Negro Journalism: An Essay on the History and Present Conditions of the Negro Press — John Shaqi
Negro Journalism: An Essay on the History and Present Conditions of the Negro PressGore, George William
History
Negro Journalism: An Essay on the History and Present Conditions of the Negro Press
Gore, George William
African American press; Journalism
The course as outlined in the Howard University catalog is based upon
two years of college work, including a reading knowledge of at least
two modern languages, and advanced work in English Composition. The
professional work covers two years and leads to the degree of Bachelor
of Science in Journalism. The subjects offered are: Practice in Writing,
Newspaper Technique, Newspaper Editing, The History of Journalism,
Advertising, Journalistic French, Journalistic German, Journalistic
Spanish, Elements of Law, Freehand and Applied Drawing, and certain
college courses in History, Economics, Sociology, Literature and Politics.
[Sidenote: JOURNALISM AT WILBERFORCE]
While it does not have a separate department in Journalism, Wilberforce
University offers courses in journalistic writing as a part of the work
in the department of English. Three courses are given at present:
Business English, Short Story Writing and Editorial Writing.
[Sidenote: PRINTING]
On the mechanical side of newspaper publishing, work is offered in
printing at Hampton Institute (Va.), Tuskegee Institute (Ala.), and
Wilberforce University (Ohio). Many of the present printer-editors are
products of these schools.
CHAPTER X
A FORECAST OF THE FUTURE
From its small beginning in 1827, Negro Journalism has steadily grown
in the United States. Today it stands as a definite factor in Negro
life. In truth, the Negro press reflects the growing race consciousness
of eleven million American citizens of African descent. The status of
the Negro newspaper is fixed—it is here to stay. While daily newspapers
may devote space to “News of Interest to Colored People;” yet they can
never take the place of the newspapers which are published solely for
the race group. The appeal of the Negro newspaper is direct and racial.
In a manner similar to that of the rural press, the Negro paper has an
unlimited field because of its personal relationship to its readers.
During the first half century of Negro Journalism, it is doubtful if
any of the papers were financial successes; in truth, most of them were
published as purely partisan or propagandists organs, and were supported
through the contributions of sympathizers. Today Negro newspapers are
conducted on business principles and pay reasonable returns to their
investors.
Papers in the large cities have built up enormous subscription lists of
bona fide, paid-up subscribers. Likewise, they carry a large amount of
well-paying advertisements, and as a result of these sources of income
they are able to give attractive remuneration to their publishers,
editorial staff and business staff. No longer must the Negro journalist
necessarily be an unpaid worker. Trained journalists can obtain
respectable salaries and find as many openings as their fellow workers on
metropolitan dailies and national weeklies and monthlies.
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