The significant role of Black press during civil right movements in Northern States

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
“Role of the Black Press during the Civil Rights Movements in the Northern States”
The American “civil rights movement” in the northern states evolved out of the desire to protest against racial profiling and discrimination. It was deeply rooted in the resistance efforts among African slaves and their descendants through the centuries against the oppression, and abolishing slavery. The movement spanned through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to have their civil rights securely protected within the constitution using non-violent protests. A majority of the blacks viewed the Civil War as “an opportunity to free the enslaved with a Union victory” (McGruder N.p) whose reflection was in the traditional black press that was growing across the entire northern states. Books played a significant role in the influence and addition of knowledge regarding the civil rights movement to the general populace (Minzesheimer N.p). After World War II, massive changes would take within the black press, with the newspapers laying the foundations for the movement. The press in its entirety achieved an “increasing visibility, uncompromising political activism, and recognition of its journalistic excellence” (Cunningham N.p). The mainstream press too took queue, with an integration of the staffs with the some of the best black reporters. The Black press advocated for antislavery before the civil war, emancipation after the war and the rebuilding of African-American communities, and subsequently warning them of any imminent danger.

This paper argues forth that the black press played a significant role in the success of the civil rights movement, educating and mobilizing the masses together with providing a comparative and historical analysis surrounding the emancipatory issues.
Newspapers were an integral element throughout the entire duration of the movement. Freedom Journal was the first African-American publication created in 1827. Founded by two free blacks, John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, the paper concentrated on addressing the critical issues the black community was facing, such as slavery, which threatened the nation’s very existence (Jr. N.p). While a majority of the other inaugural black newspapers were owned by families with insufficient money for their continuity, the Freedom Journal was viewed as the perfect balance to the extant white papers that focused on negative tales about the blacks. It brought on the stories of the black population, denounced slavery and other social injustices, published biographies of notable African-American personalities, and also listed births, weddings, and deaths among the blacks. The publisher’s aim was to have the paper plead for the black’s cause and to correct the common misconceptions on their society (Jr. N.p). Racial uplift was core to the founding editor’s concerns, which they conceptualized that the free black population’s discrimination arose from misleading representations. Moral education was also central, as the contributors and editors promoted efforts leading to “moral improvement, advocacy for educational advancement and economic self-sufficiency, decorum observation, and avoidance of societal vice” (Jr. N.p). Education of the people was central to the journal’s management that it contained stories and articles for consumption among readers of varying literacy levels and age. The paper believed that education was of prime importance to the strategic well-being of the society, that it strived to present appropriate views of it, and urge the population to train their children when still young on the industry habits for them to become useful contributors to the well-being of the society.
Newspapers proliferated during the civil war and in New York City to chronicle the events (McGruder N.p). Established in 1848, The Christian Recorder was a national publication by the African Methodist Episcopal Church to critique the war and constant reference to the black community in New York. This unique population was strategically identified for participation in debates about emancipation and the war, making the city a center of “free black advocacy” (McGruder N.p). The newspapers were thus a platform for activism in addition to providing information, and as the US geared towards the 1861 February war, the Christian Recorder sent advertisements on an impending prayer and fasting day for God to “avert the judgement to fall upon this guilty nation” (McGruder N.p). They also provided platforms for debates, such as the role of blacks in the war, with some questioning how black soldiers would risk their freedom or lives for a nation where the Supreme Court had ruled that, whether free or enslaved, the blacks were not citizens.
The newspapers also gave a detailed comparative and historical analysis on issues regarding emancipation. A January 1862 edition of the Christian Recorder enhanced the call to liberty, arguing against the common notion that slaves would “overrun the entire North” and that they would “refuse to work, and will engage in robbery and murder” (McGruder N.p). The editorial discounted this, saying that even in the Caribbean where slavery had been abolished, some of the former slaves had chosen to remain where they originally were and engaged themselves in small-scale farming and were more interested in leading their free, independent lives. It argued that emancipation would have the rebellion crushed, prosperity increased, crime levels decreased, and insurrections hindered. January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation was reacted to by several celebration accounts across Boston, New York, and St. Louis on the Anglo-African. The paper was critical of afraid and double-fisted men who fled the war and left their wives behind and viewed this as humiliating (McGruder N.p).
