A = No. of Articles
B = Amount of Space in Inches
=============================+==========+==========+==========+==========
| |"HERALD- | |
|"TRIBUNE" |EXAMINER" | "NEWS" | TOTAL
SUBJECT +----+-----+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----
| A | B | A | B | A | B | A | B
-----------------------------+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----
Crime and vice | 70 | 231 | 58 | 181 | 21 | 122 |149 | 534
Soldiers, war work | 33 | 136 | 21 | 88 | 28 | 196 | 82 | 420
Politics | 21 | 78 | 12 | 28 | 14 | 63 | 47 | 169
Riots | 15 | 80 | 5 | 19 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 103
Lynchings | 24 | 57 | 15 | 43 | 4 | 21 | 43 | 121
Editorials | 6 | 34 | 8 | 67 | 6 | 28 | 20 | 129
Organizations and movements | 13 | 25 | 8 | 22 | 4 | 27 | 25 | 75
Housing | 12 | 28 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 46
Personal and miscellaneous | 15 | 35 | 5 | 16 | 5 | 33 | 25 | 85
Industry, labor | 11 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 14 | 47
Athletic, sports | 8 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 24
Letters to editor and | | | | | | | |
"Voice of People" | 13 | 107 | 9 | 30 | 21 | 34 | 43 | 171
Migration | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 126 | 11 | 130
Propaganda | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 6
Race relations | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 9
Radicalism | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 10
Guide post | 0 | 0 | 4 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 59
Intermarriage | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7
Education | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8
Segregation | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15
Social service | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8
Theatrical | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1
-----------------------------+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----+----+-----
Most of the published information concerning the Negro and issues
involving him magnifies his crimes and mistakes beyond all reasonable
proportions. The Chicago public is aware of the sentiment against morons
created by the newspaper practice of calling persons who attack women
or girls morons--an unscientific classification, of course, since all
who attack women are not morons. Negroes frequently say that if each
crime committed by a "red-headed" man were listed as a crime committed
by a "red-headed" man, a sentiment would soon be created sufficiently
hostile to provoke prejudice against all red-headed men.
In 1918 there were more than 90,000 Negroes in Chicago. Practically all of
the more serious crimes in this group, especially those involving whites
and Negroes, were given publicity. This simple notation of crimes may be
a part of the routine of journalism. It does not, however, explain the
obvious appeal to passion found in many of them or even the prominence
given to articles of a certain type. Crimes, riots, intermarriage,
lynchings, and radicalism were the subjects of articles which, in their
repetition and accumulative significance, presented a disproportionately
unfavorable aspect of the Negro population.
The _Chicago Tribune_ published, in 1918, 145 articles which, because of
their emphasis on crimes, clashes, political corruption, and efforts to
"invade white neighborhoods" definitely placed Negroes in an unfavorable
light. Of this number, twenty-three appeared on the first page of the
first section and twenty on the first page of the second section. It
also published eighty-four articles dealing with Negro soldiers, sports,
industry, and personalities, which, aside from flippancy in treatment,
did not place Negroes in an unfavorable light. Of this number, two were
on the first page of the first section and three on the first page of
the second section. The relative length of articles indicates another
possible effect on the public. The unfavorable 145 articles contained
487 inches of printed matter, while the less colorful items contained
223 inches.
Front-page space amounting to eleven inches was given to favorable
articles, and 158 inches to unfavorable. Of the articles concerning
Negro soldiers appearing on the first page, four of the eleven inches
concerned a report that two Negro soldiers had been killed following a
dispute at Camp Merritt between a white sergeant and a Negro trooper.
The _Herald-Examiner_ published ninety-seven unfavorable and thirty
favorable articles. Of this number, thirty-one unfavorable and six
favorable appeared on the front page.
The _Chicago Daily News_ devoted thirty-three articles to unfavorable
publicity and fifty-one to publicity of a favorable sort. Of these,
eighteen unfavorable and eighteen favorable appeared on the first page.
_Bombing publicity._--The bombing of the homes of Negroes is an expression
of lawlessness which in an orderly community should not be tolerated.
The primary function of the newspaper is to report the facts. Upon this
basis the public may then pass its judgment. In the case of a bombing
it might be supposed that an orderly community would wish to know the
persons involved, the damage effected, the motive, the action of the
police and the result of efforts to capture the perpetrators of the act.
Ordinarily this is done in most cases of lawlessness and in bombings
not involving racial issues.
Of the forty-five racial bombings which took place in Chicago between July
1, 1917, and June 18, 1920, fourteen were not mentioned in any of the six
large dailies of the city.[88] Of the remaining thirty-one, seven were
reported in one paper, ten in two papers, nine in three papers, while
five appeared in four papers. Not one of the forty-five cases appeared
in more than four papers. Although there might have been a total of 270
news reports of these bombings only seventy-four actually appeared. Of
the forty-five bombings the _Tribune_ and _Herald-Examiner_ each reported
twenty, the _Post_ fourteen, the _News_ eleven, the _Journal_ eight,
and the _American_ one. In all cases the reports openly recognized that
these bombings were not the result of individual grievances but involved
organized effort and activity on the part of groups or communities in
the practice of throwing racial bombs. It was generally referred to as
a "race bomb" or "race war bombs." Typical headings were:
_Journal_, April 7, 1919:
RACE HATRED BOMB HURLS SIX FAMILIES FROM BED
_Journal_, November 19, 1918:
BOMB HOME OF AGED NEGRO. EXPLOSION SEEN AS PROTEST BY WHITES
_Journal_, March 6, 1920:
ATTRIBUTE BOMB TO SOUTH SIDE RACE WAR
_Journal_, March 31, 1920:
ANOTHER BOMB IN RACE WAR. OWNER SELLS BUILDING TO NEGROES
DESPITE OBJECTION OF NEIGHBORS
_Herald-Examiner_, May 25, 1920:
NEGRO CLUB IS BOMBED. SOME BLAME POLITICS
_Chicago Tribune_, May 25, 1920:
NEW RACE WAR WRECKS PORCH OF NEGROES' CLUB. THE CLUB IS
COMPOSED OF 600 COLORED PERSONS
_Herald-Examiner_, June 13, 1920:
TWO BUILDINGS BOMBED. RACE PREJUDICE BLAMED
_Herald-Examiner_, December 28, 1919:
RACE WAR BOMB INJURES WOMAN
_Herald-Examiner_, September 24, 1918:
POLICE SAID BOMB WAS INTENDED TO INTIMIDATE NEGROES WHO
RECENTLY MOVED INTO THAT NEIGHBORHOOD
_Herald-Examiner_, April 7, 1919:
A RACE WAR IS GENERALLY BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BEHIND A
BOMB EXPLOSION EARLY THIS MORNING AT
4212 ELLIS AVE.
_Herald-Examiner_, April 4, 1920:
RACIAL DIFFERENCE RESPONSIBLE FOR BOMB
_Journal_, March 20, 1919:
BELIEVE BOMB THROWING CONTINUATION OF A FEUD CARRIED ON BY THE WHITES
AND BLACKS IN THE DISTRICT WHERE NEGROES HAVE BEEN ALLOWED
TO OCCUPY BUILDINGS FORMERLY OCCUPIED BY WHITE PEOPLE
In two instances a racial bombing was considered significant enough to
occupy more than nine inches of one column. This space was given by the
_Tribune_ and the _Herald-Examiner_.
Jesse Binga, a Negro banker, was bombed five times. The article in the
_Daily News_ was five inches long. In the _Herald-Examiner_, April 20,
1919, there appeared an article, "Curious Boy Drops Bomb as It Explodes."
The article covered eleven inches, of which eight inches were given to
the story of a boy who picked up a bomb in the street and dropped it as
a lady signaled him to drop it because it might be an explosive. At the
end of this article were appended three inches containing a narrative
of a racial bombing at 4722 Indiana Avenue where Wimes & Lassiter, Negro
real-estate dealers, had an office.
The fifth bombing directed against Mr. Binga is treated humorously in
spite of the serious damage done to his home.
The average length of racial bombing articles was about four and one-half
inches. The explanations of motive offered were stereotyped in character
and involved assumptions which it is not considered necessary here to
analyze. It was explained that the person bombed was a Negro or that he
had moved into a "distinctly white residential district," against which
encroachment bombing had been instituted as an intimidating or expulsive
measure. It was sometimes stated that the person was a real estate agent
negotiating with Negroes concerning property in "restricted" districts.
This sort of explanation was either stated in the headline or appended
at the end in a brief sentence. The reports in the papers apparently
undertook merely to notify the public that bombings had happened. The
following are examples of press treatment of race bombings:
_Herald-Examiner_, May 25, 1918:
This building was occupied by Negro families.... The white residents
objected to the Negroes.
_Post_, November 19, 1918:
BOMB SHATTERS NEGRO HOME IN "WHITE DISTRICT"
_Tribune_, March 19, 1919:
BINGA PROPERTY WAS WRECKED
Binga is an agent for buildings. He is colored, and has been leasing apartments
formerly occupied by white tenants to colored.
_Post_, March 20, 1919:
Police are investigating whether the bombs were thrown by members of the
Janitors' Union retaliating against Jesse Binga, colored real estate dealer who had
been hiring non-union janitors, or whether intended as another warning to the colored
people to keep out of residential districts that have been hitherto exclusively white.
_Post_, April 7, 1919:
BOMB EXPLODES IN FLAT WHERE NEGRO MOVED IN
_Tribune_, April 7, 1919:
BOMB SET OFF IN NEGRO FLATS
White residents of the district had held indignation meetings because he had
peopled his building with colored folks.
_Herald-Examiner_, April 20, 1919:
OFFICE OF WIMES & LASSITER, NEGRO REAL ESTATE DEALERS,
WAS THE TARGET
_Tribune_, May 18, 1919:
NEGRO FAMILY ON GRAND BOULEVARD OBJECT OF BOMB
_Post_, June 13, 1919:
TWO BOMB BLASTS ON FRINGE OF NEGRO DISTRICT
_Post_, January 6, 1920:
BOMB DAMAGES HOME OF NEGRO ON GRAND BOULEVARD
Ernest Clark moved in recently. He is a Negro. All his neighbors are white.
_Daily News_, February 2, 1920:
WHILE A BOMB WAS EXPLODED ANOTHER BATTLE IN THE SOUTH SIDE
RACE WAR OVER THE SEGREGATION OF BLACKS IN
RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS
_Daily News_, February 10, 1920:
BUILDING RECENTLY SOLD TO APPOMATTOX CLUB, A NEGRO ORGANIZATION
_Daily News_, February 13, 1920:
TWO BOMBS TOSSED
... against encroachment of Negroes in white residential districts.
_Herald-Examiner_, March 11, 1920:
SOUTH SIDE HOUSE SOLD TO NEGROES BOMBED
_Journal_, March 24, 1920:
BOMB SHAKES BUILDING. DEAL FOR SALE OFF
The prospective buyer was talking with ---- when there came a loud noise.
[Buyer was colored.]
A typical example of newspaper reports of the bombings of Negro homes
appeared in the _Herald-Examiner_ of April 4, 1920:
BOMB BLASTS IN FRONT OF NEGRO FLAT BUILDING
A black powder bomb was exploded last night in front of the
vestibule of a four-story flat building 423 E. 48th Place,
occupied by Negroes. The building is owned by Robert B. Jackson,
who lives on the second floor. He recently purchased it from
Louis Cohen. The apartment is in the neighborhood peopled
mainly by whites, and the police believe racial differences
are responsible for the bomb. The explosion did slight damages.
No one was hurt.
One of the typical shorter reports also appeared in the same paper May
25, 1918:
BOMB EXPLODES BEFORE HOME OF NEGRO FAMILIES
A bomb exploded in the front of 4529 Vincennes Avenue early
this morning, wrecked the front porch of the structure and
broke windows for a block around. The building is occupied by
Negro families. White residents objected to the Negroes.
