Content-Type: text/html
We Want In:
The African American press' negotiation for a White House Correspondent
by
Earnest L. Perry Jr., Ph.D
Texas Christian University
Department of Journalism
TCU Box 298060
Fort Worth, Texas 76129
817-257-6545
[log in to unmask]
Submitted to the Minorities and Communication Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2002 Annual Conference, Miami, Flordia
We Want In/
We Want In:
The African American press' negotiation for a White House Correspondent
_if the American way of life is threatened and the danger is as great as the President says it is, this is the time for the administration to hunt for ways of linking all elements to its program. Our not having a representative at the President's conferences makes us crawl under the tent for information where we should use the main entrance.[1]
Almost 60 years ago on, on Feb. 8, 1944, Harry S. McAlpin shook the hand of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and held a brief conversation with him after a White House press conference. It marked the first time an African American reporter had participated at a White House press conference as an official correspondent. Roosevelt told McAlpin he was glad to see him and McAlpin replied that he was glad to be there.[2]
McAlpin had been covering the Washington government and political scene throughout World War II for the Chicago Defender, one of the country's leading African American newspapers. As the first African American White House correspondent, he worked both for the Atlanta Daily World, the only African American daily newspaper, and the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association. McAlpin's appointment was the culmination of three months of negotiations between the NNPA and the White House. Before the historic handshake and conversation, African American reporters had been denied full-time access to the White House despite the fact that by late 1943 African American journalists had been welcomed by the military both at home and abroad. Also, several federal agencies, most notably the Office of War Information, had begun working with the Black press to improve its access to information. [3] However, McAlpin and other African American reporters in Washington were forced to rely on second and
third hand information about the decisions in the Oval Office and other governmental business in high-level areas at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
McAlpin and several other African American reporters covered the Washington political scene as either full-time journalists for major African American newspapers or as part-time writers for smaller newspapers. Because of their limited access to the upper echelons of government, they relied on information from inside sources or off-the-record interviews with powerful African American politicos such as Walter White of the NAACP, Ted Poston, an aide to a Roosevelt assistant, or Mary Bethune McCloud, a member of the President's Black Kitchen Cabinet and a good friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Many African American journalists in Washington also held low-level government jobs that provided them an entree into the inner workings of various federal agencies.[4] However, the good-ol'-boy system, backed by Congressional rules, blocked the door to the White House press room and denied entrance to African American journalists.
Though African American editors and publishers had been pressuring the White House to allow a journalist to represent them since the beginning of Roosevelt's administration, the most concerted efforts did not occur until just before and during America's involvement in World War II.[5] This study will focus on the efforts of African American journalists to gain permission to cover the White House. The main time period of this study is from 1940 until early 1944. This time line was chosen because it marked the most significant push for White House access based on available historical material.
This study attempts to broaden an area of African American press history that has received little attention from scholars. The efforts of historians to chronicle the story of the first White House correspondent mainly focus on McAlpin's appointment and the first meeting between a sitting president - Roosevelt - and African American newspaper publishers. Patrick Washburn's account is the most extensive, but encompasses only the three-month period, November 1943 to January 1944, when government officials and African American publishers negotiated the meeting and appointment.[6] Most other accounts briefly discuss the issue.[7]
McAlpin's appointment was significant because it opened a new avenue for the African American press to gather information about issues and decisions that had an impact on its readers. McAlpin and those African American news representatives who came after him now were able to ask the president and his associates questions about issues important to African Americans. From the founding of Freedom's Journal in 1827 until today, one of the main goals of African American newspapers was to present news and information of interest to African Americans.[8] When it came to news from the White House, the African American press could obtain that information only through the back door. The African American press felt it deserved the same access to the President as the mainstream press. Many of its 1.2 million readers supported Roosevelt's New Deal and voted for him in his first two presidential campaigns.[9] Now they were being asked to back his war initiatives. However, many of them wanted s
omething in return.
