Claude Albert Barnett
Claude Albert Barnett | |
---|---|
Born | Tuskegee Institute (1904–1906) | September 16, 1889
Occupation(s) | Journalist, publisher, entrepreneur, philanthropist, activist |
Spouse |
Claude Albert Barnett (September 16, 1889 – August 2, 1967) was an American journalist, publisher, entrepreneur, philanthropist, civic activist,
Barnett was a Pan-Africanist and encouraged expatriation. He was one of the most influential African Americans of his day, and was known as an unofficial diplomat. He was an activist in journalism and international diplomacy. Barnett advised African emerging governments. Earl Morris is quoted as saying that Barnett was an "unofficial Secretary of State", and probably the best informed American on Negro countries in the world."[6]
Early life and education
Claude Albert Barnett was born on September 16, 1889, in Sanford, Florida.[7] His great-grant grandparents were free Negroes in antebellum Raleigh, North Carolina, and at a young age he went to live with his grandmother in Matoon, Illinois. Barnett attended elementary school in Mattoon and in Oak Park, Illinois.[8]
In 1904, he attended
Career
After graduation, be began working at the Post Office in Chicago, where he saw thousands of newspapers, magazines, and advertising information and decided to start a mail-order business and cosmetic company called Kashmir Chemical company.
In 1919, he started the Associated Negro Press (ANP) to provide news outlets with news stories of interest to black citizens by building a team of freelance Black news reporters. In 1950, the ANP serviced 200 newspapers across the United States of America, and internally into the West Indies, and Africa covering events in Africa and the African diaspora. It supplied opinion columns, book reviews, movie reviews, poetry, cartoons, and photographs.[11][12][13][14]
In 1934, Barnett married Etta Moten Barnett, a popular concert singer and actress. Together they raised Etta's three daughters by her previous marriage to Curtis Brooks. Barnett's marriage to Etta broadened his network of contacts. He joined her on some of her concert tours.
During
Barnett traveled to Africa three times in 1960, going to Congo-Brazzaville, the DRC Congo,
Barnett was a board of directors member for
Barnett was the director of the Associated Negro Press (ANP) for almost half a century. During his five decades career Barnett had become associated with and intimate with many of luminaries in history, such as
.Barnett retired from the ANP 1966.[7]
Death and legacy
When Barnett died in 1967,
In 1972, five years after the death of Claude Barnett, Paul Wyche said: "Since Claude Barnett died, there has been no black news service, NNPA has been trying to put together such a service for the past four years, but nothing has come of it as yet."[19]
Awards
- 1949 - Chevalier Order of Honor and Merit presented by the president of Haiti Eugene Magloire
- 1952 - Awarded the honorary title, “Commander of the Order of Star of Africa", by the President William V.S. Tubman of Liberia
References
- . Retrieved December 11, 2018. (subscription required)
- ^ "Little Known Black History Fact: Claude A. Barnett". September 17, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "Barnett, Claude Albert (1889–1967)". blackpast.org. The Black Past. May 15, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "The Cold War and Civil Rights - HIST 202b: Modern American History in Global Perspective - Research Guides at Brandeis University". Guides.library.brandeis.edu. October 4, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- JSTOR 10.5406/j.ctt1xcfxx.
- ^ ISBN 9780252099762.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Claude A. Barnett Collection of Visual Materials". www.lib.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
- ^ JSTOR 10.5406/j.ctt1ws7w2c.4.
- ^ "Associated Negro Press". www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "Claude Barnett and the Associated Negro Press - The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories (The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress)". www.loc.gov. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "To Claude Barnett - The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute". kinginstitute.stanford.edu. January 26, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "Archival records from Rescuing Liberian history - preserving the photographs of William VS Tubman, Liberia's longest serving President (EAP139)". Endangered Archives Programme. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- JSTOR 10.5406/j.ctt1ws7w2c.8.
- ^ Knowlton, Steven. "LibGuides: African American Studies: Primary Sources: Organizations". libguides.princeton.edu. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "Claude Barnett founded leading black news agency". Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ISBN 9780252099762.
- ISBN 9780252099762.
- OCLC 712674985.
- ISBN 9780252099762.