Pittsburgh Courier
Media of the United States |
The Pittsburgh Courier was an
It was acquired in 1965 by
Creation and incorporation
The paper was founded by Edwin Nathaniel Harleston, who worked as a guard at the
In 1909, Edward Penman, Hepburn Carter, Scott Wood Jr., and Harvey Tanner joined Harleston to run the paper, although they did not contribute financially. They named the paper as Pittsburgh Courier, after the
In early March 1910,
Editorship of Robert L. Vann
The Courier under Vann prominently featured Vann's work as a lawyer and public figure. In the early 1910s, a staff of four (Vann, a secretary, a sports editor, and an errand boy who also proof-read and handled mail) operated from a spare room above a funeral parlor in the Hill District.
In the 1920s, Vann made efforts to improve the quality of the news included in the growing paper. In November 1925, the Courier joined the Associated Negro Press, the news collective of African American publications.[13] Under Vann, the "Local News" section of the Courier covered the social lives of the upper- and middle-class members of the Hill District. This included accounts of vacations, marriages, and parties of prominent families and the goings on of local groups, such as the Pittsburgh
The Courier also worked as a tool for social progress. Most significantly, the paper extensively covered the injustices on African Americans perpetrated by the
In 1932, Vann officially put the Courier behind the
In 1927, the Courier's New York City branch manager, Floyd J. Calvin, began broadcasting the weekly "Pittsburgh Courier Hour" on New York radio.[27] By 1928, the Courier's four editions (local, northern, eastern, and southern) were distributed in all 48 states and internationally, and by 1938, the paper was the largest American black weekly, with a circulation of 250,000.[14] Vann legitimized the Courier with a professional staff, national advertisements, a dedicated printing plant, and wide circulation.[28]
Later years and legacy
Following Vann's death in late 1940, close associate Ira Lewis filled his role as president and executive editor. The Courier maintained its upward trajectory, reaching an all-time circulation high of 357,000 in 1947.[29] When Lewis died in 1948, Vann's widow, Jessie Mathews Vann, assumed the role of president-treasurer.[30]
Upon the entrance of the United States into World War Two, the editors of the Pittsburgh Courier nominated African American journalist Frank E. Bolden to be an accredited war correspondent. Bolden was one of only two African American war correspondents accepted, and became a nationally recognized journalist, in addition to being city editor of the Courier from 1956 until 1962.[31]
In 1953, the Courier published sixteen regional editions, totaling 250,000 copies. This drop in circulation in just six years illustrates the Courier's decline.[32] The Courier's decline can be attributed in large part to advances during the
P.L. Prattis, a career journalist, rose from city editor in 1936, to managing editor in 1948, to executive editor of the Pittsburgh Courier in 1956.[1] In 1947, Prattis was unanimously granted membership in the US Senate and House press galleries by the executive committee of the Periodical Correspondents Association. That year he was the first African American journalist permitted to enter the United States Congress via the Periodical Press Galleries of the United States Congress.[citation needed] He remained executive editor until 1965. In 1965, Prattis retired from the Courier after John H. Sengstacke purchased the ailing paper.[1]
Some prominent contributors to the Courier were Joel Augustus Rogers, who worked as a journalist for the Courier in the 1920s, and Sam Milai, editorial cartoonist for the Courier for 33 years. The Courier was the first to spot the talent of a young William Gardner Smith, who was hired by the Courier while still in high school. This was in 1943, some years before he gained attention as an expatriate novelist and journalist living in France.[35] Trezzvant Anderson covered the early years of the civil rights movement for the paper.[36]
Courier comic strips
The Pittsburgh Courier published
Other notable strips published in the Courier included Jay Jackson's As Others See Us[40] and Jackie Ormes' Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger (1945–1956).[41]
From August 1950 to August 1954, the Courier partnered with the Smith-Mann Syndicate to publish a weekly color comics section called Carousel,[42] featuring a line-up of strips aimed at an African American audience. These strips included:
- Chisholm Kid by Carl Pfeufer (August 19, 1950 – August 11, 1956) — also had a topper strip called Alan O'Dare from 1951 to 1954
- Don Powers by Sam Milai (August 19, 1950 – November 1, 1958)
- Funtime by Edo Anderson (1951–1954)
- Guy Fortune by Edd Ashe (August 19, 1950 – October 22, 1955)
- Kandy by A. C. Hollingsworth (1954–1955)
- Lohar by Bill Brady (1950–October 18, 1958)
- Mark Hunt by Michael Tam and/or Edd Ashe (c. 1950–October 22, 1955)
- Neil Knight of the Air by "Carl and Mac" (c. 1950–October 22, 1955)
- Sunny Boy Sam by Wilbert Holloway (c. 1950–c. 1958)
- Torchy in Heartbeats by Jackie Ormes (August 19, 1950 – September 18, 1954) — also had a paper doll topper strip called Torchy Togs
- Woody Woodenhead by Edo Anderson (August 19, 1950 – August 4, 1956)
Many of the strips continued on as daily, black-and-white strips after Carousel ceased.
