William Edward Burghardt Du Bois joins the NAACP as director of publications and editor of The Crisis, the official organ of the NAACP. He brings with him Frank Turner as treasurer. Settled in a New York City office at 20 Vesey Street in the Evening Post Building, The Crisis is established in September 1910 and first published in November with a subtitle, “A Record for the Darker Races.” Subscriptions are $1 per year on ten cents per issue. Du Bois, the founder and first editor declares that The Crisis is to “set forth those facts and arguments which show the danger of race prejudice…,” At ten inches high, this new publication would stand for three things: “rights irrespective of race and color…the highest ideals of American democracy…and reasonable but earnest attempts to gain these rights and realize these ideals.” In a meeting of Mary White Ovington, William English Walling and Oswald Garrison Villard at Villard’s suite in his new Viennese Secessionist building, the NAACP’s magazine is named from a poem by James Russell Lowell, “The Present Crisis.” Printed by a Negro who also prints Vogue magazine, Robert N. Wood, the first issue is 20 pages and 1000 copies are printed. Sections include: “Along the Color Line”—with subsections on politics, education, social uplift, organizations, science and art; “Opinion”—correspondence; “Editorial”— NAACP coverage and topical essays; “The Burden”—civil, economic, political and literal atrocities against Negroes; and “What to Read.” An updated listing of Negroes lynched to date is included. Topics of discussion include: race, prejudice, women, politics, education, and social uplift. In the second issue, December, Du Bois includes the column, “Talks About Women” written by Mrs. John Milholland. The Crisis provides a forum for black writers, scholars and artists to present their works and where black issues can be examined with editorial freedom. The first subscriber is George Wesley Blount of Hampton, VA.
By 1911, demand for The Crisis is ahead of supply. It is circulated in every state and five foreign countries. No salaries are paid and expenses are met. The Crisis invites criticism, ideas, short, live articles with facts but is not anxious for opinion and poetry as it supplies its own. The January issue sells 3,000 copies and 6,000 for the March issue. The first education number, “Teachers’ Number” is the June issue followed by 15,000 copies printed for the July “Vacation Number.” By the November and December issues, sections headlines are dressed with art. Cover art by lesser known artists as Louise Latimer and John Henry Adams is featured. The “Men of the Month” column is added in May. In the October issue, the “Talks About Women” column that was written mostly by white women is replaced with the more afro centered “Women’s Club” column written by Addie Hunton. The Crisis reports on the Pink Franklin case, the NAACP’s first major legal case in 1910 in which a black South Carolina sharecropper is accused of murder. The magazine reports that Negroes are not admitted to see Colonel Theodore Roosevelt at New Orleans French Opera House. There is an article on Booker T. Washington brutally attacked by New York apartment dwellers. The Crisis announces that writer Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, composer James A. Bland, and sculptor Edmonia Lewis have died. The court case against a white Palestine, TX mob who murdered 20 Negroes continues to be postponed. Other articlesinclude: prosperous Negro towns springing up in Oklahoma; Negro girls banned from a Cornell dormitory; and the first track meet for colored schools begins at Convention Hall in Washington, D.C. The Crisis announces plan in development to train young Negro writers. Colored people raise $67,000 in a few days for construction of a colored YMCA in Atlanta. The Crisis estimates that all Negro property in the U.S. are run by colored people. The Crisis covers the uproar over the rape of a colored woman by white men, and lynching of her and teenage son. Arthur Schomburg writes on, “How Negroes Fought for Freedom” The Crisis covers the incorporation of the NAACP and reports there are 60 Negroes known to have been lynched in 1911.
In March, The Crisis moves with the NAACP into the Evening Post Annex Building at 26 Vesey Street. In April, The Crisis is enlarged with wider columns and decorative initials. The cover for this issue is a water color painted especially for The Crisis by a younger colored artist, Richard Brown. In May, ad rates increase to 10 cents per line. W.E.B. Du Bois’ dedicated managing editor, Mary Dunlop Maclean dies unexpectedly. The “Women’s Club” column is followed by the, “Women’s Suffrage Symposium” written by Fanny Villard, Mary Terrell, Martha Gruening and others. The Crisis begins its annual publication of a “Children’s Number.” Benjamin Guggenheim, who died on the Titanic, leaves a bequest to the Asylum for Colored Children. The Crisis publishes the 1865 Robert E. Lee letter urging the enlistment of colored soldiers. The Honorable Albert Pillsbury offers, “A Federal Remedy for Lynching.” The Crisis reproduces a postcard of a lynching in Alabama and the message, “This is the way we do them down here.” Regular lynching reports begin. The Crisis reports on the debits and credits for the Negro in, “The Black Folk of America, The Year of Grace, 1911” and Du Bois criticizes the black church. The NAACP reports The Chicago Tribune’s figure of 1,521 Negroes lynched from 1885-1911, and vows to maintain its own list. The Crisis reports that New York white chauffeurs force Negro drivers out of business. Philosopher Alain Locke, first Negro Rhodes scholar, joins Howard University as an educator. Other articles include the Association of American Medical Colleges adopting a segregated membership for Negro colleges; the problem of Negroes not having theatres or denied entrance to theatres; and Dorothy Coates of Spokane, WA becomes the first Negro woman called for jury duty in the nation. After floods in Louisiana and Mississippi, 90,000 or 100,000 homeless are Negroes. Harlem property owners attach, “No Negroes” proviso to all property sales. Negro inventor James Marshall patents a possible precursor to the helicopter. The Crisis publishes controversial opinions on the questionable civil rights plank of President Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party. Realizing the impact The Crisis has on molding opinion, the various political parties advertise in The Crisis not out of love as Du Bois notes but because, “they need the publicity which alone this magazine could give...” The Crisis average monthly net-paid circulation is reported to be 22,000. The year-end financial statement reflects total sales of $17,374.51 with a balance of $242.48 after deducting expenses for the period November 1910 - November 1912.
A Crisis editorial insists journalism argue to principle not personality cit- ing, “The Crisis believes in strong defense and vigorous uncompromising championship.” Amateur artists are used for cover art but Du Bois hires professional photographer George Scurlock for the anniversary issue cover. The Crisis celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation throughout the year. The March issue completely sells out at 23,250 copies and The Crisis boasts a circulation twice that of any other Negro publication – weekly or monthly. Augustus Granville Dill joins The Crisis as business manager and William English Walling pens, “A Mini- mum Program of Negro Advancement.” Harriet Tubman’s death at age is 100 years is announced. President Woodrow Wilson’s administration announces plans to segregate federal workers by race, establishing sepa- rate work places, rest rooms and lunch rooms for blacks and whites. The Crisis covers the NAACP plan for a National Race Commission presented to President Wilson. Stories include the NAACP launching a full-scale battle against spreading discrimination as lynching continues. There is a story on the Excelsior Library of Guthrie, OK founded by a Negro woman that reports 8,000 visitors per year. Other news stories include Negroes making major gains in real estate acquisition across the nation; six percent of all farms in U.S. owned by people of color; and Negro Robert Parker inventing an automatic woodcutting drill.
The Crisis moves with the NAACP to the Educational Building at 70 Fifth Avenue at the corner of 13th Street. The Crisis publishes an editorial that concludes with, “Join the NAACP or be strangled to a slow and awful death by growing prejudice.” W.E.B. Du Bois writes that The Crisis is to entertain and inform its readers for the, “sole object of arousing their fighting blood.” While World War I begins in Europe, The Crisis covers the NAACP official launch of a campaign protesting segregation within the federal government and issues an, “Open Letter to Woodrow Wilson.” NAACP news includes: Oswald Garrison Villard steps down as NAACP chair; Archibald Grimke is elected president of the NAACP Washington Chapter; and Joel E. Spingarn institutes the Spingarn Awards to be given annually to a Negro American for noble, distinguished achievement. Biologist-embryologist Ernest Just is the first recipient. The NAACP lob- bies for commissioning of Negroes as officers. The Crisis reports: attacks on Negroes’ property rights increase across the nation; G.A. Morgan’s protective gas hood wins an award from the International Association of Fire Chiefs; and Memphis has the largest Negro population in the western world. The Law School at Shaw University closes due to lack of funds. Negroes are employed in 11% of all federal jobs in Washington, D.C. due to the institution of competitive exams. In Harlem, new buildings for a Ma- sonic Temple and the Music School Settlement for Colored People open. The National Association of Colored Women boasts 45,000 members from 28 states. The Crisis reports some 51 Negroes are known to have been lynched in 1914. Under the heading, “The Lynching Industry,” The Crisis lists by name, month and state, all lynching victims each issue.
The November issue boasts 35,000 copies at 52 pages costing $2,000 to produce. W.E.B. Du Bois writes that he has made himself personally responsible for every single debt incurred by The Crisis, noting it costs ten dollars an hour to run the magazine - about $23,000 per year. Furniture and equipment are valued at $2000. Du Bois advocates for black power – “the right to vote and rule over citizens, black and white” in, “Immediate Program of the American Negro.” He also issues, “The Oath of the Negro Voter.” The Crisis spotlights the NAACP nationwide campaign in opposi- tion to D.W. Griffith’s controversial film, “Birth of a Nation.” Booker T. Washington’s death is announced. A Negro man, for first time, receives license to operate a, “moving picture machine” in Savannah, GA. The Crisis reports: Census increases in Negro homeownership, school atten- dance and church membership; and decrease in illiteracy and mortality rates among Negroes. The NAACP calls for a Haiti commission of whites and blacks appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to establish peace in that nation. Chicago-based Ida B. Wells-Barnett is recognized as one of the best-known women in America. The Crisis average monthly net-paid circulation is reported to be 32,156. Approximately 56 Negroes are known to have been lynched in 1915. The August issue cover art by cartoonist Robert Minor brings attention to Jews as lynching victims as well as blacks.