It would be simple to charge the Roosevelt administration with racism on the issue of denying access to African American reporters. However, the reasons are more complicated. As Kessler points out, because the African American press often disagreed with governmental policies, its access was limited. Dissident groups or those alienated because of race had to create their own press in order to inform and educate those who were not allowed to or refused participate in mainstream society. However, because the President had significant influence on the flow of information to the mainstream society, the African American press believed it was vital to have access to the White House.[10]
Previous studies about the African American press, specifically those by Finkle and Washburn, contend that African American journalists began to take a less militant stand when the government either threatened to suppress them or took a more conciliatory position.[11] However, this researcher takes the position that the African American press could not continue its militant rhetoric and the government could not continue to support discrimination if both sides hoped to reach its goals. At some point they had to negotiate and reach a suitable compromise. African American journalists and the government followed this same path during World War I, which led to an historic meeting in June 1918 between more than twenty-seven African American editors and several high-ranking government officials. A compromise was reached culminating in less militant rhetoric by the African American press, and government action on a list of anti-discriminatory demands made by the editors.[12]
The 1943 negotiations that led to McAlpin's appointment were part of a series of talks between the African American press and the government that led to a middle ground between two opposing factions. During the early stages of America's involvement in World War II, the government wanted the country's full support. However, many African Americans, including some in the African American press, questioned whether they should support a war for democracy abroad when their civil rights were being denied at home.[13] The African American press, as it had done since its founding, continued to expose discrimination and violence against African Americans while at the same time declaring its loyalty to the war effort. The government attempted to bully the African American press to tone down its militant rhetoric.[14] The African American press did not back down, and for the first three months of 1942, African American newspapers quarreled with the military about discrimination and the Post Office about hostile language bordering on sedition.[15] During that three-month period, African American newspapers ran stories about discrimination in the military, racial violence in Alexandra, Louisiana and Sikeston, Missouri. African American journalists criticized the Red Cross for its decision to segregate African American blood. There was also a flood of critical editorials condemning the government's lack of commitment to racial equality.[16]
However, by 1943, racial violence and the militant rhetoric of the African American press forced the government to seek a compromise. The negotiations promised fewer militant stories in the press and more access for African American reporters. Negotiation also opened the White House to a member of the dissident press.
A similar situation took place months before America's entry into the war when A. Phillip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, threatened to lead 100,000 African Americans into Washington, D.C., to protest discrimination in the military, defense industry and federal jobs. Despite repeated pleas by Roosevelt, his wife Eleanor and other government officials that the march would hurt the nation, Randolph built a formidable support base, which included many in the African American press. It took negotiation and compromise -- Roosevelt issuing an executive order to end discrimination in the defense industry and federal government and Randolph calling off the march -- to avoid an all-out conflict.[17]
Documents pertaining to requests by the African American press for a White House correspondent were the primary materials analyzed for this study. Also reviewed was correspondence between government officials and Claude Barnett, head of the Associated Negro Press, concerning his request for a White House reporter. Despite its central role in limiting access to African American journalists, the White House Correspondents' Association kept no records of meetings during the time period reviewed in this study.
