Williams Martin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195083491
- eISBN:
- 9780199853205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195083491.003.0052
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
“Ebony Magazine” is the longest-running of the several successful magazines of Johnson Publications, the Chicago Negro publishing house. Recently, a special issue of Ebony was release to celebrate ...
More
“Ebony Magazine” is the longest-running of the several successful magazines of Johnson Publications, the Chicago Negro publishing house. Recently, a special issue of Ebony was release to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. There were articles about Negro-American history, Negro press, Negro women, the future of civil-rights leadership, Negroes in entertainment, Negroes in painting, and Negroes in business. But ironically, jazz music was not given much attention in this issue. Jazz is a reality of Negro life in America, and something that all Americans should be proud of.Less
“Ebony Magazine” is the longest-running of the several successful magazines of Johnson Publications, the Chicago Negro publishing house. Recently, a special issue of Ebony was release to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. There were articles about Negro-American history, Negro press, Negro women, the future of civil-rights leadership, Negroes in entertainment, Negroes in painting, and Negroes in business. But ironically, jazz music was not given much attention in this issue. Jazz is a reality of Negro life in America, and something that all Americans should be proud of.
Robert E. Weems and Jason P. Chambers (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041426
- eISBN:
- 9780252050022
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041426.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This book examines the entrepreneurial experiences of and contributions by African American entrepreneurs in Chicago. Through a careful examination of black business activity in areas such as ...
More
This book examines the entrepreneurial experiences of and contributions by African American entrepreneurs in Chicago. Through a careful examination of black business activity in areas such as finance, media, and the underground economy known as “Policy,” this work illuminates the manner in which blacks in Chicago built a network of competing and cooperative enterprises and a culture of entrepreneurship unique to the city. This network lay at the center of black business development in Chicago as it allowed blacks there greater opportunity to fund and build businesses reliant on other blacks rather than those whose interests lay outside the black community. Further, it examines how blacks’ business enterprises challenged and changed the economic and political culture of the city to help fashion black communities on Chicago’s South and West sides.
For much of the 20th century, Chicago was considered the single best demonstration of blacks’ entrepreneurial potential. From the time the city was founded by black entrepreneur Jean Baptiste DuSable and throughout the 20th century, business enterprises have been part black community life. From DuSable through black business titans like John H. Johnson, Oprah Winfrey, and Anthony Overton black entrepreneurs called the city home and built their empires there. How they did so and the impact of their success (and failure) is a key theme within this book. Additionally, this work analyzes how blacks in Chicago built their enterprises at the same time grappling with the major cultural, political, and economic shifts in America in the 19th and 20th century.Less
This book examines the entrepreneurial experiences of and contributions by African American entrepreneurs in Chicago. Through a careful examination of black business activity in areas such as finance, media, and the underground economy known as “Policy,” this work illuminates the manner in which blacks in Chicago built a network of competing and cooperative enterprises and a culture of entrepreneurship unique to the city. This network lay at the center of black business development in Chicago as it allowed blacks there greater opportunity to fund and build businesses reliant on other blacks rather than those whose interests lay outside the black community. Further, it examines how blacks’ business enterprises challenged and changed the economic and political culture of the city to help fashion black communities on Chicago’s South and West sides.
For much of the 20th century, Chicago was considered the single best demonstration of blacks’ entrepreneurial potential. From the time the city was founded by black entrepreneur Jean Baptiste DuSable and throughout the 20th century, business enterprises have been part black community life. From DuSable through black business titans like John H. Johnson, Oprah Winfrey, and Anthony Overton black entrepreneurs called the city home and built their empires there. How they did so and the impact of their success (and failure) is a key theme within this book. Additionally, this work analyzes how blacks in Chicago built their enterprises at the same time grappling with the major cultural, political, and economic shifts in America in the 19th and 20th century.
Fred Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041495
- eISBN:
- 9780252050091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041495.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
During the Cold War, the anticommunism movement spurred leading black publishers to rid their newsrooms of left-leaning journalists and suppress coverage of radical political perspectives. Publishers ...