The Crisis becomes a self-supporting, debt free business enterprise. Warren Marr, II (editor from 1974 -1980) is born in Pittsburgh, PA. on July 31st. The Crisis announces that James Weldon Johnson is appointed NAACP field secretary and branch organizer and Dr. Du Bois has surgery for kidney stones. The magazine promotes the NAACP launch of an Anti- Lynching Fund to successfully raise $10,000. The Crisis covers the U.S. skirmishes along the Mexican border that lead to an ambush of Negroes in the Tenth Calvary at Carrizal. There are stories on Negro composers H.T. Burleigh and Coleridge-Taylor and singer Marian Anderson who is in high school. The Crisis announces there are 51 colored banks in the U.S. Historian Carter G. Woodson begins the Journal of Negro History and ad- vertises in The Crisis. There are stories on the NAACP investigation of the lynching of Anthony Crawford, a colored farmer and owner of 427 acres of land in Abbeville, SC. The Crisis average monthly net-paid circulation is reported to be 37,625. Approximately 51 Negroes are known to have been lynched in 1916. The Crisis increases its coverage of the lynchings with more photos, one in which five bodies are hung from a tree in Lee County, GA.
The Crisis developes a program for economic forward movement for the Negro with the first duty - to earn a living. Chester A. Higgins Sr. (editor from 1981 -1983) is born May 1st. During the last three months of the year, The Crisis circulation averages over 44,000. As America enters World War I, The Crisis announces approximately 370,000 Negroes have joined the military and more than half served in the French war zone. The NAACP urges Negroes to enlist. The Crisis covers racial antagonism toward Negroes working in war industries leads to a race riot in East St. Louis, Illinois. Arthur Spingarn’s recommendation that an all-Negro officers training school be opened results in the Colored Officer’s Training Camp in Des Moines, IA. The Crisis reports the NAACP wins the battle to enable Negroes to be commissioned mili- tary officers; six hundred officers are commissioned, 700,000 men regis- ter for the draft, and a riot breaks out in Houston, TX with Negro soldiers of the Twenty-Fourth U.S. Infantry. Martha Gruening and Dr. Du Bois are sent as special investigators of the East St. Louis massacre and deliver a 20-page report in The Crisis. The NAACP, “silent parade” of 10,000 New Yorkers down New York City’s Fifth Avenue to protest the mass mur- ders, and anti-black riots in East St. Louis and other parts of the nation is featured in The Crisis. The Supreme Court concedes that states cannot segregate Negroes into residential districts and neighborhoods. Stories include: the NAACP urging President Woodrow Wilson to speak out against lynching; Georgia Robinson of Los Angeles, becoming the first Ne- gro policewoman in the U.S.; and the celebration of Frederick Douglass’ 100th anniversary birthday. The Crisis calls for readers to submit essays on, “The Best Summer I Ever Spent.” The Crisis reports 250,000 Negroes migrated north from the south in a six month period. The summer resort for and owned by colored folk, Idlewild, is highlighted. A supplement to the July issue is included, “Memphis,” that details the alleged murder of a little girl by Negro Ell Persons. James Weldon Johnson’s statement on racism poem, “To America,” is published. There are 36 Negroes known to have been lynched in 1917.
Walter White gives a five page account that includes interviews of whites regarding, “The Burning of Jim Ilpherron” in the May issue. The Crisis publishes President Woodrow Wilson statement against lynching. It is the ending of World War I and the NAACP has 165 branches and 43,994 members. The Crisis covers race riots in Chester and Philadelphia, PA and other areas. President Wilson commutes the death sentences of six other areas. President Wilson commutes the death sentences of six Negro soldiers but permits the execution of 19 members of the 24th Infantry who were found guilty in the Houston, TX race riot. The NAACP petitions the president to commute the sentences of all the men. The Crisis reports on the migration of Negroes to industrial centers of the north. Editor W.E.B. Du Bois announces leaving for France on a mission to represent the NAACP and The Crisis at the post-war peace conference; collect material for an NAACP history of Negro Americans in the war; and summon a Pan African Congress as a representative of the NAACP. The July editorial, “Close Ranks,” is the subject of much comment as Du Bois declares, “first your country, then your rights.” The Christmas issue sells out and there is a second printing. Editor Du Bois seeks from his readers, pictures of children for the children’s number, “interesting babies...we do not want merely pretty babies or babies all dressed up.” The NAACP issues a report on the burning at Dyersburg where Lation Scott is burned at the stake for an all edged assault on a white woman. There is a W.E.B. Du Bois 50th birthday testimonial asking each reader to purchase at least one new subscription and the NAACP makes an appeal in the pages of The Crisis for 50,000 members by May 1. The Easter issue prints at 100,000 copies. T.J. Calloway, travelling representative for The Crisis, raises the circulation from 45,000 in November 1917 to 73,000 in April 1918. Thomas Hopkins is found to be fraudulently taking subscriptions for The Crisis. The November issue is enlarged to 64 pages. Sections remain the same but a children’s section is added and a historic figure is to be highlighted each month. The price increases to $1.50 or 15 cents per issue. Some 60 African Americans are known to have been lynched in 1918.
Circulation reaches 100,000 with this issue causing the postal service to delay mailing the magazine. Jessie Redmond Fauset joins The Crisis as literary editor. W.E.B. Du Bois publishes an official document, “Return- ing Soldier,” reporting the negative attitudes of American Army officials toward black men in France in WWI. The Crisis reports on 26 race riots in the U.S. between April and October. It is called a Red Summer and violent outbreaks take place in Chicago; Charleston, SC; Gregg and Longview County, TX; and Elaine and Phillips County, AL. The Crisis reports postwar tensions are high and NAACP Field Secretary Walter White, who is of mixed heritage, goes undercover for the magazine to investigate the Elaine, OK race riot and barely escapes with his life. The Crisis covers the NAACP report, “Thirty Years of Lynching” documenting the atrocities from 1889 -1918. The NAACP steps up its anti-lynching crusade by hold- ing a conference at Carnegie Hall in New York where 119 attend. In his, “Let Us Reason Together,” W.E.B Du Bois upholds black resistance. Du Bois organizes the first Pan African Congress declaring in The Crisis: “The natives of Africa must have the right to participate in the government as fast as their development permits.” He publishes his piece previously published in the Atlantic Monthly, “The Future of Africa.” Du Bois pens, “Returning Soldier.” There are 76 Negroes known to have been lynched in 1919.
The Crisis announces that James Weldon Johnson becomes secretary of the NAACP and the first Negro to head the organization. Johnson, who wrote, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” is a renowned attorney, educator, poli- tician, diplomat, journalist, author, songwriter and anthropologist. The Crisis magazine circulation reaches 100,000. Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association’s (UNIA) national convention in Harlem is covered. While the 19th Amendment gives women the right to vote, the NAACP launches an expanded voter education campaign to bring Negroes into the political process. The Crisis covers the Ku Klux Klan’s publication, “The Searchlight,” that targets the NAACP as its arch enemy. A Crisis article from James Weldon Johnson, after investigating conditions in Haiti for the NAACP, counters the “justifications” for U.S. occupation and supports Haitian sovereignty. January through December 1921, Du Bois and and Augustus Granville Dill publish The Brownie’s Book, a youth counterpart to The Crisis and a magazine for African American children ages six to sixteen. The Brownies Book aims, “to be a thing of Joy and Beauty, dealing in Happiness, Laughter and Emulation.” Novelist Jessie Redmon Fauset serves as its associate editor. W.E.B. Du Bois is awarded the NAACP Spingarn medal. Some 53 Negroes are known to have been lynched in 1920.
Langston Hughes is first published in The Crisis, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” W.E.B. Du Bois writes a major Crisis story denouncing Marcus Garvey’s African nationalist UNIA movement. In the story “The Eruption of Tulsa,” The Crisis investigates the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. Other articles include: “The Emancipator of Brazil” by Jessie Fauset; colored citizens of Springfield, MA protesting the press identifying race in a crime; a review of the Inter-Racial Conditions in Chicago study; and the second Pan- African Congress. There are stories on; commencement day at Howard University; a ranking of students at Negro colleges; a pictorial on Negro hotels; and the exposure of the Ku Klux Klan’s push against the anti- lynching bill. The NAACP brings the case of condemned victims of the Arkansas riots to the Supreme Court. The Crisis covers a petition present- ed to President Warren Harding signed by 50,000 asking for clemency for the soldiers in the Houston riot. There is an article on the NAACP retaining E.L. Bernays, considered the founder of modern publicity, to promote the organization in major news organizations and a feature article on Broad- way stars Sissle and Blake’s, “Shuffle Along” musical as a major fundraiser for NAACP. Over 600,000 copies of The Crisis are sold this year.
