Ben Burns
Ben Burns | |
---|---|
Editor executivePublic relations | |
Years active | 1937–1977 |
Spouse |
Esther Stern (m. 1937) |
Children | 3 |
Ben Burns (August 25, 1913 – January 29, 2000) was an American pioneering editor of black publications (including the
Early life
Burns was born Benjamin Bernstein
Burns spent his teen years in New York's West Side,
In 1935, he joined the
Burns married Esther Stern on November 28, 1937. The couple, married for over 62 years, had three children.
Journalism career
Beginnings
Burns obtained work at the three Communist newspapers in the United States: in 1937 at the
Black publications
Back in Chicago, a political connection led Burns in July 1942 to apply for a job at the
Burns's previous contacts with black people had been “practically nonexistent,”[15] but he threw himself into his new work with gusto. “Having committed myself wholly to Negroes' attainment of fair and equal status … I endeavored to become in every sense a 'brother' by virtue of my oneness with Negroes in values and customs, interests and concerns, reactions and resolutions,” he wrote.[16] “I became a Defender editor, a 'black newspaperman,' black in my orientation and thinking, in my concerns and outlook, in my friends and associations, black in everything but my skin color.”[2]
After a stint in the
During this time, Burns worked often with John H. Johnson, who became a wealthy African-American publisher. “My communist and Defender training in protest proved a source of continual acrimony between Johnson and me for almost all the years I worked for him,” Burns wrote. Burns contrasted the “flame of racial militancy kindled in me”[26] with what he characterized as Johnson's “carefully calibrated racial positivism.”[27]
Later career
Burns was fired from the
He later returned to serve as editor of the Chicago Daily Defender (1962–67)[31] and Sepia (1968–77).[4] Burns retired from journalism and public relations in 1977, and immediately traveled to Africa with his wife.[32]
Relationship to Judaism
Although Burns's paternal grandfather had been a
Burns began using the byline “Ben Burns” (instead of his birth surname Bernstein) around 1936, because at the time he was having difficulty finding a job in the journalism field and he thought that “perhaps a non-Jewish name would change my fortunes.”[33] Yet during his long career in black journalism, he did not avoid being identified as a Jew. On one occasion, a printing salesman asked if he was “Negro or White?” Cognizant of his “dark complexion,” Burns replied: “Neither, I'm Jewish.”[34] Commenting on his experiences of black anti-Semitism at Ebony, he noted how photographer David Jackson once returned disappointed from an assignment because a person he was to photograph was “not colored" but "a kike” from “Jewtown” (that is, the Maxwell Street area of Chicago). Taken aback by the remark, Burns asked Jackson what a “kike” is supposed to look like, adding, “Do I look like a kike?” Jackson replied that he didn't know, and Burns said, “Well, I am a kike.”[35]
In 1973, Burns and his wife visited his parents' birthplaces in Poland, as well as the death camp
Controversies
Legacy
Some observers question Burns's place in black journalism. “Does Burns take too much credit for the seemingly substantial work he did on Negro Digest and Ebony? I don't know,” wrote one critic. “If the reader doesn't know the Black press well enough, it would be easy to accuse Burns of racial condescension.”[37]
Burns wrote that he “single-handedly” put together the first issue of Negro Digest, which he states was the idea of John H. Johnson.[19] Johnson hardly mentions Burns in his autobiography.[37] Burns noted that Johnson “in later years … embellished his personal success story by claiming to have edited the Digest.”[19]
Richard Wright
During the 1950s, Burns had a disagreement with Richard Wright, a long-time friend, over an article by Wright on “the Shame of Chicago,” about the plight of the local black community, which had been submitted for publication to Ebony. Burns wanted to publish the article, but Ebony's publisher, John H. Johnson, was against it. Johnson would only agree to publish Wright's article if, in order to appease advertisers, Burns would write an editorial publicly denouncing the article, which he did. Later, another similar piece by Wright, solicited by Burns, was rejected by Johnson.[38] After Wright's death, some critics claimed Burns was in a “continuing feud” with Wright, and accused him of “skullduggery”;[39] Burns defended his actions in his memoir.[38]
Recognition and influence
A statement of Burns's influence appeared in the
In 1997, Burns was named to the Hall of Achievement at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.[28][42]
Works
- Nitty Gritty: A White Editor in Black Journalism (1996)
- The Best of Negro Humor, edited by John Harold Johnson and Ben Burns; intro. Langston Hughes(1945)
References
- ^ Jessie Parkhurst Guzman, editor, Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1952, New York: Wm. H. Wise & Co., Inc., p. 44.
- ^ a b c Ben Burns, Nitty Gritty: A White Editor in Black Journalism, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996, p. 3.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 50.
- ^ a b c d Allyson Hobbs, “Guide to the Ben Burns Collection, 1939-1999,” Chicago Public Library, 2006.
- ^ Letter, Ben Burns, “Excellent piece,” Chicago Jewish Star, September 13, 1996, p. 4.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 38.
- ^ a b c Ben Burns, “An Atheist at Auschwitz,” Chicago Jewish Star, April 19, 1996, p. 7.
- ^ Burns wrote that his father “abandoned me when I was a baby, and I never knew him until I was ten years old” (Nitty Gritty, p. 38).
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 57.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 119.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, pp. 57-60.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, pp. 106-7.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, pp. 55, 63-70.
- ^ A page of the report is reproduced as the frontispiece to Nitty Gritty.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 55.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 143.
- ^ Who's Who in America, Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, n.d., 42nd edition, 1982-1983, vol. I, p. 460.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 211.
- ^ a b c Nitty Gritty, p. 36.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 29.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, pp. 205-6.
- ^ a b Nitty Gritty, p. 166.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, pp. 195-202.
- ^ In 1922, its monthly circulation was reportedly 100,000 copies (The Crisis, vol. 24, June 1922, p. 74).
- ^ Negro Year Book, pp. 32-35.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 90.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 101.
- ^ a b c James Janega, “Ben Burns, 86, White Editor Who Made Mark In Black Journalism,” Chicago Tribune, February 2, 2000.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 208.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 195.
- ^ “Names New Editor [Ben Burns to] Chicago Defender,” Tri-State Defender, August 4, 1962, p. 7; other sources give the dates as 1966-67, ex. Allyson Hobbs, "Guide to a Ben Burns Collection, 1939-1999," Chicago Public Library, 2006.
- ^ Bill Lane, Tri-State Defender, June 4, 1977, p. 7.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 63.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, p. 136.
- ^ Nitty Gritty, pp. 148-50.
- ^ Jennifer Brody, “White Jew, Black media,” Chicago Jewish Star, August 30, 1996, pp. 7-8.
- ^ Michigan Citizen, January 18, 1997, p. B1.
- ^ a b Nitty Gritty, chapter 12.
- ^ Jerry W. Ward, Jr., and Robert J. Butler, editors, The Richard Wright Encyclopedia, Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008, pp. 61-62.
- Chicago Defender, February 3, 2000, p. 5.
- Chicago Defender, February 3, 2000, p. 9.
- ^ "Hall of Achievement: Ben Burns," Archived October 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Medill Northwestern University, updated September 2010.
External links
- Ben Burns Collection, 1939-1999 consists of 46 archival boxes of material (approximately 135 linear feet) donated by Burns to the Chicago Public Library, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature
- Works by or about Ben Burns in libraries (WorldCat catalog)