberty and state constitutions. While the southern newspaper saw the decision as a “triumph” for southern rights, likely because it granted and validated property rights, and limited Congress’ political debates over slavery. The Federal government could no longer meddle in state affairs and ended the need for compromises between anti and pro-slavery states. Although the North and the South had very different opinions on the decision’s impact, one thing was clear this decision was not the end of the agitation between anti and pro-slavery states. Political agitations prior to the Dred Scott case influenced how this dynamic decision was viewed and reported in The New York Herald, “The Decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott Case, and Its Tremendous Consequences” and in The Charleston Mercury, “The Dred Scott Case-The Supreme Court on the Rights of the South”.
The first place I found this story was on Fox news station which led me to look in my alternative new source, the Chicago Defender. The Chicago Defender is a Chicago newspaper that is a century old. The Defender is an African American newspaper. On May 5 1905, The Defender was founded in the kitchen of Robert Abbott. It originally was a four page editorial piece made by local items Abbott found around the area and only had a circulation of about 300 copies selling for twenty five cents each. As the years went on the Defender slowly grew into a major outlet for the feelings of the African American community, being know for its outspokenness through attacking white oppression and defending equality for African Americans. The Defender, in its prime, featured poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes along with pieces by many other writing legends. Since then the newspaper has evolved into a daily newspaper that as recently as 2009 was recognized as the most influential newspaper of its kind in the early and mid-20th century. Although in recent years the paper has declined. It was recently purchased by Real Time Inc. that intends to continue the original intent of the paper, to appeal and inform the African American community as well as help the paper expand in the future (Chicago Defender history dates back over a century).