The Crisis reports on the federal anti-lynching bill killed by a filibuster
in the U.S. Senate. The NAACP places anti-lynching ads in major news- papers. President Harding appoints Solomon P. Hood as U.S. minister to Liberia. Articles feature: Negroes in the banking industry; a look at Negroes in higher education from 1921-1922; and a lynching map of the U.S. In the arts, The Crisis publishes poems: “The Negro” by Langston Hughes; “Song of the Son” by Jean Toomer; and “Dad,” a poem by Bronx high school senior Countee Cullen, the winner of the Douglas Fairbanks oratorical contest. There are stories on Negroes in the French West Indies; the French Colonial Exposition in Marseilles; and Gandhi in India. The Crisis announces that educator Mary Talbert, NAACP founder and a vice president, is the first Negro woman to receive Spingarn Medal. In the November issue, The Crisis “wishes by picture and drawing, by fiction essays, poetry, by organization of a Negro Institute of Literature & Art, to increase, nourish and encourage the beautiful among Negroes...” begin- ning with a Christmas cover by Henry O. Tanner. Some 51 Negroes are known to have been lynched in 1922.
The Crisis reports that 558 delegates attending the NAACP annual confer- ence journey to Leavenworth Federal prison to visit 54 members of the 24th infantry who were jailed following the Houston riots in 1917. Dr. Robert R. Moton, president of Tuskegee Institute, successfully challenges the Harding administration on integrating the medical staff of the newly built Tuskegee Veteran Hospital. The Crisis profiles Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. and Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church. President Harding an- nounces in The Crisis support of the Sterling Bill for a Federal Department of Education with a Secretary Cabinet position. Other articles include: col- ored college graduates and students; the annual children’s issue with 150 photos of Negro youngsters; interment of West Point graduate Colonel Charles Young at Arlington National Cemetery. Langston Hughes writes, “Ships, Sea and Africa: Random Impressions of a Sailor on His First Trip Down the West Coast of the Motherland” and pens the poem “The Little Frightened Child.” From the international perspective, there are stories on Negroes in the French West Indies; the French Colonial Exposition in Marseilles; Isaac Beton, secretary of the Pan-African Association’s third Pan African Congress in Lisbon; origin of Negro slavery in Brazil; and “Pan Africa: A Call for Business Methods.” Claude McKay writes on “Soviet Russia and the Negro.” “A Christmas Happening” is written by Mary White Ovington. The art of 16-year-old artist Elmer Smith Campbell debuts in the March issue. President Warren Harding dies and George Washing- ton Carver is awarded the Spingarn Medal. Henry Lee Moon graduates Howard University.
The Crisis reports that the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters is orga- nized and A. Phillip Randolph is chosen president. Walter White resumes his field investigations concentrating on lynchings and mob violence and submits stories to The Crisis. The NAACP helps to create the Interracial Labor Commission to bring more blacks into the labor movement. In a meeting in New York of liberal periodicals, The Nation, New Republic and World Tomorrow, The Crisis alone is self-supporting. The Crisis publishes the text introducing the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill in the House. The Crisis states that Marcus Garvey says the NAACP is responsible for the collapse of the Black Star Line and his incarceration. Articles on the arts examine the Negro in dramatic art; “To Encourage Negro Art;” and “The Younger Literary Movement” written by W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke. There are new poems “Brothers” and “Afraid” by Langston Hughes and “Mother Mary of Christ” by Countee Cullen. There is coverage of Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing purchasing major property in Indianapolis and company president A’lelia Walker creating an award for excellence in work for colored people through the NAACP. Sociologist E. Franklin Fra- zier examines, “The Negro and Non- Resistance.” There is a cover story on, “Year in Higher Education,” and a feature on the American Tennis Association’s Negroes in tennis. W.E.B. Du Bois writes on “The Black Man and the Wounded World.” The third Pan African Congress is covered. And Du Bois publishes selections that are personal and emotional from his journal chronicling his trip to Africa. Amy Spingarn, wife of Joel, estab- lishes a cash literary contest in The Crisis. Some 17 African Americans are known to have been lynched in 1924.
The Crisis includes a section for young people, “The Little Page,” writ-
ten by Effie Lee Newsome. In the May issue, Editor Du Bois asks in his “Opinion” column, “How long may a Crisis last? One might say sensing between our name and age some contradiction.” In 1910, Du Bois stated, The Crisis would be a newspaper. Now, 15 years later, he writes, “there is no longer need of a monthly newspaper for colored folk...our news therefore has transformed itself into a sort of permanent record of a few matters of widespread importance.” Special numbers for college, high school and children are featured. Du Bois offers his new editorial policy: “We shall stress Beauty –...especially the beauty of the Negro life and character... keeping all the while a standard of merit and never stoop- ing to cheap flattery and misspent kindness.” The Crisis pays tribute to Augustus Dill who has made the magazine self-supporting even paying off the debt of The Brownies Book from his personal money in the amount of $8,931.51. The Crisis appeals for current subscribers to purchase a new subscription for someone, even “white folk who hate or hurt us because of ignorance.” Pictures of inside the NAACP/Crisis offices at 69 Fifth Avenue in New York are featured and the NAACP reports a banner year in branch finances and activities. The NAACP operates on $112,000 a year of which three quarters comes from the Negro. Of this money, The Crisis receives $48,500 in subscription and advertising revenue of which 40% is for 11 salaries and 60% is for paper, printing, mailing and office expenses. The NAACP spells out its five goals in The Crisis: complete abolition of lynching and mob law; political freedom; industrial democracy; better education; and ending segregation. The Crisis announces the death of NAACP founder and treasurer John Milholland, a man of “joyful enthusi- asm and scathing anger” who was responsible for W.E.B. Du Bois coming to the NAACP. Oswald Garrison Villard pens a piece on, “John Brown the Crusader,” and the colored owned summer resort, Barrett Beach, NJ is highlighted. In, “The Catholic Church and the Negroes,” Du Bois exchang- es correspondence with St. Joseph’s Mission which accuses him of being hostile to Catholics. Du Bois responds that the Catholic church stands for color separation and discrimination citing, “The Crisis is no enemy to Catholicism...it is the greater shame that “nigger” haters clothed in its Episcopal robes should do to black Americans in exclusion, separation and exclusion from opportunity all that the Ku Klux Klan ever asked.” A sultry photo of a, “Moorish Maid” exposing part of her nipple graces the May cover.
James Ivy (editor from 1950 – 1966) serves as literary editor of the Mes- senger until 1928. The Crisis uncovers that the health of the Negro is 30 years behind that of the white population. The Crisis secures $5,000 in funding from The Garland Fund to study the Negro common school education in the south and reports as of October 1st, 3,463 school houses have been built at a cost of $14,970,171. A review of the Rosenwald Fund’s aid in building Negro rural school houses is highlighted. Arna Bontemps’ poem, “Nocturne at Bethesda,” wins 1st prize in The Crisis contest. Walter White’s investigation on the lynching of the Lowman family, “The Shambles of South Carolina,” gives an account of mob murder against the Negro. The documents he obtains are turned over to New York World and are the basis for an exposé on the lynching situation in South Carolina. Du Bois prints his “Criteria for Negro Art” that was delivered to the 1926 Conference of the NAACP in Chicago. He argues for art that works on behalf of racial advancement, deploying “Truth” to promote “universal understanding” and “Goodness” to engender “sympathy and human interest.” The first Aaron Douglas illustration, “Invincible Music: The Spirit of Africa” is included in The Crisis.
Senator William Borah writes an exclusive for The Crisis, “Negro Suf- frage.” Countee Cullen and Loren Miller are new artists and winners of The Crisis contest; Parisian artist Albert Smith’s, “Mob Rule,” receives honorable mention. Aaron Douglas wins the 1926 contest for his drawing and joins The Crisis staff. The Crisis quotes from the Tampa, FL Tribune an editorial that serves as a historic document to illustrate southern lynch- ing, “The Bloody Remains,” in which an innocent Negro is murdered and the failure to bring the mob responsible to the bar of justice. The Crisis re- veals the findings of an International Student Conference that concludes biologically there are differences in the races yet none of these factors proves that the capacity for culture or intelligence would inhere in one race more than another. The Crisis uncovers that every Negro college has a football team and shares team pictures. Negro colleges and universi- ties continue to be major advertisers. The NAACP announces it seeks to increase the number of branches from 400 to 1,000. James Bond writes on, “The Education of the Bond Family” and Horace Mann Bond writes about exceptional children. The Crisis profiles the most talked about person in Paris, Negro performer Josephine Baker who is admired for her “joyous personality, dusky beauty and wild grace of her dancing.” Dr. Du Bois serves as chair of the fourth meeting of the Pan African Congress in New York that exhibits 52 maps and charts on the condition of peoples of African descent.
Augustus G. Dill, who left his teaching position at Atlanta University to join The Crisis 15 years ago, resigns as business manager. Effie Lee New- some keeps the column, “The Little Page” vibrant with poems and other material of interest to children. As the oldest journal of independent opinion among Negroes, The Crisis promises to provide its readers with accurate information on the presidential candidates. W.E.B. Du Bois pens a piece on his family history in, “The House of the Black Burghardts.” In “So the Girl Marries,” Du Bois writes about the marriage of his daughter Yolande, who he refers to as “the girl” and her fiancé as “the boy.” The Crisis publishes nine stanzas of Klan literature that reads, “We will wade through blood up to our chin to keep the negro down.” Horace Mann Bond presents the study of the Negro Common School conducted by The Crisis and in another education report, Hampton Institute is listed as having the largest endowment at $8,700,000 among the Negro schools. Other features include: housing in Harlem; democracy in America; and the American uplift in Haiti. Du Bois is blacklisted by the Daughters of the American Revolution. James Weldon Johnson protests the misspelling of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s middle name and advocates for the use of the term “Aframerican” when referring to Negroes. The Crisis reports on the NAACP’s investigation of the Mississippi flood district conditions and the discrimination in flood relief efforts. The Crisis also reports that Negroes pay more for life insurance and receive less than any other group.