More
During the Cold War, the anticommunism movement spurred leading black publishers to rid their newsrooms of left-leaning journalists and suppress coverage of radical political perspectives. Publishers made a pragmatic decision to protect their businesses. This action reoriented black newswriting by narrowing the parameters of what was considered acceptable political discourse just as the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum. Commercial journalists transformed into establishmentarian dissidents who denounced communism and worked within the prevailing political structure for social change. Frustrated and marginalized, progressive editors and activists revived a struggling alternative black press – with Paul Robeson’s Freedom being the most notable publication – to challenge the politcs of integration. Meanwhile, national newspapers’ circulations collapsed as they encountered new competitive challenges from white newspapers, television, and Ebony and Jet magazines.Less
During the Cold War, the anticommunism movement spurred leading black publishers to rid their newsrooms of left-leaning journalists and suppress coverage of radical political perspectives. Publishers made a pragmatic decision to protect their businesses. This action reoriented black newswriting by narrowing the parameters of what was considered acceptable political discourse just as the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum. Commercial journalists transformed into establishmentarian dissidents who denounced communism and worked within the prevailing political structure for social change. Frustrated and marginalized, progressive editors and activists revived a struggling alternative black press – with Paul Robeson’s Freedom being the most notable publication – to challenge the politcs of integration. Meanwhile, national newspapers’ circulations collapsed as they encountered new competitive challenges from white newspapers, television, and Ebony and Jet magazines.
Jason P. Chambers
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041426
- eISBN:
- 9780252050022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041426.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
John H. Johnson was a titan of 20th century business. Starting from humble beginnings, Johnson created two of the most successful magazines in American history (Ebony and Jet) and built a personal ...
More
John H. Johnson was a titan of 20th century business. Starting from humble beginnings, Johnson created two of the most successful magazines in American history (Ebony and Jet) and built a personal fortune made him one of the richest people in America. Yet the strategic decisions Johnson made that led to his successes is much less recognized. This chapter examines how Johnson made key strategic decisions and choices that enabled him to build the Johnson Publishing Company into a major media force. Additionally, it analyzes the choices Johnson made as he grappled with critics of his publishing tactics, other black publishers whose businesses competed with his own, and distributors who refused to carry his products regardless of the financial benefit to them for doing so.
Less
John H. Johnson was a titan of 20th century business. Starting from humble beginnings, Johnson created two of the most successful magazines in American history (Ebony and Jet) and built a personal fortune made him one of the richest people in America. Yet the strategic decisions Johnson made that led to his successes is much less recognized. This chapter examines how Johnson made key strategic decisions and choices that enabled him to build the Johnson Publishing Company into a major media force. Additionally, it analyzes the choices Johnson made as he grappled with critics of his publishing tactics, other black publishers whose businesses competed with his own, and distributors who refused to carry his products regardless of the financial benefit to them for doing so.
W. Jason Miller
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780813060446
- eISBN:
- 9780813050713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813060446.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
This chapter contextualizes King’s fist known sermon on dreams against the popular success of Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Because this play took its title from a line in Hughes’s ...
More
This chapter contextualizes King’s fist known sermon on dreams against the popular success of Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Because this play took its title from a line in Hughes’s poem “Dream Deferred,” the discussion reveals that King’s first extended engagement with the metaphor of the dream resulted in a consideration of “shattered dreams” that specifically parallels another image in Hughes’s poem. News coverage in the New York Times, a paper King himself read on a regular basis, is carefully researched and presented to establish the cultural context between King’s speech, Hansberry’s play, and Hughes’s poem. King’s sermon “Unfulfilled Hopes” takes some of its context from the sermons and writings of Frederick Meek and Howard Thurman. However, despite apparent connections to the ideas of J. Wallace Hamilton, tracing King’s own reading habits in regards to poetry suggests that Hughes’s poem is the clearest point of reference for King and his parishioners. To create the context of both Hughes’s popularity and this play’s remarkable success, the chapter concludes with an examination of advertisements in Ebony that featured Hughes himself selling Smirnoff Vodka.Less
This chapter contextualizes King’s fist known sermon on dreams against the popular success of Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Because this play took its title from a line in Hughes’s poem “Dream Deferred,” the discussion reveals that King’s first extended engagement with the metaphor of the dream resulted in a consideration of “shattered dreams” that specifically parallels another image in Hughes’s poem. News coverage in the New York Times, a paper King himself read on a regular basis, is carefully researched and presented to establish the cultural context between King’s speech, Hansberry’s play, and Hughes’s poem. King’s sermon “Unfulfilled Hopes” takes some of its context from the sermons and writings of Frederick Meek and Howard Thurman. However, despite apparent connections to the ideas of J. Wallace Hamilton, tracing King’s own reading habits in regards to poetry suggests that Hughes’s poem is the clearest point of reference for King and his parishioners. To create the context of both Hughes’s popularity and this play’s remarkable success, the chapter concludes with an examination of advertisements in Ebony that featured Hughes himself selling Smirnoff Vodka.