Post the civil war; the press committed to the rebuilding of the black communities and their political movements. It advocated for black troops to be recruited, such that the Anglo-African’s last 1863 issue announced the formation of the Twentieth Regiment United States Troops by the War Department; justice had been served to the men of color (McGruder N.p). A second regiment was soon authorized, and when both left for the 1864 war battle, the black press in New York changed focus to concentrate on equal payment of the black soldiers and black voting, which would be crucial tools during peaceful moments. Most incidents targeting the Black communities were reported by the Black press to warn them. The separation of black and white soldiers in France during the Second World War and the black newspapers denounced this, and the army and government efforts were to be dented, owing to the growing popularity of these papers. They could no longer be ignored. This continued to post the war in the 1940s and 1950s, with even the mainstream press hiring some of the best staff from the black publications. And as the civil rights movement evolved, breaking events were covered by the black press, who sent their reporters to white-only counters to report on their harassment and service refusal experiences. Riots and demonstrations on freedom were extensively covered (Cunningham N.p).
Books were another crucial mobilizing factor during the civil rights movement, in defining and shaping the comprehension of the process and progress of the revolution among the populace, past the Second World War. Contents of “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin were read by Robert Kennedy, the then Attorney General, who viewed racial segregation as legal, and not a moral issue(Minzesheimer N.p). Martin Luther King Jr.’s influence from the south was growing very fast, and the rapid changes he was advocating for were at the propensity of violence. In the book, Baldwin warned that if there were no fundamental changes that took place, Bible prophecy would be recreated where “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No More Water, the fire next time!” (Minzesheimer N.p). Kennedy would later meet up with Baldwin and many of his friends, in which the administration’s “cautious approach to civil rights” and made Kennedy re-examine his assumptions regarding the same. Baldwin would influence Diane McWhorter who published “Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Movement.” In the book, she views four young black girls killed in a 1963 church bombing as the “fire next time” as stated by Baldwin. The “Marking the List” author, Michael Korda indicates that the absence of many books about the civil rights movement is because many of those who were directly involved had no opportunity to write them while the events traumatized those who were on the periphery such as the publishers that they could not easily discern the type of books to sell (Minzesheimer N.p). Books on the civil rights movement indicate that there were various leaders on multiple dimensions and perspectives, without the apparent concentration on leaders like Martin Luther King, that many others were involved in the struggle.
In conclusion, the black press played a significant role in the transition of the civil rights movement. From its inception, the Freedom Journal was the first African-American publication which concentrated on addressing issues that were of concern to the black population such as freedom from slavery, and other social injustices facing them. It sought to put the record straight of myths and misconceptions held about them, clearly articulating their distinct identity and what they stood for. The black press during this period advocated for uplifting their race and morals defining the society, and educative articles to the masses, particularly the young on becoming better citizens. Other newspaper publications such as the Christian Recorder and the Anglo-African discounted popular notions about the blacks and called for the emancipation of their people. They advocated for the black soldiers to be incorporated into the army, for their equal treatment and pay; and advocating for their voting rights. After the civil war, the black press focused on rebuilding the communities and their socio-political structures and articulating the progress of the movement towards civil liberty across the United States. They were useful tools for the freedoms we enjoy today.
Works Cited
Cunningham, Evelyn. “THE BLACK PRESS: SOLDIERS WITHOUT SWORDS – Facilitator Guide”. Newsreel.Org, 2016, http://www.newsreel.org/guides/blackpress/putting.htm.
Jr., Henry Louis Gates “What Was The 1St Black American Newspaper?”. The Root, 2014, http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/03/black_newspapers_which_one_was_the_first/.
McGruder, Kevin. “The Black Press During The Civil War”. Opinionator, 2014, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/the-black-press-during-the-civil-war/?_r=0.
Minzesheimer, Bob. “Books Played A Role In The Civil Rights Movement”. USA TODAY, 2014, http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2014/02/25/books-and-the-civil-rights-movement/4343605/.