W.E.B. Du Bois runs a piece, “Dark Lover,” about a forbidden subject, interracial marriage. Roy Wilkins (editor from 1934 -1949) marries social worker, Aminda Badeau. Du Bois spotlights artist Elizabeth Prophet who has sacrificed her health and wealth to make black art for a black audience. The Crisis highlights Walter White’s book, Rope and Faggot, that examines the lyncher’s psyche as stunted mental growth passed down through generations and statistics that show the horror of lynching including those burned alive and burned after death.
James Ivy serves as The Crisis book review editor until 1942. W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Postscript” states that modern advertising is a great enterprise. The Great Depression brings an increase in lynchings thus strengthening Du Bois’ belief in the economic root of violence. The Crisis wages a successful campaign for mainstream media to capitalize the letter “N” in Negro. Charles S. Johnson is commissioned to inquire about slavery in Liberia. The Crisis investigates race intermingling; Haitian upheaval; and a series of shootings and murders of women workers in Nigeria. Julius Ros- enwald Fund donates millions to Negro education, libraries, dormitories, hospitals and more. There is a rapid increase in NAACP affiliate chapters. The number of Jim Crow travel stories rise and The Crisis hotel advertising picks up. The Crisis promotes business cooperatives and Negro Business League’s outreach increases. Du Bois is named honorary president of the Society for Descendants of Early New England Negroes. Articles include artist Ronald Joseph’s exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The NAACP’s “Youthport” publication launches. The Senate defeats racist Judge J. Parker’s bid for Associate Justice Supreme Court nomination bid -- called the “greatest political victory for Negro America since Civil War.” The Crisis reviews James Weldon Johnson’s “Black Manhattan;” Charles S. Johnson’s “Negro in American Civilization;” and Langston Hughes’ first novel “Not Without Laughter.” NAACP endorses J. Edgar Hoover’s call for a Commission on Haiti and requests Negro representation on the com- mittee.
The Crisis announces Roy Wilkins, age 30, joining the NAACP as assistant secretary under Walter White. There is extensive coverage of Scottsboro Boys case and NAACP’s role in the case. The 20th anniversary Crisis maga- zine education series includes articles by the presidents of Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, and others. The Crisis is deemed “objectionable” by the Washington, D.C. Board of Education due to its “militant propaganda.” According to the magazine, President Roosevelt’s New Deal does not impact Negroes. Carter G. Woodson’s, “The MisEducation of the Negro” runs in The Crisis. West Point’s Lt. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. is featured in a cover story. Articles include nationwide legal campaigns against lynching, Jim Crow and discrimination in funding for public schools. The NAACP seeks civil rights of Negroes to medical services in public hospitals in North. There are 18,000 Negroes enrolled in college and 1,980 receive bachelor’s degrees. Since 1920, there were 13 Negro graduates of Washington, D.C.’s Dunbar High School that received Phi Beta Kappa keys including poet Sterling Brown.
The Crisis reports on the NAACP’s protests to President Hoover on the inhumane conditions under which Negroes had to work on the Missis- sippi Flood Control Project. The Friends Inter-Racial Committee reports on black social worker Max Yergen as an “uplifter of South Africa.” The Committee on Race Relations of the two Phladelphia Yearly Meetings gives a dinner in honor of the 21st birthday of The Crisis. Articles include a Harvard professor saying intelligence tests are invalid; a frank analysis of the relationship between the American Negro; and the West Indian and Howard University’s art project and collections are deemed excel- lent. There are articles by Negro Democrats asking Negroes to vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt. An accord is signed between the U.S. and Haiti providing for the withdrawal of American troops by October 1, 1934 and for the modification of U.S. control of Haitian finances. The Crisis reports on the attempts of the Firestone Company to dominate Liberia. During the Depression, The Crisis circulation dips to 10,000.
Until 1933, The Crisis is published by the NAACP. The February issue is pub- lished under the imprimatur of Crisis Publishing Company, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the NAACP. George Streator joins The Crisis as acting business manager. The Brooklyn NAACP Branch continues to have the highest number of subscriptions. The Crisis covers Franklin D. Roosevelt being sworn in as president. The NAACP steps up its fight to have blacks appointed to committees and boards newly created by the National Re- covery Act. There is a Crisis cover story on “Will the Negro Rely on Force: New Racial Philosophy.” Other stories include: “The Church and Black Folk;” “The Health of Black Folk;” “Karl Marx and the Negro;” and “Dr. Virginia Alexander: Can a Colored Woman be a Physician?” Roy Wilkins pens a story on, “Mississippi Slavery in 1933.” There are new poems by Langston Hughes entitled, “Black Workers” and “I am Free, Black and 21: How Shall I Earn a Living?” W.E.B. Du Bois writes on, “Marxism and the Negro Problem.” The Crisis reports that 16 Negroes are known to have been lynched in 1933. Articles on the arts include actress Adelaide Hall’s legal battles moving into the white neighborhood of Larchmont; segregated National Theater in Washington has Negro production of “Green Pastures;” and history and song in the Virgin Islands. The Crisis has a cover story on the 130th anniversary of the death of Haiti’s Toussaint L’Ouverture. Warren Marr II joins the staff the St. Louis Argus as a linotype operator.
W.E.B. Du Bois resigns from the NAACP after a series of editorials in which he advocates, “fighting segregation with segregation.” The
NAACP accepts his resignation, “with deep regret.” Du Bois returns to Atlanta University. Circulation of The Crisis drops to an average of 10,500 monthly. Roy Wilkins, who started working for the NAACP at $75 per month, assumes the position as editor. During his tenure, Wilkins devotes more pages to NAACP branch news in an effort to boost morale of the organization. The Crisis spotlights Wilkins’ rare interview with Louisiana’s Senator Huey P. Long, the first ever by a Negro reporter for a Negro publication. Editorials read in this “critical time,” government’s New Deal does very little for Negro. The NAACP continues to push for passage of the Costigan-Wagner federal anti-lynching bill through Congress. Romare Bearden’s political cartoons are reproduced in The Crisis. The Crisis covers the NAACP support for Negro workers throughout U.S., most notably those who are excluded from working in Boulder Dam City, and demands accountability from the NRA, AAA and PWA. Singer-actress Ethel Waters graces the cover of The Crisis. Writer-activist James A. Jackson reports, “U.S. Big Business Wants Negro Dollars.” Other articles include: “The Jew and the Negro: A Comparative Study in Race Prejudice;” Negro college radicals; Negro scholarship in earning doctorate degrees; the Scottsboro trial; the NAACP and the Negro press and the Birmingham NAACP focus on complaints against the Home Loan Corporation. Margret Sanger examines birth control. Langston Hughes’, “Where Can I Get Material on the Negro?” is a feature on Harlem’s 135th Street public library with a collection developed by Arthur Schomburg and others. The Crisis hails the withdrawal of the last contingent of U. S. troops from Haiti. Ethiopian Em- peror Haile Selassie of Abyssinia is profiled and stories cover the volatile relationship between Italy and Ethiopia. “The Case of Liberia” is written by President Edwin Barclay.
The Crisis publishes article by attorney Charles Hamilton Houston on “Cracking Closed University Doors” about tax supported state universi- ties that deny Negroes admission. Representing NAACP attorneys Charles H. Houston and Thurgood Marshall win the case for the University of Maryland Law School to admit Donald Gaines Murray, a qualified Negro student. The NAACP hires Houston as its first full-time salaried Special Counsel and creates the NAACP legal department under his supervision. Houston writes on the education inequities at tax supported state universities and children’s handicaps are addressed. Attention focuses on the South as lynchings and the Scottsboro case continue to gain atten- tion as decisions are reversed. The NAACP launches a nationwide drive to enlist public support of the Costigan-Wagner Anti-lynching Bill. A Senate filibuster kills the bill. Stories include the NAACP’s intensive program of universal concern for economic, legal and educational problems and an art exhibit against lynching organized by the NAACP in Manhattan is attended by over 3,000 people. The Crisis covers the race riots in Harlem and the NAACP invites 100 organizations to participate in a conference
on conditions in Harlem. Ella Baker and Marvel Cooke go undercover to expose the, “Bronx Slave Market” where domestic workers line up for jobs. Eleanor Roosevelt is introduced by the Manhattan NAACP branch president at the Metropolitan AME Church in Harlem where author Pearl S. Buck speaks at the opening. Editor Roy Wilkins, scores a journalistic feat with an interview with Senator Huey “Kingfish” Long, “Dictator of the State of Louisiana,” who calls negroes “niggers” and “nigras”– the first for a Negro publication. The George Crawford case is covered, and Edward J. Arbor’s, “Upon This Rock” that suggests that Negro militancy in the South is held firmly in check by fundamentalists arouses much discussion. The Crisis joins other publications in opposition to American athletes participating in Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 based on dis- crimination and poor sportsmanship. There is an article on Jesse Owens breaking five world records at the Olympics. Mary McLeod Bethune, 21st Spingarn medalist, as well as Juanita Jackson, and Joe Louis - the “Brown Bomber” grace the covers of The Crisis. The Crisis embarks on a silver anniversary appeal to raise money to continue the valiant fight as the NAACP’s mouthpiece.