Simeon Booker and Carol McCabe Booker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037894
- eISBN:
- 9781617037900
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037894.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Within a few years of its first issue in 1951, Jet, a pocket-size magazine, became the “bible” for news of the civil rights movement. It was said, only half-jokingly, “If it wasn’t in Jet, it didn’t ...
More
Within a few years of its first issue in 1951, Jet, a pocket-size magazine, became the “bible” for news of the civil rights movement. It was said, only half-jokingly, “If it wasn’t in Jet, it didn’t happen.” Writing for the magazine and its glossy, big sister Ebony, for fifty-three years, longer than any other journalist, the author of this book was on the front lines of virtually every major event of the revolution that transformed America. Rather than tracking the freedom struggle from the usually cited ignition points, the book begins with a massive voting rights rally in the Mississippi Delta town of Mound Bayou in 1955. It is the first rally since the Supreme Court’s Brown decision struck fear in the hearts of segregationists across the former Confederacy. It was also the author’s first assignment in the Deep South, and before the next run of the weekly magazine, the killings would begin. He vowed that lynchings would no longer be ignored beyond the black press. Jet was reaching into households across America, and the author was determined to cover the next murder like none before. He had only a few weeks to wait. A small item on the AP wire reported that a Chicago boy vacationing in Mississippi was missing. The author was on it, and stayed on it, through one of the most infamous murder trials in U.S. history. His coverage of Emmett Till’s death lit a fire that would galvanize the movement.Less
Within a few years of its first issue in 1951, Jet, a pocket-size magazine, became the “bible” for news of the civil rights movement. It was said, only half-jokingly, “If it wasn’t in Jet, it didn’t happen.” Writing for the magazine and its glossy, big sister Ebony, for fifty-three years, longer than any other journalist, the author of this book was on the front lines of virtually every major event of the revolution that transformed America. Rather than tracking the freedom struggle from the usually cited ignition points, the book begins with a massive voting rights rally in the Mississippi Delta town of Mound Bayou in 1955. It is the first rally since the Supreme Court’s Brown decision struck fear in the hearts of segregationists across the former Confederacy. It was also the author’s first assignment in the Deep South, and before the next run of the weekly magazine, the killings would begin. He vowed that lynchings would no longer be ignored beyond the black press. Jet was reaching into households across America, and the author was determined to cover the next murder like none before. He had only a few weeks to wait. A small item on the AP wire reported that a Chicago boy vacationing in Mississippi was missing. The author was on it, and stayed on it, through one of the most infamous murder trials in U.S. history. His coverage of Emmett Till’s death lit a fire that would galvanize the movement.
Simeon Booker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037894
- eISBN:
- 9781617037900
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037894.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
In the last years of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration, blacks saw their voting strength continue to increase. While registrars in the South continued to block Negro registration, the Negro vote ...