Similar language was used in all the articles.
Most of the articles carried a suggestion of a race war on the South
Side. Many of the reports helped to contribute to popular anticipation
of future trouble. For example, in the _Post_ of January 6, 1920, page
1, column 3, a bombing was reported thus: "A bomb early today damaged
the residence at 4404 Grand Boulevard which was said to have been a
Negro 'sniping-post' during the race riot last summer."
The home at 4404 Grand Boulevard was owned and occupied by Mrs. Byron
Clarke, and was not a sniping-post during the riot. It had been bombed
four times, once while officers were guarding it. All papers used the
expression, "No one was hurt." Property destruction was usually dismissed
with statements like these: "All the glass was shattered"; "the front
porch was demolished"; "about $---- damage was done"; or "the damages
were slight." The _Daily News_ was exceptional in using the word "outrage"
three times.
Two reports gave accounts of arrests, and all others in which police
activity was mentioned merely said, "The police are investigating." None
of the articles gave the results of any such investigation, other than
that the police generally attributed the "hurling of the bomb" to the
occupants of a black touring-car. The articles contained no condemnation
of the bombings as lawlessness or crime except in the case of a bombing
at 3401 Indiana Avenue, where a child was killed May 1, 1919. The _Chicago
Tribune_ spoke of this death as an incident of that bombing.
One of the two arrests above referred to was that of a janitor who was not
able to explain sufficiently his presence in or about a building which
had just been bombed. He was taken into custody but was soon dismissed.
The other arrest was that of the nephew of a prominent business man
living in the neighborhood of the bombed property.
During the time from February, 1918, to February, 1919, prior to the
Chicago riot, there were eleven bombings in the city. If each paper
had reported each bombing there would have been sixty-six reports.
Only seven reports actually appeared. During the six weeks immediately
preceding the Chicago race riot, there were seven racial bombings. Of a
possible forty-two reports, only four appeared, or two bombings in two
papers. Thus violent and criminal expressions of hostility which might
have been checked by arousing the public conscience silently continued.
The resentment of Negroes increased, and the ignorance of the larger
white public remained undisturbed. The articles were apparently written
without much investigation. Upon the fifth bombing of Mr. Binga's home,
the _American_, _Herald-Examiner_, and _Chicago Daily News_ quoted Mr.
Binga as saying, "This is the limit; I am going." Mr. Binga declares
that he did not say this, that he did not even see a reporter, and that
he had not moved.
During the nine months following the riot, publicity on bombings increased
to several times the former amount. Beginning in March, 1920, the articles
again showed slackened interest. The _Tribune_ and _Herald-Examiner_,
usually giving most frequent publicity to such matters, missed about
every other one. The _Post_ had no reports, the _Journal_ two, the _News_
four, and the _American_ none. Seven bombings took place from March 1
to July 1.
The apparent indifference toward race bombings in the minds of editors,
officials, and the public was indicated by the relative prominence given
to a race bomb which threatened life and damaged property as compared
with an "odor bomb" dropped in a moving-picture theater.
On the first page of the _Tribune_ of February 11, 1921, under the caption
"Crow Raid Opens Inquiry into Bombs," were seventeen inches of space
reporting cases of "odor bombs" and emphasizing the determination of the
state's attorney to make investigation. At the bottom of the adjoining
column were four inches devoted to a dynamite race bomb which damaged
a three-story apartment and involved menace to life. No reference was
made to any effort by the state's attorney or the police to investigate.
Similar prominence was given to the "odor bomb" in the _Herald-Examiner_.
An editorial in the _Tribune_, February 14, 1921, condemning bombing
made no reference to the fifty-six race bombings of recent record, but
did refer to other bombing aimed at white citizens. The editorial reads:
THE BUSINESS OF BOMBING
Anthony D'Andrea, whose aldermanic campaign meeting Friday
night was broken up by a bomb which injured seventeen persons,
speaks with some indignation on the matter as indicating a bad
moral slump in political methods. If it had been a union labor
bomb, apparently, it would have been of no great importance.
"I'm a union man myself," he explains. "I wouldn't care if
they threw a bomb at my house. That's all in the game."
On the latter point D'Andrea is right. It is "all in the game,"
but the game is one which gets out of control of the players.
It is because bomb throwing has come to be accepted as "all in
the game" of union labor warfare that it is now being extended
to political warfare. The man, the gang, or the organization
which sanctions or adopts bombing as a method of obtaining
results in ordinary activities cannot expect to be able to
restrict the use of such methods to one line of business.
Originally the bomb was a political weapon, as in the hands
of the Russian nihilists. In late years it has grown popular
with labor leaders of a certain class. Such bombings as the
recent one at the Tyson apartments, ascribed by the police to
labor troubles, and the repeated odor bomb outrages at movie
theaters, are sufficient illustrations of its use by labor.
The post-office bombing in 1918 and the numerous so-called
race-bombs exploded on the South Side are illustrative of the
widening use of bombs. In such progress D'Andrea should not be
surprised that the bomb is being adopted by ward politicians.
Properly applied, a good bomb can be expected to neutralize
half a dozen or so precinct captains. Bomb throwing is becoming
a business.
Friday night's bombing is a perfectly logical development. As
a result several men may be cripples for life, if they do not
die. It is time such logical developments are stopped. Among
the scores of bomb outrages of the last few years, so far as
we recall, there has not been a single case of punishment of
the perpetrators. They are justified in believing that they are
safe. As long as they retain that belief they will continue
to extend the business of bombing. One thing will stop it.
That is drastic punishment. Any person who throws a bomb is
a potential murderer. Life in prison is none too severe a
penalty. Good detectives can trap some of these men and good
prosecution can send them to prison. It should be done and
done now.
_The Abyssinian affair._--The "Abyssinian affair" referred to earlier
in this part of the report, was treated with remarkably good judgment by
the press. It is to be believed that further clashes were avoided by the
effective way in which the newspapers pointed out that the demonstration
was the work of fanatics rather than a race riot. Two days later, however,
the _Chicago Tribune_ published an article ascribing the Abyssinian
murders to "racial reds." The article ran:
"ABYSSINIAN" MURDERS BARE RACIAL "REDS"
Leaders Lay Unrest to Du Bois Creed
Shocked by the fantastic violence of Sunday night, when a United
States sailor and a citizen were killed by pseudo-Abyssinian
zealots, thoughtful colored leaders began a determined effort
yesterday to stamp out anti-white exploitation and to bring
about better understanding....
This type of exploitation, they say, is aimed at the more
ignorant among the colored masses. It carries the same appeal
as the glittering promises of the I.W.W. and the Communists
to the illiterate and ignorant among the whites.
According to Negro leaders, this exploitation is based upon the
theory of _social equality_. Its motive can be seen, they say,
in recent utterances and writings of Negro intellectuals, in
which a high pitch of "social equality" fervor is established
as a panacea for the ills of the race. This theory, translated
and exaggerated into ambiguous prophecies by the soap-box
orator, is slowly being percolated through the masses of a
race as yet generally unprepared by education to understand it.
Chief among the writers whose works have been of this
intellectual caliber is Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois.... His latest
volume, a "best seller" entitled _Darkwater_, has been widely
circulated. It is a volume of almost super-intellectual caliber,
and is bitter in tone.
In _Darkwater_, which is taken simply as a typical volume,
are found the teachings, colored leaders say, which have been
seized upon by those who, under the shadow of Dr. Du Bois'
reputation among colored folk, would seek to incite and exploit.
The "colored leaders" quoted were F. L. Barnett, R. S. Abbott, and A. H.
Roberts. They did not impute any such danger to Mr. Du Bois' books. Mr.
Barnett, for example, mentioned the exploitation of the "Back to Africa"
movement by Jonas and Redding, while Mr. Abbott and Mr. Roberts spoke
of the lack of sympathy among Negroes for criminal types like Jonas and
Redding. The article then stated the "Du Bois Creed," saying:
The agitators have used considerable skill in exploiting the
Negroes by use of doctrines which they have taken from Dr. Du
Bois, as expressed in _Darkwater_. Here are some of them:
"The world market most widely and desperately sought today
is the market where labor is cheapest and most helpless and
profit is most abundant. This labor is kept cheap and helpless
because the white world despises 'darkies.'"
This is given as the underlying premise for the late war.
"But what of the darker world that watches?" the author
continues. "Most men belong to this world. With Negro and
Negroid, East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese they form two-thirds
of the population of the world. A belief in humanity is a
belief in colored men. If the uplift in mankind must be done
by men, then the destinies of the world will rest ultimately
in the hands of darker nations."
The article quoted from _Darkwater_ a chapter, which, by cutting the text,
left a suggestion of sex intimacy between a colored bank messenger and
a white girl very different from the intention of the author. The entire
article was calculated, through its suggestion and insinuation, to rouse
racial antagonism. It is doubtful whether the "Abyssinian" leaders, who
were ignorant fanatics little known within the Negro group, had read
Du Bois' books. With all its wildness and fatuousness the movement was
directed away from America and from whites. A photograph of Du Bois was
published with the caption:
KARL MARX OF NEGROES
Noted Colored Philosopher Whose Works Are Used by Agitators to
Stir Race Hatred
_Miscegenation._--Similarly dangerous treatment is apparent in an article
which appeared in the _Tribune_ of November 6, 1920, under the heading:
"Miscegenation is O.K.'d in New Constitution."
The article called attention to a proposed provision in the new state
constitution of Illinois against public discrimination on account of
color, which was intended to put into the constitution rights already
guaranteed by state laws. According to the article this law was
tentatively agreed upon "during the newsy days surrounding the Republican
National Convention and escaped the notice of the public generally."
The article said:
Under the basic law, if adopted, a colored man and woman
will be entitled to buy vacant seats of a grand opera box,
otherwise occupied by whites. A Mongolian--if a citizen--and
a mesochromic bride cannot be denied a vacant flat in the most
"exclusive" apartment building.
A law prohibiting the Japanese, as in California, from owning
land, will be illegal. Two colored people may take two of the
four seats in the Blackstone restaurant beside the wives of
two packers.
A member of the convention said yesterday that it is as broad
and comprehensive as it can be made. He claimed that this
sentence in the constitution will prevent the Legislature
from prohibiting in any way the colored citizen from getting
all the rights and privileges accorded to other citizens.
According to this constitutional delegate and lawyer the new
constitution, as now worded, will prevent segregation of the
Negroes, Jim-Crow cars, or special schools for the colored.
A Negro lawyer said that the Morris section only recognizes
openly the rights of equality which were settled by the Civil
War and enunciated in an amendment to the federal Constitution.
The remainder of the article dealt in brief with fifteen other decisions
of the Convention. These decisions were merely stated and not commented
upon.
_Newspaper handling of the "back of the Yards" fire._--At the close of
the Chicago riot fire was set to a large number of houses back of the
Stock Yards. Since these were the homes of white persons, principally
Lithuanians, it was generally assumed that it was an act of retaliation
by Negroes. Articles in the newspapers strengthened the belief. The
_Chicago Daily News_ article gave a full account of statements made by
Fire Marshal O'Connor to the effect that Negroes were responsible. It
stated that the police and militia were combing the South Side for a
band of eight Negroes, alleged automobile fire bugs. These men, it was
said, were stalled in an automobile at West Fifty-fifth and South Wood
streets ten blocks south of the fire; when the police reached Fifty-fifth
Street the Negroes had repaired their car and fled. John R. McCabe, Fire
Department attorney, was reported as being positive that the fire was
started by Negroes.
Investigation was made by the Commission to ascertain the facts concerning
Negro responsibility for these incendiary fires. The state's attorney
declared that no records had come to his office implicating Negroes, and
that he had no information, except rumors which he seriously questioned.
The records, he thought, were held at the Stock Yards police court.