The Crisis applauds Jessie Owens winning four gold medals at the Olympics held in Nazi Germany with the cover story caption, “Jesse Owens Too Fast for Hitler.” Articles include the NAACP suit against the federal government to make them pay Negro teachers equal salaries as whites. Sen. Frederick Van Nuys of Indiana urges the 74th Congress to investigate 14 lynchings. The NAACP’s diligence helps to reverse the conviction of three Negro sharecroppers, Ed Brown, Henry Ellington and Arthur Shields who appeared on the April 1935 cover. A Sharecroppers Union is formed. A caption in the cover photo of the Scottsboro Boys notes the fifth an- niversary of their arrest in Alabama. Charles H. Houston reports on the high cost of justice for Negroes. The National Negro Conference meets in Chicago to discuss improving conditions of the race. The Crisis hails West Point senior Benjamin O. Davis Jr. as America’s “top-ranked” Negro student in the cover story.
The Crisis once again spotlights Jesse Owens on the cover in an effort to keep the Olympic Games free of race prejudice. NAACP lawyers are victorious in fights against discrimination arguing successfully for three wrongly accused and tortured sharecroppers. The NAACP continues efforts to get the Costigan-Wagner federal anti-lynching bill passed and call for new laws against lynching. NAACP announces campaign to raise funds. The Crisis features Juanita Jackson’s visit with the Scottsboro Boy in Jefferson County jail. In political commentary, The Crisis examines the New Deal, continuation of plantation of slavery in the South, and a national movement to establish a 49th state for Negroes. W.E.B. Du Bois publishes, “Black Reconstruction.” The Crisis celebrates Joe Louis becom- ing the boxing heavyweight champion of the world defeating Jim Brad- dock for the title. Other stories include a major victory scored when the U.S. House approves the Gavagan Anti-Lynching Bill and William H. Hastie being confirmed as judge of the U.S. District Court in the Virgin Islands thereby becoming the first African American to serve as a federal judge in the history of the United States. Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s Negro poet, is on the cover in tribute to the anniversary of his death. The Crisis examines, “Hitler and Mussolini in Africa.”Artist Romare Bearden’s il- lustration highlights the conflict between Abyssinia and Italy. NAACP Vice President Arthur Spingarn, a collector of books by black authors, begins his annual annotated listing of books published by Negro authors in The Crisis. Four of the Scottsboro youth who were set free grace the cover of the September issue. George Schuyler’s, “Do We Really Want Equality,” is one of the most widely discussed and reprinted articles in the past two years. Walter White receives the Spingarn Medal.
The Crisis cover story features five of the Scottsboro Boys set free with their lawyer. Other stories include: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters win a victory in their 12-year fight for union recognition; the National Conference on Problems of the Negro convenes with Mary McLeod Bethune presiding and Eleanor Roosevelt participating; and nationwide demonstrations against lynching. The Crisis examines the inner workings of The Afro American Newspaper, the eastern seaboard’s largest weekly and follows the NAACP’s crusade for full citizenship for colored people through the sale of buttons commemorating liberty. A Crisis editorial underscores the value of fraternal societies in, “Race Progress.” There are articles on Negro business ownership increasing and Hollywood opening up to presenting Negro films including “Dark Manhattan.” The Crisis reports on the prevalence of forced-labor camps and urban housing challenges throughout the nation and Hubert Delaney becoming New York City’s first Negro Tax Commissioner. Cover stories include Crystal Bird Fauset becoming the nation’s first Negro woman legislator when she is elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The Crisis looks at Hitler demanding the return of its former German colonies in Africa as the Italian -Ethiopian War heats up.
The Crisis cover spotlights the sculpture, “Life Ev’ry Voice and Sing” created by artist Augusta Savage and showcased at the 1939 World’s Fair. Other covers include Judge Jane Bolin, the nation’s first Negro woman judge. The Crisis investigates the predicament of 10 million evicted white and Negro sharecropper families throughout south. Stories include: sev- en lynchings of 1938; NAACP wins the case for law student Lloyd Gaines to enter the University of Missouri and the media responses to the case; and a tribute to Frederick Douglass on the 122nd of the anniversary of the abolitionist’s birth. Dr. Charles S. Johnson, considered the nation’s lead- ing Negro sociologist, covers the Southern Conference on Human Welfare in Birmingham, AL that is attended by Eleanor Roosevelt. The First Lady is also featured in The Crisis attending the opening of the Harlem Commu- nity Art Center. The Crisis urges the Negro Theatre to portray “the race” as it should appear on stage. Over 5,000 people attend the NAACP’s 30th birthday ball at the 369th Armory in Harlem with Duke Ellington hosting and appearances by Cab Calloway, Fredi Washington, Alberta Hunter and W.C. Handy. Richmond Barthe’s sculpture, “The Mother” is featured. The Crisis investigates India’s Mohandas Gandhi demanding freedom from British rule and issues a report on the treatment of Negroes in the army. The Crisis mourns the death of Joel Elias Spingarn, NAACP’s second president.
The Crisis celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclama- tion. There are articles on the American Negro Exposition at the Chicago Coliseum exhibit, which showcases Negro contributions to America and the world. The Crisis has cover stories on the first Negro Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniels; premier dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham; jazz great Erskine Hawkins; and the famous fighting 369th sol- diers. Articles feature NAACP national secretary Walter White’s speaking tour on the Pacific Coast; Thurgood Marshall and other NAACP lawyers who won the Maryland Teacher’s salary case; “Jim Crow in the Army Camps;” and the White House conference on children which has the participation of Negroes for the first time. Historian J.A. Rogers writes a three-part series on the suppression of Negro History and a three-part series on Jewish leaders who fought for democracy during the year. The NAACP wins the Supreme Court case involving the Hansberry family bat- tling restrictions imposed on Chicago Negroes from purchasing or living in properties in certain areas. Negro colleges graduate 3,913 students. Carl Van Vechten pens a story for The Crisis on plans for a monument honoring James Weldon Johnson. W.E.B. Du Bois serves as editor of the Phylon until 1944.
The Crisis looks at Nazi Germany’s effect on the British with a cover story featuring a Negro sergeant gunner in the Royal Air Force entitled, “Hitler Makes British Drop Color Bar.” The Crisis republishes The Nation maga- zine story on, “Hitler’s Plan for Negroes.” There is a four-page photo- essay on Negroes in the U.S. military. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the publication of Langston Hughes,’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” The Crisis publishes his, “The Need for Heroes.” John Henrik Clarke’s story, “Determination,” is published. Other articles include the NAACP and picketers taking action against the Safeway grocery store for hiring discrimination; a cover on choreographer Katherine Dunham’s work with, “Cabin in the Sky;” and an examination of Elie Lescot’s elec- tion as president of the Haiti Republic. Roy Wilkins represents The Crisis at a conference of editors in Washington, DC to fight segregation.
The Crisis publishes the NAACP’s statement on the President Roosevelt’s declaration of war. Still, The Crisis states that the NAACP would have a, “continued fight for civil liberties in America while the war goes on against dictatorship abroad.” Wartime articles include: the 99th Pursuit Squadron fighter pilots at Tuskegee Institute; Negro woman welders; and preparing Negro WACS. There is a special issue examining the Negro in the army with such topics as: health of soldiers; the air corps and Ne- groes; the cavalry and coast artillery; tank battalions; Negro and white of- ficers training at the same schools; Japanese Americans in concentration camps due to color and race; and accounts of Negro military being beaten and shot by southern civilians. Benjamin E. Mays, president of Morehouse College, writes on, “The Negro in the Present War.” The Crisis launches a series of photo essays of, “First Ladies of Colored America,” showcasing Mary McLeod Bethune, Daisy E. Lampkin, Justice Jane Bolin, and Mary Church Terrell. Starlet Dorothy Dandridge appears on The Crisis cover. The history of Sojourner Truth is profiled. Special issues focus on Negro life in Jacksonville, Miami, and West Palm Beach. The NAACP forges ahead with a push to abolish the poll tax and the crusade to end lynching and discrimination practices. The poetry of James Baldwin, “Black Girl” and “Shouting,” are published. The Negro insurance company Golden State Mutual is elevated to the status of old line company. Global articles include, “The Forgotten” in India; black man’s burden in South Africa; and race relations in the Soviet Union and Britain. Roy Wilkins pens his piece, “Now is the Time Not to be Silent,” stating that black men would continue to fight for equality. George S. Schuyler joins The Crisis staff as business manager. Circulation begins to rebound from the low of 20,000.
James Ivy joins the staff of The Crisis as editorial assistant to editor Roy Wilkins. The Crisis focuses on Negroes in the war effort. There is the edi- torial, “All Seamen are the Same” challenging the Navy for not commis- sioning Negro men and barring Negro women from the WAVES. Articles on Negro army wives; Negro farmers in wartime; and the Negro military engineers on the Alcan Highway to Alaska fill the issues. Other stories include: Negro Coast Guard gun crew sinks Nazi submarine; NAACP holds War Conference; a riot in Harlem is ignited when a Negro soldier in uniform is shot by a policeman; and Thurgood Marshall leads the NAACP team to aid three Negro soldiers in Louisiana accused of rape. Writer Chester Himes pens the tale, “Two Soldiers,” a short story fiction about a black and white soldier on the battlefield. The Crisis points out that the Colored Red Cross Club in London is strictly Jim Crow. Stateside, Ella Baker is promoted to director of NAACP branches; college co-eds farm for victory; Thurgood Marshall writes on, “The Gestapo in Detroit;” and Tennessee repeals the poll tax. Lena Horne graces the cover of The Crisis. Globally, The Crisis covers Indian immigration to America; the “British Indirect Rule in Asia and Africa;” “South Africa: A Case for the United Na- tions;” and “Belgian Congo Troops fight Nazis.” James Ivy maries Helen Marshall of Pittsburgh, PA and serves as managing editor of Common Sense.
