Four boys outside Courier

The Pittsburgh Courier was established in 1907 by Edwin Harleston, a security guard and writer. The newspaper gained fame after Robert Lee Vann took over the paper in 1910 and eventually became the nations most widely circulated black newspaper at almost 200,000.

The Courier was always an organ for the wellbeing of the average African-American. It would call for housing improvements and the opening of black hospitals. The Pittsburgh Courier also sought to improve the black peoples’ financial and political skills.  Continue reading →

In 1879, John James Neimore established The California Owl as a means to help ease the black settlers’ transition to the western way of life. The Eagle provided many disparaged settlers with job, housing, and information on local charities.

When The California Eagle shut down its presses in 1964, it was one of the oldest black-owned and operated papers in the United States. John James Neimore had established it in Los Angeles as The California Owl in 1879, to ease black settlers’ transition to the West. The paper provided them with housing and job information, and other information essential to surviving in a new environment.  Continue reading →

The afro-american newspaper

The Baltimore Afro-American, commonly known as The Afro, is a weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It is the flagship newspaper of the Afro-American chain and the longest-running African-American family-owned newspaper in the United States

The newspaper was founded in 1892 by a former slave, John H. Murphy, Sr., who merged his church publication, The Sunday School Helper, with two other church publications, The Ledger and The Afro-American. The publication began to rise in prominence when, in 1922, Carl Murphy took control and served as its editor for 45 years. There have been as many as 13 editions of the newspaper in major cities across the country; today there are just two: one in Baltimore, and the other in Washington, D.C.

Louis E. Lomax

Born in Valdosta, Georgia. Educated at Paine College in Augusta, graduating in 1942, and later at American University (M.A., 1944), and Yale (Ph.D., 1947). Taught philosophy briefly at Georgia State College in Savannah.

Worked as a newspaper reporter, for Baltimore Afro-American and Chicago American, until 1958; later a freelance magazine journalist and author of books including The Reluctant African (1960), The Negro Revolt (1962), When the Word Is Given: A Report on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Black Muslim World(1963), Thailand: The War That Is, The War That Will Be (1967), and To Kill a Black Man (1968).

In 1959, with Mike Wallace, interviewed Malcolm X for documentary on Nation of Islam, The Hate That Hate Produced. From 1964 to 1968 hosted twice-weekly Los Angeles television show on KTTV; lectured widely on college campuses. Died in automobile accident near Santa Rosa, New Mexico.