Civil rights campaigner and organizer Karen House holds up buttons for the ‘March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom,’ several weeks before the August 28, 1963 event. The buttons, which depcit a black hand and a white hand clasped in solidarity, were supplied by the NAACP. Photo by Arnold Sachs/Getty Images.
A “Double V” campaign celebration in 1942 on 119th Street, between Lenox and 7th (now Malcolm X Blvd and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd) in Harlem. The Double V campaign was started in 1942, just as World War II began, by the Pittsburgh Courier, an historic African-American newspaper. “Double V” stood for “Victory Abroad and Victory at Home” and the purpose was to call continued attention to the legal injustices and segregation that Blacks dealt with as American citizens on American soil and as soldiers abroad within the (segregated) armed forces. To appreciate the role of the Pittsburgh Courier in this campaign, keep in mind that white newspapers did not cover Blacks unless there was a crime involved or, of course, if the Black in question was an athlete or an entertainer. White newspapers did not cover our births, deaths, weddings or any other slice of life-type activity that we did just like everyone else. That is why, in part, Ebony magazine was born. And they certainly did not report on racial discrimination (especially within the military where Black newspapers were banned from its libraries during the Double V Campaign) the way the Black press did.
Reporters for the New York Amsterdam News at work in the newsroom, 1936. Photo by Lucien Aigner.
Pittsburgh Courier reporter and driver in the 1940s.
Boxing legend Joe Frazier with none other than Duke Ellington after defeating Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 8, 1971. Mr. Frazier died tonight at the age of 67.
The Double V campaign was started in 1942, just as World War II began, by the Pittsburgh Courier, an historic African-American newspaper. “Double V” stood for “Victory Abroad and Victory at Home.” The purpose of the campaign was to call continued attention to the legal injustices and segregation that blacks dealt with as American citizens on American soil and as soldiers abroad within the (segregated) armed forces. Naturally, J. Edgar Hoover considered the Double V Campaign an act of sedition. When Black Americans were hesitant to serve in the military for a country in which they were legally treated as second class citizens, there was no understanding, only accusations of treason.
To appreciate the role of the Pittsburgh Courier in this campaign, keep in mind that white newspapers did not cover Blacks unless there was a crime involved or, of course, if the Black in question was an athlete or an entertainer. White newspapers did not cover our births, deaths, weddings or any other slice of life-type activity that we did just like everyone else. That is why, in part, Ebony magazine was born. And they certainly did not report on racial discrimination (especially within the military who banned black newspapers from its libraries during the Double V Campaign) the way the Black press did.
The picture above was taken in 1942 on 119th Street, between Lenox and 7th (now Malcolm X Blvd and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd).
Frank Bolden, one of the first two African-American reporters accredited to cover World War II battlefronts. The Pittsburgh native reported from Iran, Burma, and India for the Associated Negro Press and the National Negro Publishers Association.
Photo via ExplorePAhistory.com
Freedom Riders heroine Diane Nash. Stanley Nelson’s film Freedom Riders debuts tonight on PBS. From PBS.org:
Elected coordinator of the Nashville Student Movement Ride, Nash monitored the progress of the Ride from Nashville, Tennnesse, recruiting new Riders, speaking to the press, and working to gain the support of national Movement leaders and the federal government.
Assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy John Seigenthaler recalls a phone conversation with Nash where he tried to dissuade the Nashville Freedom Riders from going to Alabama, warning of the violence ahead. Nash replied that the Riders had signed their last wills and testaments prior to departure. In his interview for Freedom Riders, Seigenthaler recalls, “She in a very quiet but strong way gave me a lecture.”
In 1962, she was sentenced to two years in prison for teaching nonviolent tactics to children in Jackson, MS, although she was four months pregnant. She was later released on appeal. Nash played a major role in the Birmingham de-segregation campaign of 1963 and the Selma Voting Rights Campaign of 1965, before returning to her native Chicago to work in education, real estate and fair housing advocacy. She received an honorary degree from Fisk University in 2009.
Reporters for the New York Amsterdam News at work in the newsroom, 1936. Photo by Lucien Aigner.
Pittsburgh Courier reporter and driver in the 1940s.