W.E.B. Du Bois returns to the NAACP until 1948 as director of special research at which time he actively supports a candidate for president of the U.S. contrary to NAACP policy. Maybelle Ward, who later becomes editor, joins the NAACP staff as a file clerk. The Crisis covers the Supreme Court ruling that white primaries are unconstitutional, a case argued by Thurgood Marshall and William Hastie. The Crisis showcases Negroes in the military; there is a cover story featuring Negro navigators in training for bomber flights and an editorial on Negro officer pilots from the Tuskegee Air Base and Selfridge field in Michigan. Negro women in the military are saluted with Southern University’s War Program training WACs and soldiers. There is a cover photo of Miss Negro Victory Worker, a Negro woman welder. The NAACP lodges protest against five newsreel companies for omitting scenes of Negro troops from films prepared for general distribution. The Crisis shows the launch of the liberty ship SS James Weldon Johnson named after the late NAACP secretary. The Crisis focuses on the War Department’s conversion of famed Negro fighting regiments, 9th and 10th cavalry regiments, to labor battalions strikes Negro Americans hard. Wartime employment of non-white shipyard workers increases fifteen-fold since 1940. Stateside, The Crisis looks at the upcoming presidential election with the article, “Which candidate in November: Roosevelt or Governor Dewey?” Stories encompass Mamie Clark receiving her doctorate in psychology from Columbia University and
Republican pronouncements that positively affect Negroes in fair employ- ment are reported. The Crisis publishes the 33rd Annual Education issue on Negroes in college 1943-1944. The campaign to kill the poll tax created to give the vote to property-less freeman during the colonial era now used to keep Southern oligarchy in power and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Negroes cannot be barred from the Democratic Party in Texas are featured. Chester Himes pens a short story, “All God’s Chillun Got Pride.” E. Franklin Frazier writes on, “Race: An American Dilemma.”
The Crisis eulogizes President Franklin D. Roosevelt in, “First Citizen of the World,” and the NAACP hosts a special radio tribute in New York. The Crisis editorial states, “During the Roosevelt era in the White House, Ne- gro Americans made more progress toward their goal of full citizenship than under any other administration.” Wartime stories fill the issues this year: Negro soldiers in France and Italy; Negro combat troops in 827 tank destroyer battalion in Germany; the NAACP fighting to have a GI Assault Bill to protect Negro servicemen; and the first Negro women Navy Waves entering the Hospital Corps School at Bethesda’s National Naval Medi- cal Center grace the cover. An editorial on the Negro soldier betrayed through racial segregation; photo spreads of Negro WACS in England and Negro officer physicians in Europe; Negro soldiers comprising the major- ity in the Transportation Corps Port Battalions; Negroes in military as the largest non-branch contributors to the NAACP; U.S. Merchant Marines has complete racial integration; Negro soldiers witnessing the horror of Nazi Germany’s prison camps for civilians and military prisoners are included this year. The Crisis reports President Truman supports “good record on matters affecting Negro citizens.” Stateside articles include: Governor Thomas Dewey making New York the first state to penalize discrimination in employment on grounds of race and religion; historian Benjamin Quarles writing on a racial murder case in New Orleans; a photo of Lena Horne helping a United Negro College Fund drive in Hollywood; and the short story, “The Song Says ‘Keep on Smiling,’” penned by Ches- ter Himes. Globally, Walter White visits Saipan during his tour of Pacific military operations and the World Trade Union Conference in London has the first Negro delegates from Africa and West Indies. The war in Europe ends.
The Crisis circulation climbs to 59,950. The Crisis covers Jackie Robin- son appearing in a game with the Royals officially breaking the ban on Negro players. In a case led by the NAACP attorneys Oliver Hill, Spott- swood Robinson and Thurgood Marshall, the U.S. Supreme Court bans segregated facilities on buses and trains that cross state borders in the case of Morgan vs. Virginia. The Los Angeles Rams sign halfback Kenny Washington. The death of Harlem Renaissance writer Countee Cullen is spotlighted.
The Crisis has a cover story on Madame Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, sister of India’s Prime Minister Nehru and chairman of the India delegation to United Nations, about leading the assault on South Africa’s color line. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell drafts a bill abolishing segregation in the armed services. Clarence Mitchell writes on, “Our Stake in the Labor Fight” and W.E. B. Du Bois examines, “Three Centuries of Discrimina- tion.” There are articles on Negroes in Mississippi who passed voting exams to the amazement of registration officials; medical care and the plight of the Negro; American Negro in College 1946-1947; Negro-owned bank Broadway Federal Savings and Loan Association of Los Angeles; Northern Judge Jacob Panken looks at the south; and the all Negro town of Princeville, NC. In the arts, there is a profile on jazz pianist Art Tatum; Broadway shows with a theme of democracy like, “Call Me Mister;” the interracial production of, “Finian’s Rainbow;” and the musical, “Street Scene” with lyrics by Langston Hughes. The Countee Cullen Memorial Collection is opened at Atlanta University. The Crisis examines Jamaican self-rule. Emile Faure, grandson of the former Sultan of Nigeria, writes on French terror in Negro Africa. There are stories on Sudanese desire for independence; South African discrimination of India descent and an exploration by W.E.B. Du Bois on, “The Freeing of India.”
Henry Lee Moon joins the NAACP as director of public relations. He pub- lishes, Balance of Power: The Negro Vote which is regarded as a definitive study of the effect of black voting patterns on American politics since Reconstruction. After a series of internal disputes, W.E.B. Du Bois leaves the NAACP for a final time to devote full time to the study of Africa and his Pan Africanist philosophy. The Crisis publishes the report of the Presi- dent’s Committee on Civil Rights and the revolt in the Democratic Party against President Truman’s civil rights program. There is a Crisis editorial, “To Secure These Rights.” The University of Oklahoma and University of Delaware announce that Negro applicants for graduate and professional courses not offered to them elsewhere will be admitted without segrega- tion. The Crisis reports that New Jersey abolishes segregation in the Na- tional Guard and a story about segregation at New Jersey’s Palisade Park swimming pool. Dr. Montague Cobb writes on progress and portents for the Negro in medicine. In the arts, the significance of novelist Frank Yerby and Negro opera stars are highlighted. Globally, The Crisis examines “In- donesia Wants Freedom” and “Negroes and the Irish.”
In a review of Walter White’s, A Man Called White, Oswald Garrison
Villard praises White but criticizes him citing, White “could have been much more generous in his praise and recognition of others.” The photo montage of the best and worst pictures of 1948 features a small white girl in Ku Klux Klan regalia during an initiation of 300 candidates in Macon, GA. An article, “Break Up the Black Ghetto,” suggests Negroes in Chicago are satisfied with segregation and want to continue, “ghetto living with its inevitable ghetto slums.” A white woman’s essay on living in a mostly colored suburb, “After I moved in...” suggests “to understand colored people, you just have to understand people.” The complete text of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, one of the notable achievements of the general assembly of the United Nations, is printed. A series of articles, pictures and statistics on the dilapidated, unsanitary schools for colored children in Merriam, KS are featured as the white children attend new schools with modern conveniences. The Crisis examines a study by the research committee of Intergroup Relations of New York that shows prejudice does not influence buying behavior. Oliver Hill, Richmond, VA’s first Negro councilman since 1888; Jewel S. Rogers, the first colored woman to be attorney at the Legal Aid Bureau of Chicago; and Wesley Brown, the first Negro graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, grace the covers of The Crisis. In the article, “Cancer and the Negro,” Dr. John Moseley reveals the relative immunity of the Negro to skin cancer and the high rate of uterine cancer in Negro females. “Florida’s Little Scottsboro: Groveland” reports on the frame-up of three young black men for the rape of a white woman. The dimensions of The Crisis are reduced and the following columns are introduced: “Your Money’s Worth” - purchas- ing tips; “Fashion Notes;” “The Make-up Box;” “Recipes;” and “Health Hints.” The Chevrolet Styleline 4 door sedan at $1,461 is listed as a “best buy.” The social movement, “Brazilian Negro Experimental Theater,” is examined and featured is a review of Gov. Alfred Driscoll’s address to the New Jersey NAACP State Conference claiming he will “attain full citizen- ship for all citizens of the state.” Henry Lee Moon pens, “What Chance For Civil Rights,” telling readers they must work at the grass roots level to effect change and not depend on the promises from the November 1948 election. William Hastie’s appointment to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is highlighted and The Crisis announces the death of Oswald Gar- rison Villard.
James W. Ivy is named editor of The Crisis. A multi- lingual scholar, Ivy believed that “American Negroes should recognize similarities between their problems and those of blacks in other parts of the world...” Issues covered range from Southern teachers repudiate Jim Crow to Jim Crow in East St. Louis Schools. President Truman announces his support of Fair Employment Practices Commission. Henry Lee Moon writes an examina- tion on conservative Republican Senator Robert Taft. William Hastie, the first Negro Circuit Judge, pens a eulogy on Charles Hamilton Houston, who receives the Spingarn Medal posthumously. In education, Lincoln University presents the Alpha Medallion Award to Mary McLeod Bethune and W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois runs for Senate on the American Labor Party ticket and receives 4% of the vote.At Northwestern State College in Louisi- ana, a Shakespeare play is barred because it features two Negro actors. Duke Ellington and Sarah Vaughan are spotlighted in a photo. Legendary choreographer Katherine Dunham graces a Crisis cover. The major league opportunities for Negro baseball players are questioned and the Bataka Movement in Uganda is explored. W.E.B. Du Bois’ first wife, Nina Gomer, dies.