Inquiry at this police station disclosed the fact that no Negroes had
been apprehended on this charge, and the belief was expressed that the
act was committed by white men with blackened faces. The fire marshal's
office had no record other than unsubstantiated rumors spread by persons
living in the district. The matter had been dropped for lack of evidence.
_Negro revolt._--On January 4, 1920, during the general crusade against
"reds" the _Herald-Examiner_ published a two-inch headline across the
top of the first page saying:
REDS PLOT NEGRO REVOLT
I.W.W. Bomb Plant Found on South Side
The article mentioned below alleged secret activities of Negroes and
their plans to revolt against the government. The bomb plant and many of
their secret plans were reported to have been discovered by the state's
attorney's office. The article further stated: "In Chicago it was learned
that the headquarters for Negro revolutionary propaganda are centered
in these four organizations: The Free Thought Society, Universal Negro
Improvement Association, Negro Protective League, and Soldiers and
Sailors Club."
Each organization named was, as a matter of fact, open to the public,
though patronized almost entirely by Negroes. The Negro Improvement
Association was by no means secret in its plans; it published a newspaper
in which they were set forth. The slogan of this organization was then
and is now, "Back to Africa," and not "Down with the United States."
The Free Thought Society mentioned is the Chicago Free Thought Educational
Society. The following is a declaration of its principles:
In order to achieve a better understanding of the phenomena
of nature, for ourselves and for such of our fellow-men as
shall care to become affiliated with us, we do hereby bind
ourselves by the following declaration of principles.
First: That the attainment of truth shall be the fundamental
purpose of the work of this society and all its members.
Second: That truth shall be recognized as that body of
conclusions which may be logically drawn from the facts of
nature as evidence by the five senses, or may be demonstrated
mathematically.
Third: That we abstain from all dogma, insisting upon a fair
and impartial investigation of all subjects and at all times.
Fourth: That we do recognize a universal kinship binding
together in one common band all members of the human society
regardless of race, color or sex.
Among its members are W. E. Mollison, F. D. Summers, and among its
honorary members are F. Percy Ward, lecturer for the Chicago Rationalist
Society, and Clarence S. Darrow. The Negro Protective League is an
employment office and day nursery. The full name of the organization is
the Negro Equal Rights and Protective Association.
The Soldiers and Sailors Club is a community house located on the South
Side and a branch of the local War Camp Community Service. It served
during war time as a recreational and social center for returning
soldiers, and in 1920 became the South Side Branch of Community Service,
Incorporated. At the time of the article it was under the general
supervision of the Chicago Community Service, of which Eugene T. Lies,
formerly of the United Charities, was director.
_Newspaper handling of the Waukegan riot._--Considerable excitement was
occasioned by reports in all the Chicago daily papers of a race riot
in Waukegan, about thirty-six miles north of Chicago. The first news
reports gave the following versions:
THE BEGINNING OF THE RIOT
_Chicago Tribune_, June 1, 1920:
A group of Negro boys in Sheridan Road stood about stoning
passing automobiles for several hours, finally shattering a
windshield on the car of Lieut. H. B. Blazier and injuring
Mrs. Blazier.
_A throng of sailors and marines were passing when Mrs. Blazier
was injured and they immediately chased the Negro boys. The
chase led to the Sherman House, a rooming place for Negroes,
and when the persons living there defended the boys and sought
to drive off the sailors, there was a prospect of serious
trouble._
_Chicago Daily News_, June 1, 1920:
According to the police a thirteen-year-old colored boy and his
little sister had been in ambush near Sheridan Road throwing
stones at passing automobiles. _One of the stones_ struck the
windshield of a car driven by a coal dealer, Chas. Bairscow,
according to Assistant Chief of Police Thomas Tyrrell, and
injured a woman occupant of the car. Another shattered the
windshield of the car of Lieut. A. F. Blasier a naval officer.
Mrs. Blasier was cut by flying glass. When he drove into
the city Lieut. Blasier told several sailors of the affair
and the news quickly spread. The town was alive with marines
and sailors on "shore leave." They concentrated in the town
square and upon a signal made an attack on the Sherman House,
a hostelry occupied by Negroes.
CLASHES
_Chicago Tribune_, June 1, 1920:
For hours there were individual instances of attacks by both
whites and Negroes in various parts of the town.
_Chicago Daily News_, June 1, 1920:
A general man hunt ensued. One group stormed the postoffice
and tried to break open the doors, as it was thought a Negro
was hiding there. Another made an attack on the house of Ike
Franklin, colored. Ike had fled. Another group chased a Negro
across the Genesee bridge in the center of the town. It had
nearly captured him when the blue-jacket guards arrived in
trucks. Under command of Provost Marshall Lieut. A. C. Fisher
the town was quickly cleared. The police arrested the following
six marines: Thomas Levinger, Charles Thrawle, John Smith,
Burney Poston, Herman Blockhouse and Harold Denning.
RACE RIOTS AND THE POLICE
_Chicago Daily News_, June 1, 1920:
Acting Chief Tyrrell, after a cursory investigation, said that,
as far as he could learn, Policeman Frank Bence, on whose beat
the trouble started, was not in the vicinity at the outbreak.
He said that if this proved true the man would be dismissed.
The policeman said he was making a tour of alleys at the time
of the stone throwing and knew nothing of it.
Inquiry by the Commission brought out the following facts: The first
newspaper accounts of the riot indicated that Lieutenant Blazier and his
wife were driving in one automobile, and that Mr. Bairscow was driving
in another automobile. The story was that Mrs. Blazier was injured by
glass from the windshield broken by stones, and that a woman occupant
of the Bairscow car was similarly injured. Lieutenant Blazier and Mr.
Bairscow were driving in the same car, the windshield of which was broken,
instead of separate cars. There was no woman in the car and Lieutenant
Blazier has no wife.
The story was telephoned into the _Tribune_ by a member of the staff
of the _Waukegan Sun_. This was the source of the report of the woman
being injured.
The stoning occurred one block away from the Sherman House, occupied by
Negroes.
_Negro housing in Chicago._--The housing situation has frequently
occasioned alarm on the part of whites and bitterness of feeling toward
Negroes. Many newspaper articles, by their play upon racial fears, have
increased the tension between the two groups. An example of this type
of article is given:
WHITE TENANTS FEAR NEGROES WILL BUY BLOCK. FIRE CHIEF'S
RESIDENCE ONE OF THOSE IN DANGER
Twenty-six houses on the old Chicago university campus in East
Thirty-fourth Street, between Cottage Grove Avenue and Rhodes
Avenue, are about to be sold to colored people, according to
the tenants....
"I'm going to offer the houses to the present occupants at
prices ranging from $6,000 to $7,000 on easy terms," Mr.
O'Brien said. "Of course if they don't accept I'm going to
do the best I can. I can't predict how things will turn out
until the tenants have given me their reply. They'll be around
tomorrow.
"Among the residents of the block are Fire Chief Thomas
O'Connor, Dr. William E. Hall, and Dr. M. J. Moth.
"The tenants are all worried. Colored people have learned
of this sale and for days have been walking up and down and
pointing out houses, discussing, apparently, what they intended
doing and where they planned to live. Unless every one of
the twenty-six buys his house it will not remain a white
neighborhood. And I don't believe we can get everyone to buy"
[_Chicago Tribune_, February, 1920].
Inquiry by the Commission disclosed a situation similar to that underlying
many discussions of "exclusive areas." The article was written by a
member of the _Tribune_ staff. It was learned at Mr. O'Brien's office
that he had come to that office inquiring about the matter. A member
of the O'Brien firm stated to him that he did not think the matter had
any racial significance because the firm intended to sell the houses to
present tenants, all of whom happened to be white.
_Labeling fights as "riots."_--Attention might be called to the suggestion
in articles which treat trivial disputes and street fights as race
riots. On August 4, 1920, the _Evening Post_ published an article headed:
"Negroes Held to Grand Jury after Riot in Street Car."
The article related a dispute over a car seat ending in a fight in which
one man was stabbed. The entire article is given:
Six Negroes were arraigned in the South Chicago court today,
charged with having started a "near" race riot in a Cottage
Grove Avenue car last night. They were: Isaac Nelson, 3256
South Park Avenue; Henry Broadnax, 3235 Calumet Avenue; Samuel
Bound, 3127 Cottage Grove Avenue; Albert McMurry, 3027 Cottage
Grove Avenue; Abe Mitchell, 3703 South La Salle Street and
Walter McConnor, 538 West 45th Street.
McConnor, who was charged with assault with a deadly weapon,
is said to have taken a seat which Herbert Douglas, 1637 East
78th Street, offered to a woman passenger.
In the scuffle which ensued, Douglas received a stab from a
knife in the hands, it is alleged, of McConnor, and was taken
to the South Chicago hospital. The Negroes were held on bonds
of $400 to $3,500, pending jury trials.
In May, 1920, the _Tribune_ gave eight inches to an article with the
headline: "Race Riot and Labor Riot in New England." The item reported a
fight between a Negro waiter and a Harvard student in one of the college
dining-halls. To show how trivial the incident was the article said in
part:
The trouble began when Mayer (a colored waiter) made a slighting
remark to Wilson (a white student) and, grabbing him by the
hair struck him in the face. Wilson, in an attempt to defend
himself, grabbed a water pitcher, and as he raised it, Mayer
drew a revolver and pointed it at Wilson. Immediately the
student body was in an uproar and rallied to the defense of
Wilson.... The police are searching for Mayer.
The _Daily News_ referred to a "riot" precipitated by a colored chef's
remarks. The incident referred to loud talking in the kitchen of a Greek
restaurant and the chef's swearing at a cook which was overheard by
a woman in the dining-room. She objected, and the police were called.
Another such article appeared in the _Tribune_ under the heading: "Women
in Riot. White versus Negro in Reformatory." The article told of state
troops, local police, and a chaplain having been mobilized to stop a
"race riot." The casualties given were one policeman bitten by a girl
and several state troopers kicked and scratched.
An instance of undiscriminating news handling appeared in the _Chicago
Tribune_ of July 24, 1917. During the race riot in East St. Louis, while
the front pages of all the papers were filled with descriptions of the
horrors, an article appeared in the fourth column of the first page,
along with the East St. Louis riot news. It occupied fourteen inches and
bore the heading: "Whites Were Firing at Blacks near Scene of Murder.
Four Negroes Jailed after Slaying of Aged Man." Of the fourteen inches,
six were given to an account of the murder in Chicago of a saloon-keeper
by a Negro in which mobs of Negroes were said to have flourished guns;
four inches were given to a totally irrelevant report that two young
white girls were chased through Washington Park by a Negro; three inches
more to a further account of the first murder, and one inch to a report
that a Negro was shot by a policeman.
On the second page was an eleven-inch article with the large headline:
"Lawyer Warns Negroes Here to Arm Themselves." Underneath was a five-inch
report concerning a Negro held for trial on a girl's story of an attack.
Nine inches were given in another article to a warning by Chicago labor
leaders that "the influx of blacks" to replace the strikers in the plants
was bringing a riot peril to Chicago. Under this article was an account
of the freeing of a policeman for killing a Negro; and beneath this an
article from Orange, Texas, with the headline: "Negro Shot Down Trying
to Escape after Crime." Also on the same page nine inches were devoted
to a condemnation of black politics in East St. Louis, and three inches
to a minor clash in which a Negro was reported to have drawn a knife
when attacked by six white youths. Two inches were given to the account
of a clash between Negroes and whites in New York City and seventy-two
inches to accounts of the East St. Louis riot.
The emphasis was on the work of the mob and the fact that Negroes were
replacing strikers in East St. Louis, and that this was responsible
for the riot. Some of the reports of Chicago incidents proved to be
inaccurate. It developed that Charles A. Maronde, a saloon-keeper, who
was supposed to have been killed by Negroes, his death precipitating a
clash between Negroes and white persons, actually died of heart failure.