By 1940, the African American press had become one of the most powerful institutions in the African American community. The migration of millions of African Americans from the South to the North caused an increase in the number of readers. African Americans in the South read the newspaper, which told them of more jobs and less Jim Crow in the North and continued reading it for information and news once they arrived in cities, such as Chicago and Detroit. According to a 1940 U.S. Commerce Department report, African American press circulation had more than doubled from 600,000 in 1933 to 1.27 million in 1940. During World War II, the Office of War Information estimated that 4 million African Americans read African American newspapers each week.[18]
When the United States entered World War II, African American editors and publishers, many of them members of the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association, decided to support the government's war efforts. However, they refused to stop fighting for civil rights. Their decision was consistent with the historic advocacy role of the African American press.[19] During World War II, a majority of the mainstream press ignored the unequal treatment of African Americans. The mainstream press took notice of African Americans only when violence, spawned by discrimination, occurred.[20]
African American reporters attempting to cover the White House faced a more overt form of racism from their white counterparts. Any journalists wishing to cover the President full-time had to meet the requirements established by the House Standing Committee on Correspondents. The rules, established in 1884, barred reporters who did not work for daily newspapers or telegraphic news services from covering the Congressional Press Galleries. The White House Correspondents Association adopted these rules in its charter. They were effective in keeping African American reporters and others from covering the White House, even though the President was not obligated to follow the rules adopted by the House and Senate.[21]
The White House Press Correspondents Association
The role of the White House correspondent began in 1895 when William Price of the Washington Evening Star stood outside the White House portico on the Pennsylvania Avenue side and questioned presidential guests as they left. Other reporters soon began following the same practice and later they were allowed into the White House where they could wait to interview people near the President's office on the second floor. During major reconstruction of the White House in 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered that a room be set aside for the press. Theodore Roosevelt had regular informal gatherings with reporters and used reporters to spread rumors or test the public's reaction to his decisions.[22]
His successor, William Howard Taft, who had a good relationship with the press as secretary of war, became cool. After meeting with them regularly during his first months in office, he backed away from the press corps. Woodrow Wilson tried to create a more professional atmosphere with the press, but his intellectual and academic persona did not fit with the reporters. Wilson believed that only questions about legislation and policy should be asked. Reporters wanted to know about those issues and about his personal life and about the lives of his family. After the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, Wilson stopped holding news conferences.[23]
However, from the time Price began hanging outside the White House gates in 1895 until just before World War I, there were no rules governing who could cover the President. Since the presidential press conferences were informal until the Wilson administration, there was no need for a large room. Theodore Roosevelt and Taft would just call in any reporters who happened to be in the White House at the time. Wilson's formal press conferences were a novelty and every reporter in Washington wanted to attend. There was not enough space to accommodate all of them. In response, a group of reporters who regularly covered the White House drew up a charter that allowed only those reporters whose job it was "to primarily cover, and who are directly responsible for handling, the news and events of the White House." Those who met the first criteria also had to be accredited to use the Congressional Press Galleries, which required a journalist to be a "bona fide correspondent of reputable stan
ding who represent daily newspapers or newspaper associations requiring telegraphic service."[24]
Allowing access only to those journalists who worked for daily newspapers or one of the major wire services effectively kept out correspondents from magazines, trade publications or anyone trying lobby the President. The rules also excluded the African American press. What began as a group of reporters standing outside the White House gates had evolved into an elite club of journalists. The executive branch was not obligated to abide by the rules established by the White House Correspondents Association, but not only did it accept the rules it enforced them.[25]
When Franklin D. Roosevelt stepped into the Oval Office in 1933, he brought with him a style of dealing with the media that future presidents would try to emulate. He was friendly, intelligent, quick-witted and able to respond to questions in an open face-to-face press conference. Presidents before him had demanded that questions be provided in writing before press conferences. Roosevelt also created the position of press secretary, someone in charge of providing White House news to the press. Stephen Early, a former Associated Press and United Press International reporter, held the post throughout the Roosevelt administration. He controlled the flow of information from the White House and also controlled access.[26]
Roosevelt directed that a larger office be built for the White House press corps that included desks, typewriters, direct telephone connections to the main news wire offices and tables so reporters could play cards and chess. Presidential historian Betty Winfield referred to the White House press corps as "an exclusive fraternal club, as club-like as Franklin Roosevelt's Hasty-Pudding Club at Harvard." These clubs had unwritten rules, such as no women allowed at formal functions and no African Americans admitted.[27]
Beating on the door