More
In the last years of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration, blacks saw their voting strength continue to increase. While registrars in the South continued to block Negro registration, the Negro vote in the North became a key factor for the Democratic Party in the 1958 mid-term elections. In the presidential elections, both Democrats and Republicans tried to woo the growing black vote. This was evident in Baltimore, hometown of the NAACP lobbyist Clarence Mitchell and journalist Carl Murphy, and believed to be where the modern civil rights movement actually began. In 1959, the city achieved a “sudden, spectacular spurt” in voter registration that had accelerated the pace of desegregation in education, employment, and housing. In its annual retrospective, the monthly magazine Ebony reflected on black progress in 1959, while its sister publication Jet noted the election of blacks in a number of Northern cities to state and local offices in record numbers.Less
In the last years of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration, blacks saw their voting strength continue to increase. While registrars in the South continued to block Negro registration, the Negro vote in the North became a key factor for the Democratic Party in the 1958 mid-term elections. In the presidential elections, both Democrats and Republicans tried to woo the growing black vote. This was evident in Baltimore, hometown of the NAACP lobbyist Clarence Mitchell and journalist Carl Murphy, and believed to be where the modern civil rights movement actually began. In 1959, the city achieved a “sudden, spectacular spurt” in voter registration that had accelerated the pace of desegregation in education, employment, and housing. In its annual retrospective, the monthly magazine Ebony reflected on black progress in 1959, while its sister publication Jet noted the election of blacks in a number of Northern cities to state and local offices in record numbers.
Simeon Booker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037894
- eISBN:
- 9781617037900
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037894.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The 1960 election year marked Ebony’s fifteenth anniversary issue. The magazine had grown to 172 pages, printed more than 800,000 copies, and read by about four million people in some 30 countries ...
More
The 1960 election year marked Ebony’s fifteenth anniversary issue. The magazine had grown to 172 pages, printed more than 800,000 copies, and read by about four million people in some 30 countries such as France, Germany, and Japan. In this chapter, the author reflects on his coverage of the 1960 presidential election that pitted Richard Nixon against John F. Kennedy and in which blacks and civil rights figured prominently.Less
The 1960 election year marked Ebony’s fifteenth anniversary issue. The magazine had grown to 172 pages, printed more than 800,000 copies, and read by about four million people in some 30 countries such as France, Germany, and Japan. In this chapter, the author reflects on his coverage of the 1960 presidential election that pitted Richard Nixon against John F. Kennedy and in which blacks and civil rights figured prominently.
Simeon Booker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037894
- eISBN:
- 9781617037900
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037894.003.0018
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The assassination of John F. Kennedy sparked feelings of apprehension and uncertainty about the future of civil rights in black America. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, was weak in the area of ...
More
The assassination of John F. Kennedy sparked feelings of apprehension and uncertainty about the future of civil rights in black America. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, was weak in the area of civil rights. Two days after JFK’s death, Johnson began talking to civil rights leaders, including National Urban League executive director Whitney Young, to win their support for the passage of the late president’s civil rights bill. Like JFK before him, Johnson was aware of the growing influence of the black press, which explained his decision to invite John H. Johnson, publisher of Jet and Ebony, to the White House. This chapter focuses on Johnson’s campaign to have the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed in Congress and his alleged dalliance with his black secretary Geraldine Whittington.Less
The assassination of John F. Kennedy sparked feelings of apprehension and uncertainty about the future of civil rights in black America. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, was weak in the area of civil rights. Two days after JFK’s death, Johnson began talking to civil rights leaders, including National Urban League executive director Whitney Young, to win their support for the passage of the late president’s civil rights bill. Like JFK before him, Johnson was aware of the growing influence of the black press, which explained his decision to invite John H. Johnson, publisher of Jet and Ebony, to the White House. This chapter focuses on Johnson’s campaign to have the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed in Congress and his alleged dalliance with his black secretary Geraldine Whittington.
Frank Mehring
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604737844
- eISBN:
- 9781604737851
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604737844.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter offers empirical insights into the racial discourse on diversity, the creation of national and personal identities, and the perception of minorities in Germany and the United States by ...
More
This chapter offers empirical insights into the racial discourse on diversity, the creation of national and personal identities, and the perception of minorities in Germany and the United States by looking at the two countries’ racial history. It focuses on Hans Jürgen Massaquoi’s triple identity as a mixed-race person of African and German heritage born in Hamburg to a German mother and African father in the Weimar era and later naturalized as an American citizen. While managing editor of Ebony, the most influential African American magazine in the United States, Massaquoi published a series of articles on Afro-Germans. The chapter examines his autobiographical writings and compares the attitudes of Americans and Germans toward blacks, mixed-race people, and racial assimilation. It also considers Massaquoi’s journey of personal transformation and how he became witness to the national transformation brought about in America by the civil rights movement.Less
This chapter offers empirical insights into the racial discourse on diversity, the creation of national and personal identities, and the perception of minorities in Germany and the United States by looking at the two countries’ racial history. It focuses on Hans Jürgen Massaquoi’s triple identity as a mixed-race person of African and German heritage born in Hamburg to a German mother and African father in the Weimar era and later naturalized as an American citizen. While managing editor of Ebony, the most influential African American magazine in the United States, Massaquoi published a series of articles on Afro-Germans. The chapter examines his autobiographical writings and compares the attitudes of Americans and Germans toward blacks, mixed-race people, and racial assimilation. It also considers Massaquoi’s journey of personal transformation and how he became witness to the national transformation brought about in America by the civil rights movement.