There was no connection and no apparent reason for inserting the incident
of the white girls being chased through the park by a Negro. This report
was hearsay and was joined to the article in this manner: "About the
time the Negroes were being fired upon, two young white girls were being
chased by a Negro through Washington Park."
The item concerning the Negro held for trial on the charge of a white that
he had attacked her, turned out to be the imaginings of a young girl,
which involved a forty-three-year-old Negro, whose character had never
before been questioned, and who, as the facts developed, was entirely
innocent. Linked up in this article was an account of disciplining in
the county jail; 150 prisoners had been locked in their cells and placed
on bread and water because they were found shooting craps in the "bull
pen."
_Flippant treatment and ridicule of Negroes._--The "human-interest"
newspaper story is undoubtedly one of the most effective means of gaining
public attention. But it presents a single incident from which the
reader is likely to apply characteristics vividly set forth concerning
an individual to the group of which the individual is a member. It
therefore leads to unfair judgments of the group when the characteristics
are not representative of the group, even if they are representative of
the individuals. It may be written with genuine humor and with the best
of intentions, or perhaps only with thoughtlessness of the effect. But
that does not obviate the sense of injury when the group involved feels
itself misrepresented and held up to ridicule.
Newspaper flippancy concerning Negroes has found a sensitive spot
among members of the race. Often there are suggestions and exaggerated
descriptions that can be characterized as nothing else than ridicule.
Negroes especially resent misrepresentation of Negro weddings, since no
accounts are given by white newspapers of more representative weddings.
A NEGRO WEDDING
"Yassah, I'se tuh git hitched up. I'se heighty-six and Emily's
sixty-nine, but we done got license.
"Yassah, I am de man you is huntin'. Yes, suh, I'se agwine to
git hitched with Emily Holland. De carryings-on are agwine to
come off tomorrow night. Emily done got lonely like and I'se
getting no 'count.
"I was in the wah wid de march to de sea, and I got fo' minie
balls. One ob em took two ob my toes. I'se a-carrying de otha
ball in my frame. Uncle Sam done provided fo me now wid a
pension. It am enuf fo me an' Emily. It ain't too much, cause
in de days ob de wah I done lay in trenches and fit all night
in cold water."
BULLET IN HIS LAIGS
"I knowed how to bust bad coons in de army and I was p'moted
to sahgent in Co. E, 60th Reg., U.S.A. Now comes the achings
of bullets in my laigs and chest and I feel like I cain't walk
no mo. Den it am de time when I wants a wife to look at me.
Emily say she ain't ready fo to take on no mo 'sponsibility.
Den I argufies with her.
"'How comes this heah 'sponsibility talk'? I say.
"'Taint no how come 'bout it,' she says, 'You is a ol' man.'
"'So is you a ol' woman,' I says."
IS YOU OR IS YOU AIN'T?
"Den we jaw aroun' about it for a long time. Yestiddy I say,
'Emily you all hab done been widout a husband fo' nigh onto
22 yeah.' She don't say nothin'. I talks 'bout it some mo',
then I says, 'Emily, is you gwine to be my wife or is you
ain't?' She says 'Yes' and den we get de license. Now we hab
done got de ministah and it am all ready. I'se feelin' kinda
sprightly like tonight and unless my misery comes on me thar
sho'ly am agwine to be some 'spicious carryings-ons in dis
abode tomorrow night" [_Chicago Tribune_, January 11, 1916].
During the war Negroes were as seriously engaged in battle and as freely
sacrificing their lives as other soldiers. When deeds of heroism were
cabled back to the United States, Negroes at home expected serious
reports of the activities of the sons, husbands, and brothers whom they
had given up to fight for their country. Exception was taken by them to
newspaper treatment of a serious feat as merely ludicrous. For example:
BLACK YANK BAGS HUN; MAJOR WEARS CAPTAIN'S MONOCLE
Paris, Sept. 7 (Delayed). During the recent American advance
out of Château Thierry, a Red Cross captain was looking about
for suitable hospital sites, when he met an American Negro
soldier marching along toward Château Thierry, following close
behind a German major. The Negro had transferred his pack from
his own back to the back of the German officer, and had also
transferred the German major's monocle to his own eye. Thus
equipped the black warrior was parading triumphantly down the
road. As he passed the Red Cross captain he called out, "I
say, look here what dis Niggah done got" [_Chicago Evening
Post_].
The following is a news report, with dialect, which was supposed to have
been cabled from Paris:
NEGRO STEVEDORE COMING BACK "BY WAY OF NEW OHLEENS"
August 17 (Delayed). George Washington Henry Clay Smith, Negro
stevedore at one of the American base ports, expressed the
feeling of a large part of the expeditionary force about ocean
travel. "When dis heah wah is ovah," he said, "you-all will
nevah see me goin' back across dat ole ocean. Ahm not goin'
back to United States that away. Ahm goin' back by way of New
Ohleens" [_Chicago Evening Post_, September 9, 1918].
"Crap shooting" is ordinarily regarded as the peculiar pastime and passion
of Negroes. Popular expectation is fed by newspaper stories of these
games, made even more humorous by dialect, and the frequent implications
of levity in religious matters. Such stories would probably be enjoyed
by Negroes if they did not have the effect of picturing this trait as
an exclusively Negro form of gambling.
Or again, the newspaper plays up a supposed superstition of the Negro
in such an article as appeared in the _Chicago Tribune_ of January 1,
1920, under the heading "Negroes Driven to Jail in Big Black Hearse."
Pseudo-serious newspaper reference was made to Negro street sweepers as
the "official chamber maids" of the city in an article in the _Chicago
Herald_ of March 31, 1916, headed:
BLACK BIRDS AS WHITE WINGS
Negroes Supplant Sons of Italy as City's Official Chambermaids
Or again, a Negro saves a white man from a mob and is called a "darky"
in the report of the incident:
DARKY PASTOR SAVES WHITE AUTOIST FROM NEGRO MOB
Newport News, Va., Oct. 27.--The attempt here today of a mob
of Negroes to lynch Isadore Cohen after his automobile had
run over a Negro child was frustrated by R. H. Green, a Negro
preacher, who fought off the white man's assailants long
enough to let him escape in the car. Cohen is held without
bond [_Chicago Tribune_, October 28, 1920].
A Chicago colored boy is pictured at the Salvation Army Camp at Glen
Ellyn. Under the picture is the title "Rastus." He has been given a
piece of watermelon to complete the picture.
JOY SUPREME
"Come here, you Rastus, and git yo' pitcher took t' show how
glad you are."
Rastus was glad and Rastus came hither, but he was so glad
about going to the Salvation Army Camp yesterday with several
hundred boys and girls from the poorer districts that he failed
to register the smile his mammy demanded.
The annual camp of the Salvation Army at Glen Ellyn opened in
the afternoon. In the morning the first group of children left
over the Northwestern Railroad. Practically every nationality
was represented [_Chicago Tribune_, July 3, 1920].
Another picture is given in another issue of a little Negro boy at the
Juvenile Detention Home. It is headed "Losted," and carries the suggestion
of loose family life:
LITTLE PICKANINNY WHO WAITS FATHER AND MOTHER TO CLAIM HIM
Who's lost a little colored boy about four years old? He's
at the Juvenile Detention Home. He says his mother is "Mis'
Brown" and his father "Mistuh Parsons."
He's got an inexpensive lavalliere for identification, a dime
with a hole in it. He keeps the dime on his neck by means of a
piece of string that runs through the hole [_Chicago Tribune_].
3. NEWSPAPER POLICY REGARDING NEGRO NEWS
The policy of a newspaper in handling racial news can be better determined
by studying its articles and editorials than by asking the editors.
In fact, when the editor of the _Tribune_ was asked concerning this
matter he referred the Commission to the columns of his paper. It would
be difficult to find a definite policy on the race question stated and
consistently followed out by any newspaper in all items affecting race
issues. Ordinarily when misleading emphasis, misinterpretation, and
distortions of fact occur, they are due to the ignorance concerning
Negroes which is fairly general among white persons, rather than to
any inclination to injure a disadvantaged group of people. Reporters
and editors frequently use, doubtless unwittingly, terms unnecessarily
irritating to Negroes. Individual notions of relations between whites
and Negroes determine the character, color, and emphasis of articles
and editorials.
A conference of editors of the white press was held to discuss these
matters with the Commission. The white press was represented by Edgar T.
Cutter, district superintendent of the Associated Press, W. A. Curley,
managing editor of the _Chicago American_, Victor F. Lawson, editor
of the _Chicago Daily News_, and Julian Mason, managing editor of the
_Chicago Evening Post_. A brief questionnaire was filled out and returned
by Joseph M. Patterson, editor of the _Chicago Tribune_.
A. EDITORIAL POLICY
_Chicago American._--The _Chicago American_ had recently adopted a policy
of eliminating the racial designation, "Negro" or "colored," unless some
special circumstance made the mention of race of particular news value.
Said Mr. Curley:
There was a meeting at which newspaper men were gathered
together with some representatives of the colored race down
in a clubhouse on Grand Boulevard, the Appomattox Club, and we
were informed then that there was a feeling among the Negroes
that the newspapers emphasized in crime stories particularly
the fact that a man was a Negro. Our publisher and I discussed
it, and we decided that there was no more reason to emphasize
that it was a Negro bandit than that it was an Irish or Jew
bandit.
Our general policy has been that we must treat the Negro with
the same consideration and tolerance as we give any other
nationality. When he had those troubles here before [the riot
of July, 1919] we had some editorials to that effect.
Since the date of the meeting mentioned, the _American_ has consistently
maintained this policy. Its editorials prior to that time had shown a
spirit of tolerance and fairness. During the riot especially it published
editorials designed to aid in the restoration of order.[89] It published
perhaps the strongest of local newspaper editorials condemning the
bombing of Negro homes.
_Chicago Daily News._--The _Chicago Daily News_ in its reference to
Negroes used the expression "colored." Although it had sometimes published
articles which were not representative, it had often given space and
prominence to news concerning Negroes which presented them in a more
favorable light. This was clearly manifested during the world-war.
Its interest in a serious treatment of Negro affairs was shown in two
special series of articles, the first by Junius B. Wood, the second by
Carl Sandburg, both published later as booklets. These articles were
well received and gave a necessary balance to the more usual publication
of stories involving Negroes only in crimes. In a special column of
the _Daily News_, "The Human Side of Things," many articles have been
published relating to efforts for social welfare among Negroes.
Concerning the use of the racial designation in reporting crimes, Mr.
Lawson explained that he considered it appropriate to mention race,
as, for example, in giving an account of a lynching or the bombing of a
Negro home. The racial designation, he believed, gave significance to
the article. This consideration, he believed, balanced references in
other cases. He said:
The newspaper point of view is to use the national, or
professional, or racial distinction, the word giving the
distinction, wherever it interprets the news that is being
printed. There are some places where the character of the thing
that is being told naturally suggests the name Negro, or the
word Presbyterian, or Jew or Gentile or German or English, or
Irish, and the newspaper never stops to suppress that. On the
contrary it puts it in as interpreting fully the character of
the news that is being told.
Concerning news items unnecessarily provoking race antagonism, as, for
example, reports of speeches by a candidate for governor of Illinois
on "White Supremacy," he thought that most of the papers as well as his
own "played it down."
The statements of Mr. Lawson on other questions of policy are quoted:
_Mr. Lawson_: We regard items describing constructive work by
Negroes or items indicating their advancement as better news
than articles indicating degradation or criminality on their
part. The _Daily News_ endeavors to appeal to all readers
alike. Instructions in news handling comprehend the employment
of fairness, conservatism, and candor; special instructions
based on these principles are issued to cover special cases.
The terms "darky," "nigger," "coon," "shine," "wench," and
"negress" are not employed by members of the staff in writing
news articles and are rarely admitted to any class of matter.
The style of the _Daily News_ for many years has been to
speak of the Negro as a colored man and the Negroes as colored
people. When "Negro" is used it is rarely capitalized.