In November 1940, Fredrick S. Weaver, editor of an African American fraternity magazine the Oracle, began a campaign to get Louis R. Lautier admitted as a White House correspondent for the African American press. Weaver, a member of the Association of Negro Editors and Publishers, a precursor to the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association, asked editors from various African American newspapers to send letters to Roosevelt asking that Lautier be appointed to represent the African American press at the President's press conferences.[28] Weaver, in a letter to George Durno, president of the White House Correspondents Association, proposed a plan that called for Lautier to represent all African American newspapers.[29] In a separate letter, Weaver told Roosevelt's Press Secretary Stephen Early that he would be receiving letters of endorsement for Lautier from numerous African American newspapers. He would either forward the support letters to the President or they would come directl
y from the editors.[30]
In his letter to the President, Minneapolis Spokesman publisher Cecil E. Newman complained that not having a representative forced the African American press to "depend upon material gleaned from the daily press which is in effect the 'white' press." Newman accused the White House of being in collusion with the White House Correspondents Association in keeping the press corps "lily-white."[31] Many of the letters sent during Weaver's campaign for Lautier made the same charge. Early responded to the charge the same as he had six years earlier when Weaver requested access to the White House for himself. Early referred to the charge as a "misapprehension." His letter to Newman also stated that, "the President's conferences are open on a basis of exact equality to duly qualified Washington correspondents of daily newspapers. No representatives of weekly or monthly publications are allowed to attend the conferences."[32]
A request from Ludlow W. Werner, managing editor of The New York Age, mentioned that Lautier had been admitted to the President's press conferences in the past.[33] However, no record of Lautier regularly covering the White House has been found. From December 1940 until the middle of January 1941, Early also received letters from The Louisiana Weekly, The Philadelphia Independent, The Philadelphia Tribune, The Kansas City Call and The Wisconsin Enterprise-Blade asking that Lautier be appointed as a White House correspondent.[34] However, Claude Barnett, director of the Associated Negro Press sent a separate letter to Early requesting that his Washington correspondent, Alvin White, be assigned to the White House. Barnett stated that White would file daily telegraphic dispatches to the 68 weeklies it served and the Atlanta Daily World.[35]
Before a meeting between Early, Weaver and Lautier on Jan. 9, 1941, Early requested information about Lautier from his full-time employer, the Justice Department. The memo to Early stated that Lautier worked as a stenographer in the Claims Division, had a good reputation and had been reporting for the Baltimore Afro-American and the Chicago Defender since 1930. He had been writing a gossip column, "Capitol Spotlight," for the Afro-American since 1935. [36] In late January 1941, Lautier wrote Kansas City Call Editor C.A. Franklin telling him that despite Early's reluctance to bend the rules during their meeting he thought "the matter can be worked out satisfactorily to the Negro press."[37] However, Early did not change his mind and the ban on African American reporters at the White House remained.
Five months later, A.S. Scott of the Atlanta Daily World, one of only two daily African American newspapers, sent a letter to Early requesting admission to the White House Press Association.[38] Early forwarded to letter to Paul Wooten, secretary-treasurer of the association, with instructions that he be informed that if the Atlanta Daily World assigned a correspondent "who qualifies and meets the qualifications laid down by the White House Correspondents' Association or the Galleries, we will have to admit him."[39] Wooten's response to Scott's request stated that because he was not "stationed regularly in Washington" he was not eligible for membership in the association.[40] There is no record that Scott or any other representative of the Daily World took the necessary steps to satisfy the requirements until McAlpin's appointment in 1944.
In April 1942, John Sengstacke, publisher of the Chicago Defender and founder of the NNPA, sent Early a request to appoint an African American reporter to the White House. In his letter, Sengstacke mentioned that his newspaper supported President Roosevelt during the 1940 campaign, his New Deal legislation and the war effort. The letter ended with a statement that "members of the Negro Press should be included in major information sessions and meeting which are essential to American morale."[41] Early gave Sengstacke the same reply he had previous editors. "The President's press conferences are limited to duly qualified correspondents of daily newspapers. No representatives of weekly or monthly publications are admitted to these conferences."[42]
Less than a year later, McAlpin, then Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Defender sparred with Early about a request for an exclusive interview with the President. McAlpin used the recent return of President Roosevelt from Africa, where he met with African American troops in Liberia and conferred with the African president of that country, to seek and interview. McAlpin complained that the white press corps "gave very little if any treatment or space to such matters of prime interest to America's Negro tenth." McAlpin stated that a story from the interview would boost African American morale, which was "at a very low ebb" because hearings scheduled by the Fair Employment Practices Committee concerning job discrimination in the railroad industry had been postponed.[43]
Early responded by informing McAlpin that the President had not given an exclusive interview to a reporter during his time in office and the policy would not change. He also gave his same "no admittance to weekly or monthly publications" statement that always included a line that "no representative of a Negro daily paper has ever qualified."[44] McAlpin wrote Early a heated response:
I know the rules governing attendance at the White House press conferences. It is because of those rules that I sought a means of getting information for a group of Americans who, through experience, have learned that only their own special press, despite its weekly character, brings news of special and prime interest to them.
I'll bet the President would have a better excuse than you gave - or else he'd agree to see me. Why not take it up with him? Let's see what would happen. I have a hunch he'd understand and appreciate the good that could be accomplished.[45]
There is no record that Early took the issue up with Roosevelt. However, negotiations were taking place in other areas of the federal government and the military.
Negotiate or else
In July 1943, Army and Navy representatives attended the NNPA national meeting. Shortly after the convention, the NNPA executive committee met with Vice President Henry Wallace, Attorney General Francis Biddle, Paul McNutt of the War Manpower Commission and officials from the War Production Board, Selective Service and the Office of War Information to discuss how the two sides could work together to promote the war effort. The Office of War Information immediately began providing information on how African Americans were helping in the war effort. It also created an advisory council, which consisted of the NNPA Executive Council. Sengstacke, Carter Wesley of the Houston Defender, C.A. Scott of the Atlanta Daily World, W.O. Walker of the Cleveland Call and Post and Howard Murphy of the Baltimore Afro-American, that served as the working group to advise war information officials on issue concerning African Americans.[46]
The military created a public information bureau in Europe, staffed by African Americans, to follow African American troops stationed there. The military also allowed African American reporters to cover events in Europe and the Pacific. The NNPA and the military also worked together on a campaign urging African American troops to work hard in defense of their country.[47]
The cooperative effort between the government and African American editors could be attributed to the need for calm in riot-torn cities that had erupted with racial violence during the summer of 1943. The "zoot-suit" riots in Los Angeles, violence near the ship building yards in Mobile, Alabama, widespread fighting among whites and African Americans in Detroit and a melee in Harlem made it seem as if America was fighting a war on three fronts - Europe, the Pacific and at home. Week after week, the African American press chronicled every incident and blamed the unrest on the government's unwillingness to stop discrimination and violence against African Americans.[48]
After the government opened a dialogue with the African American press, the editors began publishing editorials asking readers to resist the temptation to lash out against whites who attacked them. Both sides realized that African American morale was so low that unless a compromise could be reached the racial violence would likely intensify.[49]
However, at the same time military and other federal government staffers were negotiating with the African American press, the White House and Congress were pushing aside another request for admittance from Claude Barnett. The Associated Negro Press director sent letters to House speaker Sam Rayburn, Harold R. Beckley, chairman of the House Standing Committee in charge of the Congressional Press Gallery, and Paul Wooten, chairman of the Standing Committee Correspondents, requesting that his Washington bureau chief, Ernest E. Johnson, be admitted to the galleries and the White House. Barnett stated, as he had in 1940, that his correspondent would be sending daily telegraphic reports to the Atlanta Daily World and the Dayton Daily Bulletin, the only two African American daily newspapers. He also enclosed a letter from C.A. Scott of the Daily World chastising the Associated Negro Press for not gaining access to the top echelons of the federal government.[50]
Even though Barnett met the requirements established by the House Standing Committee, Johnson was not allowed into the galleries or the White House. Neither the White House nor the Standing Committee was ready to negotiate.
A Crack In The Door
In late May 1943, African American reporters were allowed into the White House and Congressional Press Galleries for twenty-four hours to cover the visit of President Edwin Barclay of Liberia. It marked the first time the African American press had gained such access. About two months later, Attorney General Francis Biddle during a luncheon with Roosevelt suggested that an African American reporter be admitted to the White House. The President referred Biddle to Early, but the Attorney General thought that Early would ignore the idea because it would cause problems with Congressional leaders who did not want African American journalists in the press galleries.[51] However, on the advice of Biddle, Sengstacke sent a telegram to Early on Nov. 2, 1943 suggesting that a meeting be arranged to discuss accreditation of a White House correspondent for the NNPA.[52] Early sent a Sengstacke a reply stating that a meeting could be arranged for Nov. 12 or 13.[53] Early met with Sengstack
e, Howard Murphy of the Baltimore Afro-American, C.B. Powell of the Amsterdam News and Carter Wesley of the Houston Informer on Nov. 13. At the meeting, Early and the NNPA executives agreed to begin negotiations on an African American White House press correspondent. Roosevelt was aware of the meeting and had asked Early to tell the African American publishers that he planned to deal with the problem of discrimination in federal contracts.[54]
Sengstacke told C.A. Scott of the Atlanta Daily World that the Defender's Washington bureau chief Harry S. McAlpin could be the first African American White House correspondent if the daily would hire him. McAlpin would be connected to an African American daily, but would also be sending daily dispatches to NNPA-member newspapers. Scott agreed, but his decision undercut the news operation many of the African American publishers had relied on for decades - the Associated Negro Press. [55]
About a month after the NNPA's meeting with Early, Claude Barnett sent another request for a White House correspondent. He apparently did not know about the ongoing negotiations between the NNPA and the White House because he included a previous letter from Scott supporting Barnett's request.[56] After checking with Scott, a secretary in Early's office attached a hand-written memo to the request stating that Barnett's request should be disregarded.[57] Barnett had been negotiating with the NNPA on an agreement that would bring his news service under the auspices of the publishers association. The talks had stalled during the summer of 1943 and the NNPA had decided to create its own news service. McAlpin's appointment would be the key piece in establishing a foothold in Washington.[58]
Sengstacke sent Early a formal proposal on Jan. 18, 1944, which called for the "immediate accreditation of a Negro correspondent to the White House and the Congressional Press Galleries." McAlpin was named as the publisher's choice due to his experience in Washington and additional credentials as a war correspondent. They proposed that McAlpin start on or about Feb. 1. [59] Two weeks later, Sengstacke sent letters to Speaker of the House, the chairman of the Senate Rule Committee, and the president of the White House Correspondents Association seeking permission for McAlpin to be admitted. The letter stated that the NNPA, on behalf of the Atlanta Daily World, had been working with Early on the appointment.[60] Five days earlier, the Secret Service interviewed McAlpin and on Feb. 4 he was cleared for a White House press pass.[61]
During the November meeting the publishers discussed with Early the possibility of meeting with President Roosevelt. Sengstacke got his wish on Feb. 5, 1944, when 13 NNPA editors and publishers met with Roosevelt for 35 minutes. They presented him with a 21-point statement of African American hopes and aspirations for the remainder of the war and beyond. The statement began with a pledge of support for the government's war effort.[62] Sengstacke also had hoped to meet with Congressional and White House Correspondent officials while in Washington, but there is no record that he did.
Three days later, McAlpin attended his first presidential press conference at the White House. Early did not introduce him, which was customary when a new reporter entered the White House. Early may have remembered the harsh letter McAlpin sent him a year earlier after a request for admittance rejected. However, McAlpin made his way over to the Roosevelt after the press conference in spite of the slight by Early.[63] It was not the only time McAlpin would be ignored. He was not accredited to cover the Congressional Press Galleries and had not received word that he was granted membership in the White House Correspondents Association.
Meanwhile, throughout the NNPA negotiations, Barnett continued his attempts to get his reporter in the White House. On two trips to Washington in January 1944 he tried to schedule a meeting with Early, but could not get in to see him.[64] However, NNPA's standing in Washington was solidified a year later when, at the insistence of Presidential assistant Jonathan Daniels, McAlpin was named one of 13 pool reporters assigned to cover Roosevelt's funeral.[65] Three years later, the NNPA would finally get an African American reporter in the Congressional Press Gallery. Louis Lautier, who had taken over for McAlpin in late 1945, became the first accredited African American Congressional reporter. Lautier's admittance not only opened the door for weekly newspapers, but also led to an easing of restrictions against other dissident media, such as labor and commerce.[66]
Conclusion
The concept of negotiation in an effort to reach a compromise on civil rights goes hand-in-hand with the concept of a free press. Whenever the government has threatened to infringe on the rights of the mainstream press, once the saber rattling ends there is negotiation that reaches a compromise.[67] Until World War II, the African American press was not strong enough to push for sustained access to the corridors of power. African American reporters were free to report, but with limited access it was difficult for them to get the entire story.
The Civil Rights Movement that began a few years after McAlpin's historic appointment saw as series of negotiations between African Americans and the dominant culture. Some were peaceful, but many of them were violent. Marches and riots that followed led to negotiations that brought about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that effectively killed Jim Crow.
The white press also realized that it had to negotiate if it wanted to cover the Civil Rights Movement. African American journalists gained jobs at white newspapers in exchange for access to news inside the African American community.
The negotiation for a White House correspondent was not the first. However, it did move the process further along the path to equal rights.
ENDNOTES
[1] C.A. Franklin to Stephen Early, January 10, 1943, OF 36, Color Representatives folder, Roosevelt Library.
[2] Patrick S. Washburn, A Question of Sedition: The Federal Government's Investigation of the Black Press During World War II, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 200.
[3] Washburn, 198-201. Lee Finkle, Forum for Protest: The Black Press During World War II. (Cranbury, N.J. Associated University Press, 1975), 84-85.
[4] Kathleen A. Hauke, Ted Poston: Pioneer American Journalist. (Athens, Ga., University of Georgia Press, 1998), 89-101.
[5] Trezzvant W. Anderson to Stephen Early, October 23, 1933, OF 36 Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library. Fredrick S. Weaver to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 6, 1933, OF 36 Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library. These requests were made by two African American reporters. These are the only requests on file prior to 1940.
[6] Washburn, 198-201.
[7] Finkle, 85.
[8] Fredrick G. Detweiler, The Negro Press In The United States. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1922), p. 47.
[9] Finkle, 10, 62-63. Hauke, 86-87.
[10] Lauren Kessler, The Dissident Press: Alternative Journalism in American History. (Beverly Hills, Ca.: Sage Publications, 1984), 12.
[11] Finkle, 9-11. Washburn, 8-10.
[12] William G. Jordan, Black Newspapers and America's War For Democracy: 1914-1920. (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 4-5.
[13] Finkle, 61-62. Hauke, 89-90. Richard M. Dalfiume, "The Forgotten Years of the Negro Revolution," Journal of American History, 25 (June 1968), 10.
[14] Washburn, 57. "Blundering by Washington Officials Who Know Negroes Hurting the War Effort," Associated Negro Press Release, April 13, 1942, Box 34, folder 1, Claude Barnett papers, Chicago Historical Society.
[15] Washburn, 53.
[16] Jordan, 167; Hauke, 99; "The Alexandria Riots," (1942, January 31) Chicago Defender, p. 17; "The Home Front," (1942, March 1942) Chicago Defender, p. 16.
[17] Alex Poinsett, Walking with Presidents: Louis Martin and the Rise of Black Political Power, (Lanham, Md.: Madison Books, 1997) 25. Earl Lewis, In Their Own Interest: Race, Class and Gender in Twentieth-Century Norfolk, Virginia, (Berkley, Ca.: University of California Press, 1991), 176.
[18] Washburn, 39.
[19] Earnest L. Perry Jr., "Voice of Consciousness: The Negro Newspaper Publishers Association During World War II." Unpublished dissertation, 1998, 2-3.
[20] Finkle, 66. "The Negro Press In America's War Effort," Associated Negro Press release, March 7, 1942.
[21] Betty Houchin Winfield, FDR and the News Media. (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1990), 55-56.
[22] F.B.Marbut, News from the Capital: The Story of Washington Reporting. (Carbondale: Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1971), 169-170.
[23] Marbut, 171-172.
[24] Marbut, 172.
[25] Winfield, 56. Leo C. Rosten, The Washington Correspondents. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1937), 85-86.
[26] Winfield, 57-59.
[27] Winfield, 69. Marbut, 179.
[28] Fredrick S. Weaver to Stephen Early, November 12, 1940, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[29] Fredrick S. Weaver to George Durno, November 23, 1940, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[30] Fredrick S. Weaver to Stephen Early, December 7, 1940, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[31] Cecil E. Newman to Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 9, 1940, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[32] Stephen Early to Cecil E. Newman, December 13, 1940, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[33] Ludlow W. Werner to Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 5, 1940, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[34] The letters, all address to President Roosevelt, and the replies from Stephen Early can be found in OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[35] Claude A. Barnett to Stephen Early, December 7, 1940, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[36] Confidential Memorandum from James Allen to William D. Hassett, December 10, 1940, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[37] Louis R. Lautier to C.A. Franklin, January 22, 1941, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[38] A. S. Scott to Stephen Early, May 7, 1941, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[39] Memorandum from Ruthjane Rumlet to William Hassett, May 15, 1941; Memorandum from Stephen Early to William Hassett, May 31, 1941; Stephen Early to Paul Wooten, May 13, 1941, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[40] Paul Wooten to A.S. Scott, May 28, 1941, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[41] John H. Sengstacke to Stephen Early, April 11, 1942, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[42] Stephen Early to John H. Sengstacke, April 14, 1942, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[43] Harry S. McAlpin to Stephen Early, February 2, 1943, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[44] Stephen Early to Harry S. McAlpin, February 4, 1943, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[45] Harry S. McAlpin to Stephen Early, February 16, 1943, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[46] Washburn, 162-163. Palmer Hoyt to John H. Sengstacke, July 23, 1943, Minorities-Negro folder, OWI files, Phileo Nash papers, Truman Library.
[47] Washburn, 190-191.
[48] "Wave of Outbreaks Spreads Over Nation" (1943, June 26) Chicago Defender, p.1. "Zoot Riots Are Race Riots" (1943, July) Crisis, p. 200.
[49] "Sengstacke Urges FDR Radio Appeal To Nation," (1943, June 26) Chicago Defender, p.16. "The Riot Photos," (1943, August 7), Chicago Defender, p.1.
[50] Claude A. Barnett to Paul Wooten, July 17, 1943; Claude A. Barnett to Sam Rayburn, July 17, 1943; Claude A. Barnett to Harold R. Beckley, July 30, 1943; C.A. Scott to Claude A. Barnett, July 24, 1943, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[51] Washburn, 198.
[52] Typewritten notes by Francis Biddle, July 23, 1943, Francis Biddle papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt folder, Roosevelt Library.
[53] Telegram from Stephen Early to John H. Sengstacke, November 8, 1943, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[54] Memorandum from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Stephen Early, November 12, 1943; Memorandum from Charles Browning to Ruthjane Rumlet, Stephen Early's secretary, November 12, 1943; John H. Sengstacke to Stephen Early, December 1, 1943, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[55] Telegram from Atlanta Daily World to John H. Sengstacke, no date, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library. Washburn, 199-200.
[56] Claude A. Barnett to Stephen Early, December 10, 1943, OF 36, Colored Representatives folder, Roosevelt Library.
[57] Unsigned memorandum to Stephen Early, no date, OF 36, Colored Representatives folder, Roosevelt Library.
[58] Lawrence D. Hogan, A Black National News Service: The Associated Negro Press and Claude Barnett, 1919-1945. (Cranbury, NJ.: Associated University Presses, 1984), 225-231.
[59] John H. Sengstacke to Stephen Early, January 18, 1944, OF 36, Colored Representatives folder, Roosevelt Library.
[60] Three identical letters from John H. Sengstacke to Harry F. Byrd, Sen. Sam Rayburn and Paul Wooten, January 31, 1944, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[61] John T. Sherwood to Frank J. Wilson, U.S. Secret Service, February 4, 1944, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[62] Memorandum from Jonathan Daniels to Stephen Early, February 4, 1944: John H. Sengstacke to Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 9, 1944, John H. Sengstacke to Stephen Early, February 9, 1944, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[63] John H. Sengstacke to Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 9, 1944, John H. Sengstacke to Stephen Early, February 9, 1944; C.A. Scott to Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 9, 1944, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library. Washburn, 200-201.
[64] Claude A. Barnett to Stephen Early, December 29, 1943; Claude A. Barnett to Ruthjane Rumlet, Stephen Early's secretary, January 29, 1944, OF 36, Colored Representative folder, Roosevelt Library.
[65] Washburn, 201.
[66] Marbut, 162-163.
[67] Jordan, 4-5; 164-167.