University of Illinois Press Race News: Black Journalists and the Fight for Racial Justice in the Twentieth Century (The History of Media and Communication)

Product Description Once distinct, the commercial and alternative black press began to crossover with one another in the 1920s. The porous press culture that emerged shifted the political and economic motivations shaping African American journalism. It also sparked disputes over radical politics that altered news coverage of some of the most momentous events in African American history. Starting in the 1920s, Fred Carroll traces how mainstream journalists incorporated coverage of the alternative press's supposedly marginal politics of anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism, and black separatism into their publications. He follows the narrative into the 1950s, when an alternative press re-emerged as commercial publishers curbed progressive journalism in the face of Cold War repression. Yet, as Carroll shows, journalists achieved significant editorial independence, and continued to do so as national newspapers modernized into the 1960s. Alternative writers' politics seeped into commercial papers via journalists who wrote for both presses and through professional friendships that ignored political boundaries. Compelling and incisive, Race News reports the dramatic history of how black press culture evolved in the twentieth century. Review "A thorough, well-researched, lively, and accessible account of the role of the Black press in the twentieth century. Race News is a sympathetic and politically astute analysis of the paths navigated by black journalists, and the role played by them, in many of the key struggles for racial justice in U.S. history. --Bill V. Mullen, author of Popular Fronts: Chicago and African American Cultural Politics, 1935-1946 "A welcome addition to our understanding of both journalistic and African-American history . . . Race News is highly recommended."-- People's World   " Race News is an essential and thoughtful exploration of a crucial epoch, blending meticulous research into a compelling narrative. Students will be inspired by stories about long-neglected journalists and publishers, while historians will appreciate the complex portrait of a fulminating struggle at the heart of the African-American experience."-- American Journalism "Carroll offers new insight in examining the ties between 'alternative' and 'commercial' outlets. Race News will also be of value as a comprehensive, readable introduction for those more broadly interested in African American history, journalism history and civil rights activism."-- LSE Review of Books     "[A] wonderful book about the black press in the 21st century. . . . Highly recommended."-- Choice   From the Author Fred Carroll is a lecturer at Kennesaw State University. About the Author Fred Carroll is a lecturer at Kennesaw State University.