_Commissioner_: Is it objectionable?
_Mr. Lawson_: No, simply the style of the paper; typographic
styles of paper vary. Some papers capitalize more than others.
Some papers always spell the word "Bible" with a capital _B_. We
don't. It simply follows the style of the paper. Dialects are
very seldom employed in the news stories. They are not used to
ridicule any race or nationality. The _Daily News_ recognizes
the importance and delicacy of the race problems in Chicago in
its news columns as elsewhere in the paper. It aims to assist
constructive movements, eliminate sensationalism, and quiet
prejudice, while at the same time presenting truthfully such
facts as may be of interest and proper to the reading public
as a whole. I think, perhaps, I ought to emphasize that last
thought to this extent: the newspaper impulse is to print
the news, that is the controlling, dominating purpose of the
newspaper mind, to print the news. But circumstances will at
times suggest some particular expression of that impulse. Many
times, as Mr. Curley told you, we don't print the news, we
suppress it in the public interest.
_Chairman_: But that is a difficult self-control.
_Mr. Lawson_: Yes, I think so. To err is human, to print the
news is the natural impulse of newspaper people, but we do
recognize--I know all newspapers recognize--a very definite
responsibility that, in so far as it lies within a reasonable
discretion and a reasonable ability to act, they must consider
always the general public interest in any grave matter. I think
Mr. ---- struck a very important interpretative status when
he said he didn't like to have the designation of the race in
any respect used as an expression of ridicule. Of course, that
goes without saying. No newspaper that is wise, let alone a
newspaper that is fair, will deliberately inflict derision on
any class of its readers. It is a foolish thing to do aside
from anything else, and anything that would seem to suggest a
deliberate intent to bring the Negro race into derision, every
man in the room would resent and properly. But I think, as I
said before, that at times a purpose of derision is imagined
when there hasn't been any. I think that is true and I don't
think that it is surprising. If I were a member of a race that
was fighting its way all the time toward a square deal and a
fair show, I presume I'd be supersensitive about some things.
_Herald-Examiner._--The _Herald-Examiner's_ principal handling of
the race issue has been through the presentation of news items. The
term of designation employed is "Negro." On several occasions the
_Herald-Examiner_ has made commendable effort to show in its columns that
a friendly spirit exists between the two races. Most notable of these
efforts was the picture of whites and Negroes fraternizing in an effort
to restore order immediately after the "Abyssinian affair," in which
two white persons were killed and several Negroes, including a Negro
policeman, were injured. Some of its editorials on the Negro question
were headed:
NEGRO EDUCATION
Education the Best Solvent for the Negro Problem (Based on the Report of
the Chamber of Commerce of the United States)
DISLOYALTY AND LYNCHING
East St. Louis Massacres Have Not Been Properly Published. A Gulf
Separates Governor Lowden's Denunciation of the Riot and
the Treatment Accorded Slayers
THE BLACK MAN STOOD PAT
On the Loyalty of Negroes
NO "PATRIOTIC" MOBS
A Condemnation of Mob Violence in Illinois
On the other hand, some of the most emphasized misrepresentations of
Negroes have appeared in the _Herald-Examiner_, as, for example, the
story of the "Negro revolt,"[90] and various riot articles.
_Chicago Tribune._--The _Chicago Tribune_ stated its policy of
handling Negro news to be one of "fair dealing and recognition of the
difficulties." The managing editor stated that the _Tribune_ used dialect
in cases of kindly human-interest stories, refrained from the use of
terms like "darky," "coon," "Negroes," etc., and employed the term Negro,
capitalizing the _N_. The last practice was begun at the instance of Negro
leaders. During the threatened race riot the _Tribune_ sought the aid of
leading Negro newspapers in Chicago. There were no definite instructions
regarding the handling of Negro news matter. The difficulties in race
relations recognized by the editors of the _Tribune_ are to be found in
the following editorials:
WHITE AND BLACK IN CHICAGO
It is possible for whites and Negroes to live in peace in
Chicago. They have done so for years, in normal conditions
and in normal times. They have managed to live without much
prejudice. There has been good feeling. The Negro has had
political equality. There has been an attempt to give him a
fair representation in public affairs and not to resent his
presence there.
We admit frankly that if political equality had meant the
election of Negro mayors, judges, and a majority of Negroes in
the city council the whites would not have tolerated it. We do
not believe that the whites of Chicago would be any different
from the whites of the South in this respect....
We have been able to extend the essentials of citizenship to
the Negroes freely because the whites are dominant in numbers.
All the essentials are in the possession of the Negro. He is
not Jim-Crowed by law. A line is drawn by usage. The law in
fact forbids what actually is done. It is a futile law because
it encounters instinct.
Legally a Negro has right to service anywhere the public
generally is served. He does not get it. Wisely he does not ask
for it. There has been an illegal, non-legal, or extra-legal
adjustment founded upon common sense which has worked in the
past, and it will work in the future.
The fact is that so long as this city is dominated by whites,
whether because of their numbers without force or by their
force if they were in the minority, there will be limitations
placed upon the black people. They will be limitations which
will not work an injustice to the black people, who have a
right to their own development.
There is no objection to economic equality. There is a decided
objection to the exploitation of black labor. During the war
many Negroes were brought from the South. Thousands of them
went into the Stock Yards. The war shut off the supply of
common labor. The South supplied the want.
Thus the population of blacks doubled in war times. Concerns
which brought the Negro here to exploit him damaged the
community by throwing a race question upon it. Concerns which
needed the Negro and put him upon an equal basis with the
whites, without importing cheap labor to take the jobs of
whites, were legitimately supplying their need for labor.
The race issue in California grew out of the fact that the
Japanese were cutting under the price of white labor. That
will produce race troubles as quickly as anything.
Concerns may have been derelict in not considering the housing
problem. The imported Negroes could not live in the streets
or vacant lots. They had to get under roofs, and in getting
under roof they suddenly established new contact with white
neighborhoods.
In this change there was bound to be trouble unless precautions
were taken. In the present case there is no evidence of
precaution and some of provocation. It is possible for that
question to adjust itself. Such realty movements cannot take
place without friction, but the friction need not lead to
riots. The city is steadily shifting in residential character.
Some of the people affected by the shifts do not like it,
but in normal times the readjustment is not disturbing to the
community. A spread of factories may change the character of
a section. A spread of Negroes may do the same thing.
A writer once summed up the Negro question by saying, "The
North has the principles and the South has the Negroes." We are
coming to have the Negroes, and we want to keep the principles
so far as they are applicable.
Industrial radicalism, expressed in the I.W.W. propaganda among
the Negroes, will not help us to keep them. Thuggery will not
help us to keep them. A rebellion by the Negroes against facts
which exist and will persist will not help us to keep them, but
we are confident that the situation in Chicago is susceptible
of being handled in the fashion it always has been handled.
UNSETTLING THE RACE PROBLEM
... Regardless of what may be considered the justice of the
claims of the races, the fact undeniably is that white and
black will not mix in quantity. For this reason--the reason
reached by the jury--the remedy seems obvious: there must be
a plane upon which the races can live socially distinct but
industrially co-operative.
We are not disposed to think that the mass of the Negroes want
social equality in the full sense of the term. The _Tribune_
has had many intelligently composed letters from Negroes
disclaiming any such desire. We believe the Negroes want an
opportunity to develop their own society. If this is true
there ought not be widespread objection to social segregation,
directed by themselves and upon the theory of wholesome living
conditions.
But against what we think is an inherent disregard for exact
social equality there is appearing a very insidious propaganda
among the Negroes. Whether it is being circulated as a radical
irritant calculated to disturb political conditions or merely is
the parlor philosophy of eager sociological transcendentalists,
there is no means of determining.
The propaganda urging agitation for social equality may have
every support under the law and under what ought to be human
justice, but while fortified by what ought to be, it flies in
the face of what is....
The blacks form less than 10 per cent of the population of the
United States. They have less than one-tenth of a ghost of a
show if the relations between white and black become bitterly
hostile. The average black man and the average white man get
along fairly well. Unless something happens to arouse their
race prejudices and instincts they live by tolerance which may
not be a solution of race difficulties, but it is a method of
life and it is practical.
There is plenty of evidence just now that something is raising
the race question. There is evidence, it is said, to support the
story that agents had played on the imagination and ignorance
of Negroes in Arkansas inciting them to arise against the
whites and take their lands. Agitators have tried to excite
the blacks. Some misguided sentimentalists have tried to
organize whites and blacks for the compulsory recognition of
social equality--a propaganda which is even more vicious than
the red propaganda. There are numerous elements and factors
of disorder, and the consequences already have been bad....
The position of the Negro is not a preferred one in American
society. The Negro is at an economic disadvantage. He is
needed in the South and has been brought into the North to
meet labor emergencies, but he does not have an open field
of work. These disadvantages cannot be removed by discussing
them. They exist in race instincts and, along with the other
disadvantages which the Negro meets, arise from causes not at
the control of the reasoning faculties.
No sensible person imagines that he knows what to do about the
race problem because he does not know a method of eradicating
race instincts, and he would not want to eradicate them if
he knew how. A person may know what will surely happen if the
race instincts become inflamed and not have the slightest idea
how to prevent contact from flaming into violent action.
We know that if it comes to violence the blacks will get the
worst of it. We know that the situation as it exists now has
many possibilities of danger. Both North and South have had
enough violence. Both may have more. Communities may not be
able to stop agitation or effectively to counteract it, but they
can see that the processes of law are applied with severity.
Law strong enough to make the races live in peace will allow
them to find their own ways of living in the same communities.
B. HANDLING OF NEGRO NEWS
_Chicago Evening Post._--The _Post_ is an afternoon paper. It does not
carry a large amount of news on racial matters. The policy of this paper
was thus expressed by the managing editor, Mr. Julian Mason:
We have always checked information very carefully because we
have had a very close Negro sympathy for years and because
we have had editorial writers who have had special contacts.
For instance, during the race riots we were constantly in
communication with a young Negro, Mr. Jackson, a Y.M.C.A. man,
a fine man. We checked up with him every single day. We used
to call up Mr. Barnett and some of the others.
We use the word "Negro" and the Negro dialect in what you call
feature stories. I don't know why we should deprive American
life of that flavor. We also use the word "darky" once in a
while in a humorous sense, but not in news items.
_The Associated Press._--Mr. Edgar T. Cutter, district manager, Western
District, the Associated Press, said in his testimony before the
Commission:
The Associated Press is a non-money-making, non-sectarian,
non-political organization. It is made up of over 1,260 daily
papers. It is a mutual organization, and it gets its news by
an exchange among the members. Aside from that, in big cities
like Chicago we have our own bureaus which collect news in
certain events. In Chicago the Associated Press gets its news
from the five daily papers that are members, and from the city
news bureau. This city news bureau, by the way, is kept up
by the Chicago papers and therefore is supervised by them and
carries the same class of news. Now on a big story such as the
race riots, the Associated Press got its news from all these
sources, and it also sent a staff man who was experienced in
general newspaper work to the South to investigate for himself
so we should get the absolute facts. The Associated Press
makes a practice of covering only news of general interest,
and it has made its reputation on the covering of facts. It
never handles editorials, nor does it ever make a comment on
any news. If a piece of news is not of general interest, at
least throughout the state, it doesn't attempt to handle it. It
confines itself to news that is of general interest throughout
the country, and therefore it covers these matters very briefly.
_Question_: Do you personally in your representative capacity
handle any of the news from the southern states?
_Mr. Cutter_: Only as it passes through here. Each district
passes on its own news, but we verify it if it ever appears
to be incorrect. But any item that reflects upon any person
or upon any organization, even if we get it from our own
newspapers, is first checked up to its source, if that is at
all possible, and then if there is a matter of controversy and
only one side has been stated, we always try to get a statement
from the other side, from some head official. In case of Negro
news, we have many times had as our representatives leading
Negroes. Negro organizations have come into our office and we
have solicited news from them....
In cases of lynchings and such things from the South, the
Associated Press often has used twenty-five or fifty words and
just let it pass with the mere fact. Where we have covered
crime in full, big cases, very often it has been upon the
demand of the members of the organizations.
News concerning Negroes is handled just the same as any news
of any nationality. We use the words, "Negro" and "colored."
And it is always the desire of the Associated Press and the
attempt of the Associated Press not only not to injure any
person but to show the proper respect to all religions, races,
and all classes of society. It makes no difference whether
we would capitalize the word "Negro" or not. Our copy goes to
the newspaper and, as Mr. Lawson says, they follow their own
ideas in that....
In all of our services we attempt to suppress news that we
think might stir up race relations involving Japanese, Mexicans,
Negroes, or any others, and we follow the lead of newspapers.
_Question_: What is the extent to which news from these members
of the Associated Press is verified when it comes from regions
or localities where there may be prejudice?
_Mr. Cutter_: Wherever there is any question of the news or
wherever there are two sides, as in the labor question, we send
a staff man out from headquarters who makes his reputation
and that of the Associated Press upon covering both sides of
the story equally. He knows very readily that if he doesn't
cover that with thorough fairness, he is going to hear from
it later from one side or the other.
_Chicago American._--Mr. William H. Curley, managing editor of the
_Chicago American_, gave the following information:
Of course as to accuracy, we check that up the same as we do
any item. We find out where the item came from; if it is a
police item we find out who is responsible for it and send
reporters immediately to cover it and rely upon them for
accuracy regarding the report.
_Question_: Let me ask whether you do that with the same care
and precision that you do in the case of a white man that is
involved.
_Mr. Curley_: Absolutely.
_Question_: That is no insinuation against the newspapers,
but, for instance, it is said that in the courts, if a man is
a colored man he doesn't have the same thoughtful care that
a man has if he is a white man.
_Mr. Curley_: A good many items, of course, come from the City
Press that supplies all the newspapers. If it is a matter that
is trivial, of course a newspaper won't send a special reporter
but relies upon the City Press for accuracy. In a crime story
we eliminate the word "Negro" unless there is some reason for
it. We don't use any of the terms, "darky," "nigger," "coon,"
"shine," "wench," or "negress."
_Question_: Do you get news unsolicited regarding Negroes any
more than other persons?
_Mr. Curley_: We don't take any news that comes in over the
telephone without checking it.
_Question_: Regarding items coming from the South, is there
any particular care or checking used to see whether they are
true stories, trustworthy or not?
_Mr. Curley_: You have to take that as it comes because that
is your news service. In other words, they are supposed to
use their care down there the same as we do here. We have to
rely on that.
_Chicago Daily News._--
_Mr. Lawson_: Sources of information are the same as in the case
of other news, and in addition matter originally in Negroes' own
publications, bulletins of welfare organizations, etc. Generally
speaking, it may be said that more news on this subject comes
from outside sources such as telephone tips and correspondence
than from members of the staff. Perhaps 10 per cent comes from
the Associated Press. This is an arbitrary estimate. The same
methods are used to determine the accuracy of news concerning
the Negroes that are used under other circumstances. The _Daily
News_ does not publish any news except after determining its
accuracy to the best of its ability. No special reporter may
be said to be assigned to news of Negroes, but owing to his
special study of the conditions in Chicago, however, Carl
Sandburg is on occasion called into consultation or assigned
a topic for investigation. I may say that years ago the Negro
poet Dunbar was a reporter on the _News_.
Negro news is received from the Associated Press in the same
manner as other news. It is not often re-written, and then
only when the subject-matter is local to Chicago. Headlines
are written to conform to the text of the article. The _Daily
News_ is in touch with very reliable and well-informed Negroes
in whom, because of long experience, it has confidence. It
obtains information from them and seeks their viewpoint on
serious matters. We regard items describing constructive work
by the Negroes or items indicating their advancement as better
news than articles indicating degradation or criminality on
their part. The _Daily News_ endeavors to appeal to all readers
alike.
_Chicago Tribune._--The following is taken from the replies in the
questionnaire returned by Mr. Joseph M. Patterson, editor of the _Chicago
Tribune_:
The sources of Negro news are the same as sources of other
news. Some comes from the staff; some from the City News
Bureau. Some of the local news concerning Negroes comes from
reporters. No news of any consequence is received by telephone
or correspondence. The Associated Press treats it on the same
basis as other news. To insure accuracy the usual methods of
inquiry are employed. However, most of this news comes from
responsible news bureaus. Articles are re-written but only
for condensation. During the threatened race riot the aid of
leading Negro newspapers was sought to check information on
serious matters. Each item is judged on its merits.
4. THE NEGRO PRESS
Among the considerations which have been urged by Negroes as making
necessary the establishment of the Negro press are:
1. The indifference of white newspapers to the Negro group, their emphasis
on the unfortunately spectacular, and the consequent loss of items of
interest among Negroes throughout the country.
2. The importance of developing the morale of the Negro group, creating
a solidarity of interest and purpose for measures of defense, correcting
the impressions created by general opinion, and centering the attention
of Negroes upon themselves and their destiny. There has never been
sufficient capital for the adequate development of the Negro press. The
purpose, however, has been served of collecting items of interest from
all sections of the country, although they lack the facilities of so
efficient an agency as the Associated Press.
For a time practically all of the northern Negro newspapers fell under
the condemnation of the United States Attorney-General's office.[91]
They were accused of radicalism and incitation to violence. Frequent
criticisms of the Negro press declare it dangerous to the interests of
cordial race relations. Ex-President Taft in the _Philadelphia Ledger_
said: "The editors of the colored press should be reasoned with to cease
publishing articles, however true, having inciting effect."
Commenting on criticisms of this kind, Isaac Fisher, editor of the _Fisk
University News_, said:
Since the Washington and Chicago riots, the colored newspapers
have been bitterly arraigned in some quarters for being
responsible for race hatred. But the singular part of the
indictment is that these papers are not accused of "falsifying"
the record, but of stating the grounds of the Negro's
resentment; and there is growing up a school of thought which
argues that the colored papers should refrain from publishing as
news any facts, even though true, which serve to increase the
bitterness of the colored people against the white people. The
comments made by those who charge the Negro press with being
the cause of race antagonism are unanimous in interpreting as
"incendiary" all statements of facts whose bare recital makes
the Negro discontented with present conditions.
It should also be noted that the charge of inciting to race
hatred is laid against the Negro press specifically for the
period which has followed the end of the late war; whereas the
charge of inciting white people to wrath against the Negro is
an old one which has been repeated again and again during the
past thirty years.
But, while the Negro press is not as old as the white press
and cannot possibly be charged with having "been on the job"
quite so long, it is true, nevertheless, that some of its
members have cast all prudence to the winds since the signing
of the armistice, and have entered a mad race with the most
"yellow" of yellow white journals in vitriolic race attacks,
in this case upon all white people, in the attempt to meet
the "yellow" white press more than half way.
Whatever the relative degree of culpability, "yellow" journalism
is as reprehensible when supported by a part of the Negro press
as it is when upheld by a part of the white press. The Negro
might just as well learn now the lesson which the white man
must learn if he would save the civilization which he has been
laboring so long to perfect, i.e., that one's color and race
do not excuse wrongdoing. If it is wrong for a white newspaper
to make white people hate colored people, how can it be right
for a Negro newspaper to make colored people hate white people?
A. CLASSIFICATION OF ARTICLES
The news items in Negro papers show a bias in reporting the opposite of
that of many white papers. They emphasize the Negro's view, frequently
to the point of distorting fact. If anything, they might be said to
provide a compensatory interpretation of the news. The three Negro
newspapers selected for study mentioned and briefly characterized in
the foregoing pages will show a classification of news items appearing
during a forty-week period.
In addition to general news items concerning Negroes, the _Defender_
gave one page to sporting news, one page to theatrical news, two pages
to personal news items sent in by correspondents in other cities, and
one page to local personal items. On its editorial page two and one-half
columns each week were devoted to health articles by Dr. Wilberforce
Williams.
The _Whip_ gave one page to sports, one to theatrical news and
organization articles, one to out-of-town personal news items and one
to local personal items. Its editorial page devoted one column to "Legal
Hints to Women," one-half column to "Health Hints," one column to "Legal
Catechism," and two columns to editorials from other papers.
The _Searchlight_ gave one page to theatrical, local personal news, and
church notes. The editorial page contained two half-columns each week
by "The Man about Town."
TABLE XXXIII
===============================================================
|"DEFENDER"| "WHIP" |"SEARCHLIGHT"
SUBJECTS +----------+----------+-------------
| Local Articles
---------------------------+----------+----------+-------------
Crime | 53 | 46 | 42
Racial clashes | 6 | -- | 1
Education | 2 | 9 | 11
Business | 4 | 26 | 14
General news not involving | | |
race issues | 5 | 66 | 65
Vice | 14 | 8 | 10
Bombing | 5 | 10 | 10
Politics | 26 | 60 | 61
Social work | 6 | 9 | 17
Public meetings | 2 | 16 | 13
Religion | 7 | 18 | 34
Science | 2 | 5 | 4
Negro progress | 2 | -- | 17
Negro soldiers | -- | 6 | --
Courts | 4 | 24 | 2
Discrimination | 3 | 9 | 1
Race contacts | -- | -- | --
Lynchings | -- | -- | --
Industrial relations | 8 | 10 | 1
Philanthropy | -- | 2 | --
Personal | 9 | -- | 34
Jim Crow | 1 | 1 | 3
General local welfare | 2 | 11 | 3
Art | -- | 3 | 1
General race relations | -- | 22 | 1
+----------+----------+-------------
| Local Space
+----------+----------+-------------
Crime | 586 | 497 | 669
Racial clashes | 42 | 156 | 16
Education | 21 | 52 | 46
Discrimination | 23 | 62 | 101
Business | 58 | 199 | 187
General news not involving | | |
race issues | 23 | 555 | 441
Vice | 112 | 89 | 201
Bombing | 50 | 121 | 98
Politics | 512 | 741 | 893
Social work | 24 | 41 | 110
Public meetings | 84 | 130 | 66
Religion | 59 | 238 | 257
Science | 59 | 30 | 46
Negro soldiers | -- | 57 | 48
Courts | 19 | 130 | 9
Race contacts | -- | 116 | --
Industrial relations | 72 | 400 | 13
Philanthropy | -- | -- | --
Personal | 113 | 45 | 176
Jim Crow | 6 | 8 | 98
Art | -- | 12 | 2
General local welfare | 35 | 78 | 13
General race relations | -- | 273 | 156
South | 7 | 105 | 152
Africa | 4 | -- | --
Migration | -- | -- | --
+----------+----------+-------------
| Out-of-Town Articles
---------------------------+----------+----------+-------------
Crime | 282 | 152 | 32
Racial clashes | 19 | 18 | 4
Education | 54 | 42 | 74
Business | 31 | 10 | 14
General news not involving | | |
race issues | 81 | 104 | 138
Vice | 31 | 3 | --
Bombing | -- | -- | 2
Politics | 27 | 46 | 85
Social work | 12 | 6 | 42
Public meetings | 14 | 12 | 8
Religion | 36 | 23 | --
Science | -- | 4 | --
Negro progress | 28 | -- | 40
Negro soldiers | 11 | 11 | 33
Courts | 15 | 24 | 15
Discrimination | 30 | 21 | 10
Race contacts | 9 | 3 | 3
Lynchings | 32 | 54 | 32
Industrial relations | 8 | 16 | 22
Philanthropy | 11 | 4 | 2
Personal | 105 | 9 | 5
Jim Crow | 6 | 6 | 2
Art | 1 | 7 | 5
General race relations | 15 | 60 | 44
South | 38 | 50 | 5
Africa | 1 | 12 | 4
Migration | 2 | 3 | 5
+----------+----------+-------------
| Out-of-Town Space
+----------+----------+-------------
Crime | 1,082 | 833 | 191
Racial clashes | 136 | 148 | 43
Education | 174 | 223 | 421
Business | 112 | 40 | 73
General news not involving | | |
race issues | 216 | 434 | 538
Vice | 154 | 7 | --
Bombing | -- | -- | 5
Politics | 132 | 233 | 365
Social work | 40 | 41 | 164
Public meetings | 103 | 76 | 35
Negro progress | 82 | 244 | 198
Soldiers | 50 | 46 | 153
Courts | 120 | 108 | 66
Discrimination | 145 | 13 | 49
Race contacts | 44 | 32 | 13
Lynchings | 239 | 407 | 215
Industrial relations | 29 | 67 | 119
Philanthropy | 32 | 21 | 11
Personal | 213 | 48 | 20
Jim Crow | 36 | 21 | 13
Art | 2 | 22 | 19
General race relations | 124 | 382 | 308
South | 202 | 42 | 69
Africa | 21 | 55 | 18
Migration | 6 | 8 | 26
---------------------------+----------+----------+------------
NOTE.--A much smaller period for study for Negro papers is necessary
since practically all items appearing contain some reference to race.
TABLE XXXIV
===========================+=============+=============+==============
| "DEFENDER" | "WHIP" |"SEARCHLIGHT"
SUBJECTS +-------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------
|Article|Space|Article|Space|Article|Space
---------------------------+-------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------
General race relations | 12 | 137 | 39 | 525 | 53 | 868
Propaganda | 3 | 60 | 3 | 65 | 1 | 6
Constructive suggestions | 11 | 168 | 15 | 306 | 5 | 92
Criticism of leaders | 3 | 30 | 10 | 185 | 5 | 31
Criticisms of white | | | | | |
persons or organizations | 6 | 101 | 6 | 83 | 4 | 59
Political propaganda | 30 | 398 | 10 | 154 | 17 | 251
Discrimination | 7 | 65 | -- | -- | 5 | 36
Industry | 5 | 39 | 4 | 65 | 6 | 39
Education | -- | -- | 3 | 35 | 5 | 53
South | 5 | 68 | 5 | 96 | 6 | 52
Negro progress | 5 | 57 | 9 | 265 | 14 | 111
General news, etc. | 3 | 42 | 12 | 174 | 9 | 83
Housing | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 6
Miscellaneous | 3 | 39 | -- | -- | -- | --
Provoked by incidents | | | | | |
inimicable to Negroes | 1 | 9 | 1 | 15 | -- | --
---------------------------+-------+-----+-------+-----+-------+------
_Crime publicity._--Sensational news was featured in each of the papers,
especially cases in which whites and Negroes were involved. The intention
appeared to be to present the Negro's side of the story. A measurement
of news interest on different types of crime articles is possible in
Table XXXV with space in inches.
TABLE XXXV
LOCAL AND OUT-OF-TOWN CRIMES COMBINED
=============+==============+==============+==============+===============
| CRIMES | CRIMES | CRIMES | CRIMES
| INVOLVING | INVOLVING | INVOLVING | INVOLVING
| ONLY NEGROES | NEGRO V. | WHITES V. | ONLY WHITES
NEGRO | | WHITE | NEGROES |
NEWSPAPERS +--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+------
| No. of |Space| No. of |Space| No. of |Space| No. of |Space
|Articles| |Articles| |Articles| |Articles|
-------------+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+------
_Defender_ | 233 |1,032| 90 | 467| 55 | 260| 4 | 31
_Whip_ | 75 | 495| 70 | 440| 44 | 350| 8 | 44
_Searchlight_| 26 | 121| 37 | 440| 11 | 67| 1 | 2
-------------+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+-----+--------+------
The method of presentation of articles revealed the strongest
characteristic of Negro journalism. In this connection a random selection
of headlines is interesting:
CRIMES INVOLVING WHITE ASSAILANTS AND NEGRO VICTIMS
"Free White Woman Who Killed Attorney"
"Threatens Mother and Babes with Axe"
"Bowman Milk Driver Brutally Assaults Woman"
"Crime of Postmaster Starts Serious Trouble"
"Commits Suicide to Escape Mob"
"Baby Girl Assaulted by White Farm Hand"
"Maid Is Robbed by White 'Iceman'"
"Stepped on Man's Foot in Street Car; Shot"
"Wouldn't Say 'Mister'; Is Beaten to Death"
"Kills White Man for Girl's Honor"
"Convict White Man on Rape Charge"
"Protects Wife's Honor; Slain by Land-Owner"
"White Tenants Kick on Living in Same Building with Owner"
"White Woman Confesses Lies on Colored Men"
"Kills Negro Minister for Stepping on His Foot"
"White Confectioner Arrested for Refusing to Serve Trotter"
"To Pay $750 for Attack on Negro Woman"
"White Girl Robs Father's Bank; Elopes with Negro Taken in Rooming
House; Half of Stolen Wealth Recovered"
"Two Boys Shot; Crowd Blames White Man"
CRIMES INVOLVING NEGRO ASSAILANTS AND WHITE VICTIMS
"Laundryman Stabbed in Controversy over Price"
"Boy Pupil Rebels at Scolding; Shoots Teacher"
"Slayer Captured, Tried, Hanged, in 24 Hours"
"Quarrel over Price of Cotton; Farmer Is Shot"
"Hold Three for Murder of White Infantryman"
"Haunted by Man's Face He Killed; Surrenders"
CRIMES INVOLVING ONLY NEGROES
"Woman Who Took a Life to Die Herself"
"Mother Kills Self and Babe with Gas"
"Wife Slayer Must Serve 20-Year Term"
"Raids on Homes Net Pullman Goods"
"Woman Dynamites Jail to Free Her Lover"
"Bullet Strikes Brass Chain, Man's Life Saved"
"Girl to Die on Gallows; Slew Rival"
"Cost Girl Her Life to Stop Love Affair"
Definite differences of news value were noted, between articles appearing
in Negro papers and those in white papers on the same topics. The items,
for the most part, carried a specific appeal. Where the item was of
general interest and appeared in both white and Negro papers, the facts
usually corresponded.
The difference again lies in emphasis and prominence. Headlines for the
same news, as shown in white and Negro papers, follow:
WHITE NEWSPAPERS NEGRO NEWSPAPERS
"Jim Crow Law Is Upheld by "Highest Court Upholds Jim Crow Law.
U.S. High Court" Separate Cars for White and Colored
[_Chicago Tribune_, People Declared Legal in Kentucky"
April 20, 1920] [_Chicago Searchlight_,
April 24, 1920]
"Miscegnation is O.K.'d in New "Morris Gets Civil Rights into
Constitution. Negroes Given Constitution. Victory for Race Won
All the Rights of Whites" at Springfield"
[_Chicago Tribune_, [_Chicago Whip_,
Nov. 6, 1920] July 10, 1920]
"Phillips High School for "Jim-Crow School Scheme Exposes
Colored Pupils, Principal Attempt to Inaugurate Separate
Suggests" Schools in Chicago--Discovered
[_Chicago Tribune_, and Opposed"
March 8, 1920] [_Chicago Searchlight_,
July 31, 1920]
"Accuse Perrine of Color Line
Ruling. Principal of Wendell
Phillips Openly Attacked by
Public Who Saw Children Jim
Crowed at Commencement; Ask His
Removal; Ministers Feared as
Betrayers"
[_Chicago Defender_,
July 3, 1920]
_Group control._--Although the Negro population does not rely upon the
Negro press for authentic general news it does rely upon it for news
concerning Negroes. The _Chicago Whip_ devotes two columns of the paper
to a section called "Under the Lash of the Whip," the "You Know 'Em,
Editor," and "Nosey Knows." Persons who become offensive to the principles
supported by the _Whip_ are put "Under the Lash." "Nosey Knows" and the
"You Know 'Em, Editor" attempt to hold individual conduct of Negroes to
conventional standards by the threat of semi-publicity, for example:
You know those new "loop hounds." I know them because they go
to the loop for the purpose of visiting--no object of buying
anything. Well, tell them it's alright to go to the loop, but
they don't have to attract everybody's attention for blocks
around with their loud talk, using their ignorant, non-sensical
expressions. And should they get hungry while down there and
feel like having lunch, don't stand outside the door of a
restaurant with a surprised look on their faces--just tell
them to walk right in, in an orderly and sensible manner and
order what they want. They don't have to slip in like thieves.
You know the restaurants where those household insects known
as flies are very prevalent. I know you know them, because
they are all along State Street, Thirty-first and Thirty-fifth.
Well, if you don't mind, kindly tell some of those proprietors
that there is a way of ridding their places of such nuisances.
You probably don't know that lady who resides in a prominent
building in the vicinity of Thirty-first Street and Indiana
Avenue, and who tried to enveigle a young girl on the street
car to her flat by telling her that she could meet some high
class doctors and lawyers there. Well, you may not know her now,
but if you watch the columns of the _Whip_ you will know her
because she is gradually working her way to the penitentiary
by the route of the seduction law. Everybody will know her then.
The _Searchlight_ carries a column by "The Man about Town" which is
similar in character. Two examples of its criticism of Negro conduct were:
The gang that hangs around the "pillars of knowledge" in the
county building every day at noon is becoming so obnoxious
that they are attracting the attention of everybody who enters
the building.
Politicians from every section of the city crowd there and
shoot off their "hot air" in a loud tone of voice. They seem
to think that the future of the country depends on what they
say or do.
They have become so bold in their actions they have begun to
stop some of our race women and engage them in conversation
around that historic spot.
Now boys, cut out that "rough stuff" and take a walk around
the block at noon and let the fresh air blow on your beautiful
carcass; if you don't the sheriff will ask you to do so, or
he may take some of you fellows to the North Side. Don't make
yourself a nuisance around the city hall and county building.
Hear me, boys.
Another thing that is very disgusting is the arrogance of the
girl waitresses in some of these race restaurants. Instead of
striving to please the patrons they act as though they were
doing you a personal favor to serve you, and when you are
through with your meal you must thank them for so doing and
leave a piece of money at the cash stand for them. If you don't
do that the very next time you go into that restaurant the
waiter will not want to wait on you. The poor proprietor of
the place, if he or she is one of the "brothers" or "sisters,"
is almost helpless in the matter because if he opens his mouth
to one of these so-called waitresses about the mistreatment
of their guests he is minus a waiter. Go down in the loop and
see how the other folks attend to business and treat patrons.
Awake, folks, from your slumber; you are fast asleep. Do you
hear me?
A fight on vice in the Second Ward was begun by the _Searchlight_ and
finally given strong emphasis by the local daily papers.
B. NEGRO NEWSPAPER POLICY
Although Negroes for their general news depend upon the white press,
with its superior facilities, they look to the Negro press for full and
specific news covering the activities of Negroes. The editorial columns,
as well as the arrangement of news items and writing of headlines, are
aimed at building up the morale of the Negro group. Frequently an attempt
is made to get these papers into the hands of whites to acquaint them
with the Negro's point of view.
A conference was held by the Commission with several Negro newspaper men.
The Negro press was represented by R. S. Abbott, editor and publisher of
the _Chicago Defender_; Nahum D. Brascher, editor-in-chief, and Claude
Barnett, director of the Associated Negro Press; Willis N. Huggins,
editor of the _Upreach Magazine_; and R. E. Parker, editor of the _Chicago
Advocate_.
