Freedom (American newspaper)

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For the anarchist periodical, see Freedom (British newspaper).
Freedom
Front page of Freedom newspaper,
Vol. 5, No. 5, May – June 1955
EditorLouis E. Burnham
Staff writersPaul Robeson
Lorraine Hansberry
Alice Childress
Thelma Dale
Lloyd L. Brown
John H. Clarke
OCLC
904283253

Freedom was a monthly newspaper focused on

anti-colonial movements in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Freedom gave extensive publicity to... the struggle against apartheid."[4]

History

Freedom was planned as a joint venture by Robeson and

Managing Editor of Freedom. Burnham was responsible for getting the monthly started.[6] George B. Murphy Jr. (vice chairman of the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born and vice president of the International Workers Order), was the general manager. The monthly shared office space and staff with the Council on African Affairs.[7] Each issue cost $0.10; a subscription for a year was $1.[8]

When

Tony award-winning playwright but then (in her own description) a confused 21 year old, went to work for Freedom soon after its founding, she found "an office furnished with two desks, one typewriter and a remarkably enthusiastic working staff of two": Louis Burnham, the editor, and Edith Roberts, the office manager.[9]

The periodical became a magnet for primarily African-American

John O. Killens, and poet Frank Marshall Davis.[11] Alice Childress recalled "Eslanda Robeson bringing in the works of young artists, introducing them to the editor, asking him to give them an opportunity to present their talents in Freedom."[5]

It supported the

Toussaint L'Ouverture of Indo China," Robeson asked [emphasis in the original]: "Shall Negro sharecroppers from Mississippi be sent to shoot down brown-skinned peasants in Vietnam—to serve the interests of those who oppose Negro liberation at home and colonial freedom abroad?"[13]

Women on the editorial board, and among its contributors, brought a proto-

Thelma Dale worked at the monthly. Shirley Graham Du Bois was part of the "Freedom Family"[7] as the paper's associates referred to themselves.[15]

Freedom put on pageants celebrating African-American history. To commemorate the newspaper's first birthday, Hansberry wrote the script for a rally at Rockland Palace, a then-famous Harlem hall,

John O. Killens providing narration.[18]

Freedom ceased publication after its July–August 1955 issue, which included an appeal for financial support on its front page.

FBI harassment.[10] Because of McCarthyism, most Blacks were reluctant to have any association with Robeson or his publication. Although buying a Robeson concert ticket often included a subscription to Freedom, the FBI photographed attendees and recorded their license plate numbers, which would also especially discourage government employees. State and city governments prevented large venues from hosting Robeson, further limiting concert attendance to smaller facilities such as churches and union halls.[12]

Legacy

Following the failure of Freedom, many of those associated with it were able to initiate another periodical,

Civil Rights Movement, maintained Freedom's anti-imperialist and anti-Jim Crow stance, while continuing to support Black culture and feminism.[11] In its final issue, the editorial in Freedomways acknowledged the importance of its predecessor Freedom: "The titles of two ventures in publishing helped inspire our name—most significantly, Freedom Newspaper, published by Paul Robeson and edited by Louis E. Burnham, which made such a valuable contribution to our movement in the ’50s."[20]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-674-00788-8
    .
  2. ^ "Freedom". NYU Libraries. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  3. OCLC 868517353
    .
  4. OCLC 864885538
    . Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  5. ^
    OCLC 38411295
    .
  6. ^
    OCLC 871707576
    .
  7. ^
    OCLC 767775665
    .
  8. OCLC 1088439510
    . Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  9. S2CID 159832248
    .
  10. ^ a b Rocksborough-Smith, Ian (29 July 2005). "A group of friends" (PDF). Bearing the Seeds of Struggle: Freedomways Magazine, Black Leftists, and Continuities in the Freedom Movement (MA). Simon Fraser University. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  11. ^ a b Smethurst, James (2008). "SNYC, Freedomways, and the Influence of the Popular Front in the South on the Black Arts Movement". Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture. 8 (1). Archived from the original on 2009-12-08. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  12. ^
    OCLC 1059004452
    .
  13. hdl:2333.1/wh70s346
    . Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  14. hdl:2333.1/j9kd55h3
    . Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  15. OCLC 894737213
    .
  16. ^ "The Rockland Palace Dance Hall, Harlem NY 1920". Harlem World. Harlem World Magazine. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  17. hdl:2333.1/44j0ztf0
    . Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  18. OCLC 1080274303
    . Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  19. hdl:2333.1/vhhmgvws
    . Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  20. OCLC 819195
    . Retrieved 27 August 2020.

Further reading

External links
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