New Pittsburgh Courier
John H. Sengstacke, publisher of The Chicago Defender and a national figure for black newspapers, closed the Courier in 1966. He re-opened it in 1967 as the New Pittsburgh Courier.[43]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Percival L. Prattis Papers Finding Aid". Archives Service Center Finding Aids. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
- ^ "Courier". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
- ^ Greenwald, Maurine Weiner, and Margo J. Anderson (1996). Pittsburgh surveyed: social science and social reform in the early twentieth century (Digital ed.). Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 282. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-8038-0490-6.
- ^ a b Buni, p. 42.
- ^ a b Buni, p. 43.
- ^ a b Buni, p. 44.
- ^ Buni, p. 46.
- ^ Buni, p. 49.
- ^ Buni, p. 53.
- ^ Buni, p. 51.
- ^ Buni, p. 54.
- ^ Buni, p. 52.
- ^ a b Glasco, Laurence. "Double Burden: The Black Experience in Pittsburgh." (1989). Samuel P. Hays (ed.). City at the point: essays on the social history of Pittsburgh (Digital ed.). Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 82. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
- ^ Buni, pp. 136–140.
- ^ Buni, p. 141.
- ^ Buni, p. 142.
- ^ a b Buni, p. 145.
- ^ Buni, p. 144.
- ^ Buni, p. 163.
- ^ Buni, pp. 61–70.
- ^ Buni, pp. 147–148.
- ^ Buni, pp. 152–153.
- ^ Buni, p. 160.
- ^ Buni, pp. 305–312.
- ^ Stave, Bruce M. (1970). The New Deal and the last hurrah: Pittsburgh machine politics. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, Digital Research Library. p. 34.
- ^ Buni, p. 140.
- ^ Buni, pp. 133–134.
- ^ Swetnam, George (1956). The Bicentennial history of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County: a source edition recording the early and contemporary history of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania through the medium of extensive research and the life histories of its most constructive members--chronicling the backgrounds and activities of its prominent families and personages with emphasis on their accomplishments in making Pittsburgh one of America's greatest cities, v.2. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Digital Research Library. p. 357.
- ^ Buni, p. 325.
- ^ a b Archives Staff. "Frank E. Bolden Papers". Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
- ^ Mulkearn, Lois, and Edwin V. Pugh (1954). A traveler's guide to historic western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 38.
- ^ Glasco, p. 93.
- ^ Buni, p. 326.
- ^ Jackson, Jacquelyn. "William Gardner Smith" from Dictionary of Literary Biography. Thomson Gale, Thomson Corporation ©2005-2006.
- ^ "Trezzvant Anderson". Reporting Civil Rights. Library of America. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ a b Holtz, Allan. "Ink-Slinger Profiles: Wilbert Holloway", Stripper's Guide (February 13, 2012).
- ^ Holtz, Allan. "Your History", Stripper's Guide, April 22, 2011.
- ^ Cavna, Michael (January 31, 2014). "RIP, Morrie Turner: Cartoonists say farewell to a friend, a hero, a Wee Pals pioneer". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016.
- ^ Jackson, Tim. Pioneering Cartoonists of Color (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2016).
- ^ Onion, Rebecca. "Fifty Years Before Boondocks There Was Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger", Slate (August 13, 2013).
- ^ Knoll, Erwin. "Smith-Mann to Launch Comics Supplement", Editor & Publisher (July 21, 1951). Archived at "Comic Book Experts - Can You Help Us?", Stripper's Guide (June 12, 2007).
- ISBN 9780203942161. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
Further reading
- "The Pittsburgh Courier". The Black Press. PBS. 2004. Retrieved July 24, 2005.
- "Pittsburgh Courier Honored As Most Influential Black Newspaper In U.S." E&P. 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
- Books
- Buni, Andrew (1974). Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier: Politics and Black Journalism. University of Pittsburgh Press.
- Greenwald, Maurine Weiner, and Margo J. Anderson (1996). Pittsburgh Surveyed: Social Science and Social Reform in the Early Twentieth Century (Digital ed.). Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press.
- Samuel P. Hays, ed. (1989). City at the Point: Essays on the Social History of Pittsburgh (Digital ed.). Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press.
- Mulkearn, Lois, and Edwin V. Pugh (1954). A Traveler's Guide to Historic Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, Pa: University of Pittsburgh Press.
- Stave, Bruce M. (1970). The New Deal and the Last Hurrah: Pittsburgh Machine Politics. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, Digital Research Library.
- Swetnam, George (1956). The Bicentennial History of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County: a source edition recording the early and contemporary history of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania through the medium of extensive research and the life histories of its most constructive members--chronicling the backgrounds and activities of its prominent families and personages with emphasis on their accomplishments in making Pittsburgh one of America's greatest cities, v.2. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Digital Research Library.
- Washburn, Patrick S. The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom (Northwestern University Press, 2006); covers 1827–1900; emphasis on the Chicago Defender and Pittsburgh Courier.
- ISBN 978-1-5011-2239-2. (Book includes substantive coverage of this newspaper)
External links
- New Pittsburgh Courier Online
- Finding aid to the Percival L. Prattis Papers, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, at the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
- Finding aid to the Frank E. Bolden Papers, reporter and city editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh