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TREASON
TREASON?
"Wewere at war, and in war you don't have friendly
relationships, you're out to kill each other. That's how it was at
the Courier. We were trying to kill Jim Crow, and racism . They
didn't seem to understand that we had every right to fight for
full citizenship at home if we were expected to give our lives
overseas."
Edna C happell McKenzie, journalistlhistorian
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During World War II,African Americans faced a new dilemma.
Thousands of black soldiers served willingly in the armed
forces. At the same time, many African Americans wondered
how they could support the war effort and even give their lives
if called upon to fight, while Jim Crow laws and de facto
segregation remained in place. Some black newspapers
reflected these concerns, and openly criticized the segregation
of the military and other policies. As a result, the black press
faced harassment by government agencies. Still, its readership
continued to soar, and as the war ended, black troops returned,
more dedicated than ever to fighting injustice at home.
In 1941, the United States entered World War II. Most
mainstream papers lauded the war effort. Patriotism among
black publishers and journalists, however, was tempered by the
pressing reality of segregation. While thousands of African
Americans served willingly in the armed forces, many others
felt that they could not support the war wholeheartedly.
Among the latter was a cafeteria worker named James
Thompson. This young man wrote a letter to the Pittsburgh
Courier, troubled by the fact that he might be called upon to
defend a nation in which he was treated like a second-class
citizen. He suggested that African Americans espouse a
'double V campaign. The symbol stood for victory at war over
enemies 'from without,' and victory at home against the enemy
of prejudice 'from within.' When other readers wrote to
congratulate Thompson on his idea, the Courier launched a
huge publicity campaign, complete with lapel pins and stickers,
'double V' hair styles and songs.
I
F
he campaign kept awareness of the injustices of segregation
alive during the war. It also brought attention to Jim Crow-style
segregation in the armed forces. The troops themselves were
segregated, but black outf~tswere assigned white commanding
officers. Even the military's blood supply for the wounded was
segregated by race. White soldiers brutalized black soldiers,
and race riots took ptace in camps where troops of both races
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resided. The military tried to suppress word of these events,
with partial success; only the black press reported
discrimination and discord within the troops.
Such controversial reporting, coupled with the double V
campaign and the new international mobility and visibility of the
few black war correspondents, made those in various branches
of the government nervous. The power of the black press to
influence public opinion and excite its readers never seemed
more threatening. Concerned that the black press would
actually discourage its readers from supporting the war (it
didn't), the military banned black newspapers from its libraries.
It confiscated black papers from newsboys, and burned the
papers to keep them out of the hands of black soldiers.
3. Edgar Hoover saw the double V campaign as an act of
sedition. With President Franklin D. Roosevelt's approval, he
F
sought to indict black publishers for treason. Hearing of
Hoover's intentions, John Sengstacke, who had replaced
Robert S. Abbott as publisher of the Chicago Defender,
insisted on meeting with Attorney General Francis Biddle.
Sengstacke convinced Biddle that it was the black press's duty
to print the truth, and that African Americans only sought their
due rights and privileges as citizens. Biddle agreed to block the
indictments so long as the black press did not escalate its
criticism of the war. Without the cooperation of the Attorney
General's office, Hoover's plan was foiled.
Attempts, such as Hoover's, to destroy the black press failed.
In fact, the papers' combined circulation reached a record high
of two million readers each week by the end of the war in 1945.
For soldiers stationed overseas, the Allied victory, and news
from home instilling hope for the future, bolstered their spirits.
African American soldiers returned from the war with redoubled
commitment to fight for equality and dignrty on American soil.
Witnesses
George Barbour, journalist
Tirnuel Black, historian
Frank Bolden, journalist
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Vernon Jarrett, journalist
Robert R. Lavelle, Pittsburgh Courier staff
Edna Chappell McKenzie, journalisthistorian
http:llwww.pbs.org/b1ackpress/educate-eventltreason.html
The Pittsburgh Courier
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1
IY
THE PITTSBURGH COURIER
Publisher Robert Lee Vann
The Pittsburgh Courier was once the country's most widely
circulated black newspaper with a national circulation of almost
200,000.Established in 1907 by Edwin Harleston, a security guard
and aspiring writer, the newspaper gained national prominence
after attorney Robert Lee Vann took over as the newspaper's
editor-publisher, treasurer, and legal counsel in 1910. By the
1930's it was one of the top selling black newspapers in the
country--as widely read as The Chicago Defender and The AfroAmerican.
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From the beginning, The Courier called for improvements in
housing, health and education, and protested the slum conditions
in which black people were forced to live in Pittsburgh and
elsewhere throughout the nation. In one campaign it pressed for
an increase of black physicians in the Pittsburgh area and the
opening of an African American hospital to serve the community's
health needs as white facilities were unwilling to treat African
Americans.
The Courier sought to empower
African Amerimns economically
and politically. In one instance, it
featured a front-page column
The Courier protested
entitled "The Camera,"which
counseled African Americans on
misrepresentations of
financial matters. The Courier
African Americans in
encouraged the black community to the mainstream media.
support black organizations such
In the early 1930's, the
as The National Urban League and
paper began a
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. In nationwide protest
an editorial entitled 'The Penalty of against the Amos
nlAndy daily radio
Unconcern," The Courier stressed
the inlportance of African
seria I.
Americans taking an active role in
their political destinies.
f i p ## ~
mpe
In 1932, Vann helped
influence black voters
http:tlwww.pbs.orglblackpress/news~bi~slcourier
.htrnl
111212009
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~-hePittsburgh Courier
to shifi their political allegiance away from the Republican Party,
which was often still thought of as the party of Lincoln, and to
support the Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt. The
Pittsburgh Courier was one of the first black newspapers to publish
both national and local editions. At its height there was as many as
14 editions circulated in states including Texas, Louisiana,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Many of the 20th century's
most well known and inff uential black journalists and intellectuals
contributed articles, columns, and editorials to The Pittsburgh
Courier. George Schuyler joined the staff in 1925 and had a
weekly column entitled 'Views and Reviews." Self taught historian
Joel A. Rogers' column "Your History" was a constant source of
information concerning the buried or forgotten historical black past.
Marcus Gawey, W.E.8 DuBois and James Weldon Johnson
contributed columns at various times. In later years, Elijah
Muhamrned wrote a column for The Courier. Zora Neale Hutston
was hired to cover the sensational murder trial of Ruby J.
McCollurn.
The Courier protested misrepresentations of African Americans in
the mainstream media. In the early 1930's, the paper began a
nationwide protest
against the Amos n'
Andy daiiy radio serial.
It petitioned to remove
the program from the
air and published
scathing editorials
denouncing the
program's negative
portrayals of black people.
Following Robert L. Vann's death on October 24, 1940, Ira Lewis,
who had worked at the paper since 1914 as a sports writer and
eventually managing editor, and whom Vann had hand-picked as
his successor, became editor. Under his leadership The Courier
reached its highest circulation, and gained even greater popularity
and scope.
This was due in part to the
successful "Double V' campaign
spearheaded by The Courier.
Beginning in the paper's February
7, 1942 edition and continuing
weekly until 1943, the Double V
campaign demanded that African
Americans who were risking their
lives abroad receive full
citizenship rights at home. The
newspaper printed articles,
r'he Pittsburgh Courier
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editorials, letters, Double V photographs, and drawings, and even
designed a recognizable Double V sign to promote the campaign.
Many other black newspapers endorsed the campaign as well,
making it a nationwide effort. Another major battte fought by The
Courier was against segregation in professional sports. Wendell
Smith, who became the paper's sportswriter in 1938, used his
column to denounce segregation in the major leagues. His efforts
contributed to Jackie Robinson's signing with the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1947. In the early years of Robinson's baseball career,
Smith traveled and roomed with Robinson on several Dodger trips,
and arranged his travel and housing itinerary, because in some
cities Robinson could not stay with the rest of the team in
segregated hotels. The Courier was one of the few black
newspapers to provide coverage of news in Africa as the continent
moved towards independence.
In 1948 Ira Lewis died. The Courier's circulation began to decline
during the 1950s and '60s,and in 1965, it was sold to John
Sengstacke, the owner and publisher of The Chicago Defender.
Today The Pittsburgh Courier is published under the name "The
New Pittsburgh Courier."
P
FURTHER READING
Books
Buni, Andrew. Robert L. Vann of The Pittsburgh Courier: Politics
and Black Journalism. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1974.
Washburn, Patrick S. A Question of Sedition: The Federal
Government's Investigation of the Black Press During World War
II. New York: Oxford Universrty Press, 1986.
Articles
Brewer, James H. "Robert Lee Vann, Democrat or Republican: An
Exponent of Loose Leaf Politics." Negro History Bulletin 1958 2 1
(5): 100-103.
Eagles, Charles W. "Two Double V's: Jonathan Daniels, FDR, and
Race Relations During World War 11." North Carolina Historical
Review 1982 59 (3): 252-270.
Washburn, Patrick S. "The Pittsburgh Courier's Double V
Campaign in 1942."American Journalism Vol. 111 (1986), no. 2. :
F
73-86.
Dissertations
http:/lwww.pbs.orglblackpresdnews~biodcourier.htm~
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