Mr. Brascher, of the Associated Negro Press, said:
The colored newspapers have recently gotten up to the point
where most of us are proud to have them seen in the hands of our
white friends and it is only through them that they can really
get our viewpoint. We cannot hope to have the daily newspapers
give our viewpoint and the aspirations and struggles that we
are making, and some of the things that we are suffering. I
am very much interested in having the editorial feeling of
the newspaper get to the white people. Sometimes they may
be termed as radical. I found in recent months that some of
the weekly papers published in the South are saying things
editorially that I would question about saying even here in
Chicago, and, as we say in common parlance, getting away with
it. I have in mind now one particular instance. In Houston,
Texas, week before last, the entire circulation list of the
_Houston Informer_ was stolen out of its office. The theft
was attributed to the new organization of the Ku Klux Klan.
The daily papers of Houston came out condemning that move, and
also condemning the idea of the Ku Klux Klan, and this young
man has an editorial in last week's issue that is one of the
strongest I have ever seen on the matter, backed probably by
some of the strong things that have been said in the daily
papers.
Now if we could have people of Chicago know just how the
sentiment is changing in the South in favor of a square deal and
mutual toleration, we could soon get to a point where there'd
be no fear on either side of working out our salvation, you
might say, along co-operative lines.
Another instance concerned the _Plain Dealer_ in Birmingham,
Ala. The Ku Klux Klan paraded the streets of that city about
three weeks ago and in an editorial this paper came out and
stated that if that was done to frighten the colored people,
they had to do something different, because whenever they
began to terrorize and came down into the neighborhood where
colored people lived somebody there would be ready to meet
them. That is a pretty strong statement for Birmingham, and
they got away with it.
The _Chicago Defender_ gives the greatest amount of space to criminal news
of a sensational type in the field of racial happenings. It is a great
favorite in the South with Negroes because it publishes news condemning
the practices of the South in terms forbidden to southern Negro journals.
Of a circulation of 185,000, two-thirds of which is outside of Chicago,
it was largely responsible for stimulating the migration to the North.
The term "Negro" is used occasionally in the _Defender_. Its policy is
to use the term "race" man, where it is necessary to distinguish Negro
from other groups. Adopting the opposite policy from the white papers,
it places "white" after persons not Negroes to mark the distinction.
Concerning this, Mr. R. S. Abbott, editor of the _Defender_, said:
We use that as a bridge, as you might say, which we intend to
blow up pretty soon. We are leading the people away from the
word "Negro," especially in our papers. And in cases where
white men are well known in the country we never even put
"white" after their names. We never put "colored" after a
colored man's name in this city.
The _Defender's_ editorials are as a rule carefully written, balanced,
and critical, at times in contrast with the popular appeal of the news
articles. The _Whip's_ editorials usually are on some aspect of the
general race problem in the United States. They are characterized by
strong pronouncements of the views of Negroes and violent criticism of
practices alleged to be inimicable to Negroes. An editorial from each
of the papers will indicate the trends of interests. The first is from
the _Defender_:
JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES
Character is what we are; reputation is what other people think
we are. We get only the respect we demand; no more, no less.
One of the greatest barriers to our progress is the individual
who attempts to curry the favor of the whites by whom he is
employed by openly humiliating and insulting others of his
same flesh and blood. Because sections of this country reek
with color prejudice, must we lend a helping hand to those
who foster segregation, discrimination and "Jim Crowism" in
general? And yet that is just what many are doing.
In the railroad service as waiters and porters we have a
monopoly, and those whose runs require them to cross the Mason
and Dixon line are often confronted with situations that require
good common sense in handling. In many states the law requires
the blacks and the whites to be separated on transportation
lines, dining-rooms, places of amusement, etc. There is no
question as to whether these laws are just or unjust. They
are at least temporary laws and must be obeyed. But there is
something mentally wrong with the porter or the waiter who
lends himself to such measures, whether under orders from his
superiors or not.
Admitting that to disobey such orders means the loss of a
job, there are other jobs that pay a better wage where a
man does not have to sacrifice his principles to hold. What
other group of people in the world have those that could be
induced at any price to place their heel on the neck of even
the humblest member of their race? Are we less human, less
interested in the welfare of our race than they? Are we still
puppets, still chattels, still ignorant of the fact that as
we respect ourselves, so others will respect us? This matter
is put squarely up to you, Mr. Porter; to you, Mr. Waiter.
Will you play the part of a man and refuse to humiliate your
people? Will you cease playing the part of a spy? Will you
singly and collectively tender your resignation to employers
who require you to "Jim Crow" one of your own? If you will do
these things there is only one thing that can happen--a speedy
repeal of the offensive legislation.
Recently a young woman who was able to "pass" entered the
Washington (D.C.) railroad station café and was given a seat
at a table with several other ladies. Soon there entered
two refined, well-dressed, unmistakably colored, young women
who took seats at an unoccupied table. Immediately a colored
waiter rushed over to them and after a few minutes of whispered
conversation the embarrassed patrons followed the waiter to
a far corner of the café, where semi-screened off they were
permitted to dine. So enraged was the first young woman that
she boldly went to the desk where stood the white higher-ups
and several waiters, and gave them a curtain lecture they
doubtless will not soon forget, not failing to tell them her
own nationality. This incident happened in Washington, the
seat of our government, where the doctrine of democracy is
preached but not practiced.
Things worth having are worth fighting for. We must make
sacrifices. If it is the policy of certain business places
to discriminate let us not be a party to the discrimination.
Let it be firmly fixed in the mind that we are a vital part
of this nation's life, that we are a necessary "evil," that
our places cannot and will not be filled with whites, no
matter how drastic is our stand, providing we have right on
our side, which we undoubtedly have in this instance. This
heart to heart talk applies to those engaged in other lines of
endeavor as well as it does to those who follow railroading.
Many who run barber shops, for instance, display the sign,
"For whites only." If we did not realize that these evils are
the direct result of ignorance and lack of racial pride, it
would indeed be discouraging. But, truly, we are still a child
race. We must not be flattered by the tales of our marvelous
advance during the last fifty years into dropping our oars
and resting on our laurels, for we have barely started up the
hill called success. When we have reached the first milestone
on our journey--racial solidarity--the rest of the way will
be comparatively easy. Success has come to the Jew and to the
Japanese because they are clannish. Black isn't a bad shade;
let's make it popular in complexions as well as in clothes.
This is from the _Whip_:
WHO'S AFRAID?
If the white races of the world are so sure of their inborn
and inherent supremacy, if they are so sure that they are the
salt of the earth and the born rulers of human kind, it appears
to us as strange indeed that they should fear that their glory
will be usurped, their power depreciated, and their world-wide
domination seriously challenged.
As a general rule, the giant does not fear the pigmy, neither
does man, the acme of civilization, fear that his civilization
will be eclipsed by a new order of apes. Should the tribes
and clans of the highest developed gorillas seek to overrun
the accomplishments of humanity, no one would say, "Beware of
monkey domination." Man, according to his own concepts, is only
a little lower than the angels and the monkey just a little
lower than himself. The white races claim that their darker
brothers are lower in the graduated scale of their own making
than themselves, yet they cry out, "Beware of the Yellow Peril
and behold the Black Plague."
If the white races possess the keys to knowledge and the
passwords to progress as well as the elixirs of strength,
why should they fear danger of "Black domination" and "Yellow
dictation"? The white man, even through the maze of his own
conceit and out of the trance of his self-hypnotism, sees that
"he and his heirs" shall not forever inherit the face of the
earth.
The black and yellow races are breaking the white man's monopoly
of organized brain and wealth. The white man sees this and in
his own bigotry knows that these people are not his inferiors
in latent abilities. He knows that the same fire of genius
burns in the breasts of the black and yellow races as did in
the dark and mediaeval ages. He knows that black and yellow
men can unravel the mysteries of nature and the intricacies of
science. He knows that creative and constructive ability has
been beaten down by his might but yet it lives. The white races
know that their present achievements are small in comparison
with those which will be accomplished. It is feared that in the
future, not in the mediate or immediate, but not far distant
nevertheless, that the sleeping giant will awaken, shake off
the listlessness of a thousand years and put into action again
the powerful dynamo of his great reign and shake the world
again.
We do not object to the cry of "Beware of the Yellow Peril
and behold the Black Plague." It is the involuntary shriek of
danger which is a part of man's reaction. White people know
that they are not superior to the dark races. They know that
the raillery about dark people being innately and inherently
inferior is nothing more than the outcropping of race prejudice,
color hatred and ignoble fear. They fear that should they lose
the power of might and brute force, and equal opportunities
are gained by the dark people, that they will be dethroned
and surpassed. For this reason they warn of the unfitness and
undesirability of their darker brothers. They ruthlessly declare
that Japanese, East Indians and Negroes are not their equals
and justify all of their tyranny upon this foolish subterfuge.
We are tired of subterfuge and evasiveness. If the white man
wishes to maintain his power at the expense of the dark people
of the world, let him cease his prattlings about charity, human
kindness and benevolence. Let him admit that he is afraid of
the rising tide of color and fear shakes his entire system.
Let the world know that the cry of inferiority and unfitness
is not conscientious and that apprehension clouds the brow of
white humanity.
An editorial in the _Searchlight_ read:
CLEANING UP THE "BLACK BELT"
"Death Corner" has a local reputation which bespeaks an
abominable state of affairs. Nice respectable persons dare not
visit it unless heavily escorted. The "East Side" in New York
provokes a shiver by the very sound of the name. The "Black
Belt" carries the same dark background of hovering evil. One
is expected to regard black belts as isolated plague-spots
full of lurking pitfalls for unsuspecting innocents. It is
spoken of as "that Black Belt down there." Little girls go
there and go wrong and you never hear of them again. When
trouble is threatened in the city the police force is dumped
into it with clubs and pistols and rifles, patrol wagons,
flivvers and ambulances. For you can never tell what is likely
to break out in a place with so many mysterious corners and
vicious characters. When the morals of the city come under
scrutiny the crusaders send up a howl of helplessness for the
rampant vices in that "Black Belt down there." The entire city
believes it to be a bad place. The neglect of it is a standing
disgrace to the city, and yet the only means of cleaning it up
and bringing it up to the standard of the community as a whole
discovered so far is by keeping the handful of white persons
out of it. The protests against the mixed cafés, by far the
loudest and most severe, seem to represent the sole spirit
and motive of the effort. No attention is paid to the iron
circle tightening around this section and making it practically
impossible for Negroes to move out. No attention is paid to
the rundown schools in the district. No one is interested in
providing recreation facilities for the thousands of colored
children growing up in the streets. No one of these reformers
and critics has suggested that a branch of the public library
be made convenient. The Juvenile Protective Association, an
association whose purpose is to prevent criminality, walks
around the district and speaks about it as disparagingly as
the rest. The old Committee of Fifteen had no representative
there to detect the out-cropping of vicious places. It had been
thus for the eight years of its existence. And yet epithets
are hurled at the district, and it is called bad names and
the city turns up its nose and goes on.
C. NEGRO NEWS SOURCES
Negro newspapers are published weekly because they cannot compete with
the daily papers in providing any part of the public with news from day
to day.
For out-of-town news, the news letters of correspondents and accounts of
incidents by specially designated representatives make up a large portion
of the reports. All the papers have the service of a clipping bureau.
Items in local papers are noted and, when practicable, the newspapers
telegraph to some responsible person in town to send a full account of the
incident. Traveling men from Chicago and friends of the paper scattered
throughout the country also contribute to the news supply. News letters
containing personal items are still continued in the _Defender_ and are
said to be responsible for the first extension of its circulation. The
_Defender_ and the _Whip_ have small staffs of reporters to cover local
news. The objects of the Associated Negro Press were thus outlined by
Mr. Barnett, a representative of that organization:
It is an organization of affiliated newspapers. We serve
eighty-nine newspapers throughout the country, the total
circulation of these papers as given to us for advertising
purposes running a little in excess of 400,000....
We handle items only that are of national importance because
we are a national news service. We gather all out of town items
that we are able to gather for the same reason, if they are of
national importance. As a news service we would not take any
purely local item in Chicago unless it would interest readers
in every section of the country. We also get service from a
clipping bureau.