Simeon Booker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037894
- eISBN:
- 9781617037900
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037894.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
In this chapter, the author talks about his family background and professional life as a journalist. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, although he grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. His father, Simeon S. ...
More
In this chapter, the author talks about his family background and professional life as a journalist. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, although he grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. His father, Simeon S. Booker, was General Secretary of the Colored Branch of the Baltimore YMCA while his mother, Reberta Waring Booker, belonged to a generation of nationally-known educators. His maternal grandfather, Dr. James Henry Nelson Waring, a medical doctor and a renowned educator, was involved in YMCA work during World War I. The author reflects on his time at Virginia Union University, his first experience in the South and his first adult view of real segregation; his successful application for the Nieman Fellowship; his stint at the Washington Post; and his joining the black-owned magazines Ebony and Jet.Less
In this chapter, the author talks about his family background and professional life as a journalist. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, although he grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. His father, Simeon S. Booker, was General Secretary of the Colored Branch of the Baltimore YMCA while his mother, Reberta Waring Booker, belonged to a generation of nationally-known educators. His maternal grandfather, Dr. James Henry Nelson Waring, a medical doctor and a renowned educator, was involved in YMCA work during World War I. The author reflects on his time at Virginia Union University, his first experience in the South and his first adult view of real segregation; his successful application for the Nieman Fellowship; his stint at the Washington Post; and his joining the black-owned magazines Ebony and Jet.
Mae G. Henderson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780195116595
- eISBN:
- 9780199375219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195116595.003.0015
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature, Women's Literature
This chapter historicizes and theorizes the sexual and commodity fetishization of the black female body/booty in multiple historical and contemporary “scientific,” economic, and cultural venues and ...
More
This chapter historicizes and theorizes the sexual and commodity fetishization of the black female body/booty in multiple historical and contemporary “scientific,” economic, and cultural venues and markets, including American slavery, European colonialism, modernist primitivism, and hip-hop video culture. Focusing on the “(mis)performance” of the “video vixen,” whose presence in popular culture has undoubtedly served to (re)define black female bodies in the contemporary cultural imaginary, the chapter compares the performance of the “video hottie” with that of her forebears, Saartjie Baartmann (the “Venus Hottentot”) and Josephine Baker (the “Ebony Venus”), examining the staging of the black female body as spectacle, commodity, and fetish on the antebellum auction block, as ethnographic spectacle in nineteenth-century Europe, and as model/dancer in contemporary hip-hop musical video. It concludes by issuing a call to contemporary black feminist scholars to bear critical witness to the video vixen’s “performance of testimony” to the history imprinted on the black female body.Less
This chapter historicizes and theorizes the sexual and commodity fetishization of the black female body/booty in multiple historical and contemporary “scientific,” economic, and cultural venues and markets, including American slavery, European colonialism, modernist primitivism, and hip-hop video culture. Focusing on the “(mis)performance” of the “video vixen,” whose presence in popular culture has undoubtedly served to (re)define black female bodies in the contemporary cultural imaginary, the chapter compares the performance of the “video hottie” with that of her forebears, Saartjie Baartmann (the “Venus Hottentot”) and Josephine Baker (the “Ebony Venus”), examining the staging of the black female body as spectacle, commodity, and fetish on the antebellum auction block, as ethnographic spectacle in nineteenth-century Europe, and as model/dancer in contemporary hip-hop musical video. It concludes by issuing a call to contemporary black feminist scholars to bear critical witness to the video vixen’s “performance of testimony” to the history imprinted on the black female body.