The Crisis celebrates its milestone 40th Anniversary. W.E.B. Du bois mar- ries Shirley Graham. Du Bois is indicted, tried and acquitted by the Justice Department of subversive activities. Articles in The Crisis focus on the NAACP filing Brown vs. Board of Education. A firebomb murders Harry T. Moore founder of the first Florida NAACP branch and hia wife. Thurgood Marshall investigates Negro GIs in Korea. W.E.B. Du Bois composes a special feature, “Editing The Crisis.” The Crisis articles include Franklin H. Williams’ study of the successful NAACP Bakersfield, CA branch. Walter White investigates the racial riot in Cicero, IL. Negro parents sue for decent schools in the South and there is a profile on Juanita Terry, the first Negro woman to be employed as a secretary to a white congressio- nal representative. The New York nightspot, The Stork Club, is picketed after refusing to serve Josephine Baker and other black patrons. Paul Robeson’s high profile in the Communist party, afro-cuban folk music, and racial prejudice rising in Brazil are spotlighted.
The Crisis spotlights Walter White’s report on civil rights in 1951. A letter to President Truman on the firebomb slaying of NAACP Florida official Harry Moore is published. Clarence Mitchell investigates fair employment. Problems at interracial colleges are highlighted. Negro parents in Cairo,IL make history when their children are transferred to white schools. Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with Negroes and how he arrived on his theories of Negro inferiority are scrutinized. From Negroes in New Mexico to the facts on Negro health are explored. There are features on Nigeria and South Africa racial patterns.
Membership in the NAACP continues to climb. The Crisis covers the work of the NAACP in seeking freedom for sharecropper Mack Ingram of North Carolina who was arrested for, “assault by leering” of a white girl. Higher education features range from interracial romances on college campuses to Phi Beta Kappa at Howard University to the role of the Negro intel- lectual. Author Ralph Ellison describes ideas and motives on creatinghis bestseller, The Invisible Man. Langston Hughes publishes an article on Richard Allen. In entertainment, there is a photo of composer Oscar Hammerstein II and Lena Horne co-chairing a NAACP benefit at Madison Square Garden. There is a profile on dancer Donald McKayle and a feature on, “Africa Comes of Age.”
The U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education overturns the nation’s “separate but equal” doctrine. The Crisis showcases the text of the historic Supreme Court Decision school case and includes facts and figures about segregated education. President Dwight Eisenhower announces that segregation at all schools on federally operated military posts would end. There are articles on Southern Pacific Jim Crow and southern Negroes at the ballot box. After two years of legal action, Kan- sas City desegregates a public swimming pool. There is a major parliamen- tary report on Kenya.
NAACP membership boasts 309,000 members. The Crisis covers the death of Executive Secretary Walter White and Roy Wilkins being elected as his successor. The Crisis focuses on Emmett Till, a 14-year old, who is mur- dered for looking at a white woman in the south and the murder of Mis- sissippi NACCP leader Rev. George Lee. The Crisis quotes from an editorial by Adam Clayton Powell calling for a boycott of, “everything made in Mississippi.” There are articles on integrated housing in Connecticut and segregation in the U.S. Navy. Stories include the University of Alabama losing a three-year suit by two Negro women when the Supreme Court reinstated an injunction to admit them. A feature on an historical look at famed Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge. There are in-depth stories on, “The Negro Problem Interpreted for Europeans” and the French press condemning the Emmett Till murder and trial.
Montgomery, AL resident Inez Baskin pens a story for The Crisis advocat- ing that the Montgomery bus system is desegregated based on the boy- cott inspired by Rosa Park’s arrest. The U.S. Supreme Court holding that segregation in intra-state travel is unconstitutional is highlighted. There is an article on the “new” Ku Klux Klan, a new white supremacy move- ment in retaliation to public school desegregation. A series of stories on several states in the Deep South attempting to hamper and cripple the NAACP through legislation. An article in The Crisis questions why the Negro should support the Democrat or the Republican parties. A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Vice President of AFL-CIO, is featured addressing the NAACP on advocating for equal pay. Catholics and the NAACP and conditions of farm workers are explored. There is a photo of television host Ed Sullivan presenting the Spingarn Medal to Jackie Robinson. The Crisis covers musician Louis Armstrong’s tour of Ghana and the first Congress of Negro Writers and Artists held in Paris.
The Crisis announces that the NAACP’s 1956 membership reaches the 350,000 mark. Stories in The Crisis include the Commission on Civil Rights being established by Congress. The Crisis covers the federal court order desegregating Little Rock, AR schools, the resulting violence when the first nine students attempt to enter Central High School, and President Eisenhower calling on the National Guard and Airborne Division to restore order. Articles include the NAACP being attacked by state, legal and legis- lative action in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Virginia. Historian John Hope Franklin explores the new Negro history. There is an articleon the push to desegregate hospital staffs and an observation on the Negro middle class. In Hollywood, Roy Wilkins meets with entertainment producers to advocate a wider range of Negro roles in movies. The Crisis looks at Calypso and Calypsonians and also profiles the new Trinidadian parliament. Racial discrimination in England is investigated. There are features on democracy in Sierra Leone and the emergence of Ghana as an independent nation. Ida Lewis serves as financial writer for the New York Amsterdam News until 1960.
The Crisis covers the U.S. Supreme Court declaration that state-imposed segregation violates the constitution. The Crisis articles explore racial trends in Seattle and police brutality in Detroit. There is an examination of race relations on Negro college campuses with white faculties. Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine are awarded the Spingarn Medal. A photo shows Duke Ellington and Marguerite Belafonte co-chairing the NAACP Freedom Fund Drive. Langston Hughes shares four Christmas poems with The Crisis readers. There is a profile on the, “first colored air hostess.” The color bar in Liverpool, England is investigated. The French cultural pres- ence in West Africa is studied and the prime minister of Ghana is honored.
The Crisis celebrates the NAACP’s golden anniversary with a special 50th anniversary issue. Roy Wilkins writes on, “Race Relations in the USA in 1958.” There is an in-depth feature on the role of women in the NAACP. Stories include: housing discrimination in Chicago; some peaceful integra- tion trends in the South and a report on South Carolina’s anti-NAACP laws. The article,“From Conservative to Radical: the Ideological Develop- ment of W.E.B. Du Bois between 1885-1905,” examines the similarities between Dr. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington during their early years. Negro actors Off Broadway are featured. There is also a report on South African apartheid.
The Crisis features an article by Franklin H. Williams on the unfairness of the death penalty as applied to the Negro. The South’s pupil place- ment law; the Queens, NY housing market for Negroes; and a student pro-integration organization on the University of Minnesota campus are examined in The Crisis. Marguerite Belafonte joins the staff as NAACP director of special projects and Langston Hughes receives the Spingarn Medal. The Crisis looks at West Indians living in London.
The Crisis announces the NAACP membership has risen to 386,808. Presi- dent John F. Kennedy’s executive order and first major civil rights action, Equal Employment Opportunities, which establishes a new committee to fight bias in hiring in the government and contractors is reported in the magazine. The Interstate Commerce Commission’s Anti-Jim Crow Ruling is hailed by NAACP on the pages of The Crisis. Articles include schools in Atlanta and Dallas peacefully becoming desegregated, the NAACP supporting Freedom Bus Rides, and students staging sit-ins in South Carolina. A story analyzes, “Why Richard Nixon Lost the Negro Vote.” There are articles on new challenges to the urban neighborhood council movement and how the Illinois NAACP fights school segregation. Castro and the Cuban Negro is explored. The Crisis examines the NAACP reaction to the murder of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo. James W. Ivy exposes Portugal’s benign” colonialism. W.E.B. Du Bois joins the communist party and moves to Ghana.
The Crisis hails James H. Meredith becoming the first black student admitted to the University of Mississippi. President Kennedy issues an executive order barring racial and religious discrimination in housing built or purchased with federal funding. Photos in The Crisis depict NAACP convention delegates picketing hotels discriminating against blacks in Atlanta. The Crisis examines the meaning of black Nationalism, Jim Crow on Mississippi military bases, and segregation in Virginia public schools. Other articles include Memphis stores becoming desegregated and inte- gration in the nursing field. The responsibility of Negro teachers in urban communities is examined. There is a major feature on Negro college students of the class of 1962. The Crisis looks at desegregating advertising in New York City media.
In the October issue, The Crisis shows the sweeping photo of the historic March on Washington. Celebrities at the march include Lena Horne, Mar- lon Brando, Dick Gregory, Charlton Heston, Ossie Davis, Paul Newman, Burt Lancaster, Josephine Baker, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Diahann Carroll, and Sammy Davis Jr. There is a poignant article on W.E.B. DuBois who dies in Accra, Ghana just one day before the historic march. Roy Wilkins issues a statement eulogizing President John Kennedy’s tragic assassination and his stalwart and consecrated leadership. Other Crisis articles examine: James Meredith by Constance Baker Motley; Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and the NAACP; the 100th anniversary of the Emanci- pation Proclamation is explored by John Hope Franklin; and Carl T. Rowan reports on, “The Travesty of Integration.” The NAACP presents a major program for advertising agencies regarding images, employment and the advertising in Negro media. Mississippi Field Director Medgar Evers, who was assassinated in front of his home, receives the Spingarn Medal posthumously. The Crisis reports that the NAACP membership swells to over 534,000.
President Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Voter registration is increased. Through the U.S. Supreme Court case of NAACP vs. Alabama, the NAACP ends efforts by Southern states to ban and cripple the organization. Three young civil rights workers James Cheney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman are murdered in Mississippi. Malcolm X attends the NAACP Convention in Washington, DC. The Crisis stories in- clude: details of the civil rights bill; death of John Haynes Holmes - last of the NAACP founders; NAACP television special with Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr. and Steve Allen; “How the Negro Vote can influence 1964 elec- tions;” and “Applying the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 to the Non-South.” Circulation reaches 122,289. Roy Wilkins is awarded the Spingarn Medal.
NAACP plays a vital role in the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The Crisis goes under the supervision of the NAACP’s public relations department and director Henry Lee Moon. James W. Ivy remains the editor. President John F. Kennedy is examined in the article, “The Kennedy Legacy,” by Roy Wilkins. Benjamin E. Mays reports on Negro colleges. “The Negro in History Textbooks,” is penned by John Hope Franklin. “The State of NAACP,” is presented by Roy Wilkins. The Crisis covers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. Articles include: how Blacks voted and why; anatomy of a riot in Rochester; reorganizing the NAACP; “The Enigma of Malcolm X;” American Medical Association versus Medi- care; riots in Watts; and the new genteel racism.
James W. Ivy resigns and Henry Lee Moon becomes editor. Moon returns to a format that includes lengthy analytical pieces. In The Crisis, Roy Wilkins examines The Civil Rights Bill of 1966. The murder of NAACP Hattiesburg leader Vernon Dahmer and his wife is the focus of the story, “Death in Mississippi.” There are articles on, “The $100 Billion Freedom Fund” by A. Philip Randolph; The Crisis editor James Ivy profiles Arthur B. Spingarn; and former NAACP Board Chairman Robert C. Weaver becom- ing the first black cabinet member when President Johnson appoints him to secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In the arts, Arna Bontemps remembers Harlem in the twenties, Langston Hughes pens original poems, filmmaker William Greaves covers the First World Festival of Negro Arts, Sammy Davis Jr. is named NAACP Life Membership Chairman and Leontyne Price is presented with the Spin- garn Medal. Globally, the NAACP writes a resolution on the Rhodesian crisis, Nigeria’s President Nnamdi Azikiwe remembers his Howard Uni- versity professor William Leo Hansberry, former Olympic sprinter David Bolen becomes the Department of State’s Officer in Charge of Nigerian Affairs, and the Greenland of Guyana is explored. Warren Marr II is a co- founder of the Amistad Research Center.
The Crisis writes a poignant, “Farewell to Langston Hughes,” on the death of the legendary poet and features original poems by Hughes, “Suburban Evening” and “The Backlash Blues,” which the poet sent to Roy Wilkins three weeks before his death. Newark’s riot during the summer of 1967 is investigated. There is an essay on Adam Clayton Powell, Harlem’s “splen- dacious and erratic” Congressman. Senator Edward W. Brooke pens a story on, “The Gap Between Promise and Performance.” New Negro legislators are featured. President Lyndon Johnson’s message to Con- gress entitled, “Bullets don’t discriminate. Landlords do,” is published. Interracial marriage in the U.S. is studied after the U.S. Supreme Court validates legality of interracial marriages in Loving vs. Virginia. The funeral of Wharlest Jackson, the 304th recorded Negro to be lynched in Missis- sippi since 1900, is attended by national figures. The NAACP launches an emergency relief program to provide food to starving black residents in Mississippi. Cleveland elects Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major American city. Circulation is around 100,000.
The Crisis features a special issue on the life and assassination of Dr. Mar- tin Luther King, Jr. The official NAACP statement mourning the assassina- tion of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, written by Roy Wilkins, is published. There is a special centennial issue on the birth of W. E. B. Du Bois. An article focusing on the 1968 Housing Act as a new hope for Negroes is published. The 1968 presidential campaign is spotlighted with candidates Alabama’s George Wallace, Senator Hubert Humphrey and former Vice President Richard Nixon. The report on the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders is examined. Warren Marr II writes on the police killings of black South Carolina college students in, “Death on the Campus: The Orangeburg Story.” NAACP Legal and Education Defense Fund president Francis Rivers analyzes Black Nationalism on campus. A Crisis editorial dis- cusses a white mob attacking Black Panther members in Brooklyn Crimi- nal Court. “ Flotsam,” one of Langston Hughes final poems submitted to The Crisis before his death is published. Global stories include: refugees in Africa; how American Negroes feel about the Nigerian civil war; and Roy Wilkins heading the U.S. delegation to the United Nations International Conference on Human Rights in Tehran. Arthur Spingarn, at 90 years old, compiles his 31st and last list of books by Negro authors for The Crisis - 157 volumes listed. Warren Marr II joins the NAACP staff as public relations assistant.
The Crisis covers Roy Wilkins conferring with President Nixon. Bayard Rustin profiles A. Philip Randolph, the dean of Civil Rights. Roy Wilkins writes, “Violence is Not the Answer.” An article on “The Negro as a Fight- ing Man,” is Lt. General Michael Davison’s look at the history of American Negroes in the U.S. military. Articles include: “The Role of the Negro Mid- dle Class,” by Bayard Rustin; Harvard professor Martin Kilson’s, “Black Studies Movement: A Plea for Perspective;” and “Communicating Health Information,” by Loften Mitchell. The NAACP sponsors a major exhibition on Negro artists, acclaimed artist Charles Alston is profiled and a painting by The Crisis editor (1974 - 1980) Warren Marr II’s is featured on the cover. Global features include: black Americans urging peace in Nigeria and a cover story on Angie Elizabeth Brooks of Liberia becoming the second African and woman to be elected president of the United Nations General Assembly. The Crisis publishes a poem, “Epistle to young black Militants,” that speaks to the generational and ideological differences over the Black Power Movement. Average monthly circulation is 111,302.
The NAACP’s 60th anniversary of the issue of The Crisis is packed with features including highlights from past articles written by W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, and H.L. Mencken. Henry Lee Moon delves into the history of The Crisis and writes on, “Woodrow Wilson: Educated Rac- ist.” Articles include, “The Police vs. the Black Panthers; “Air Force Jim Crow;” “Campus Violence USA;” Misunderstanding Black Militancy;” and Negroes voting during early colonial America. The NAACP holds a benefit and tribute to Duke Ellington. Artist Hale Woodruff describes, “My Meet- ing with Henry O. Tanner;” Ralph Ellison pens an article on artist Romare Bearden; Lofton Mitchell looks at “Death of a Decade: Black Drama in
the Sixties;” and Bayard Rustin examines, “The Role of the Artist in the Freedom Struggle.” Artist Jacob Lawrence reflects on receiving the Spin- garn Medal. Artwork by acclaimed black artist Romare Bearden and Alma Thomas grace The Crisis covers.
The Crisis examines, “Awesome Attica Tragedy,” an investigation looking at the role of race in the New York prison uprising. Local NAACP branches and the changing racial scene are explored. In a search for military justice, the NAACP’s Denton Watson reports on racial discrimination in U.S. armed forces. “The Black Mystique Pitfall” by Judge William Hastie looks at the impact of the NAACP. Roy Wilkins celebrates his 70th birthday. The NAACP initiates marches against racism in South Africa. Articles include the Peace Corps recruiting black volunteers, nurse midwives becoming a growing profession, and The Crisis in housing. Photographer and director Gordon Parks’ new movie “Shaft” is highlighted in The Crisis. And the country of Brazil is examined.
The Crisis investigates, “Attica: A Microcosm of the Ghetto” which covers the NAACP opening its first prison branch in Pennsylvania and examines the narcotics addiction epidemic. Other stories include the, “New Pan Africanism;” the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972; and the NAACP Relief Fund’s, “Miracle in Mississippi.” Education features look at, “Alcorn A&M: Pioneer in Black Pride” and the anti-busing attack on the 14th Amend- ment. In The Crisis, Denton Watson questions, “Time for a New Black Press?” There are articles on, “Jackie Robinson: A Man for All Seasons” and an international memorial created to honor the late United Nations diplomat Ralph Bunche. Global features range from tourism in Puerto Rico to notes on an East African journey to blacks in Rhodesia, Namibia and South Africa presenting open discontent with oppressive minority white governments.
The Crisis publishes a tribute to the late President Lyndon B. Johnson. Articles include: “Lyndon the Liberator;” President Johnson’s famed “ We Shall Overcome” speech; praise from black and white politicians; and a NAACP photo spread. Focusing on the military, The Crisis articles look at “The NAACP: Defender of Black Servicemen” and the NAACP’s impact on the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Kitty Hawk resulting in four convictions, eleven receiving reduced charges and eight acquitted. On the political front, articles include President Richard Nixon cutting back federal aid to urban communities. “The Martyrdom of Medgar W. Evers” by Henry Lee Moon; the “Washington March: A Ten Year Perspective;” “Power: Rhetoric, Rap or Reality;” and “Why Black Candidates Lose in Mississippi,” are other features. Eleanor Holmes Norton pens a piece on the population growth and the future of black folks. The dilemma of black students at small state colleges is examined. Opportunities for minorities in cable television are spotlighted. Globally, there are stories on drought and death in West Africa and the Portuguese in Africa.
The Crisis mourns the death of James Ivy and Henry Lee Moon retires.The Crisis names Warren Marr II, the writer, public relations executive and graphic designer, editor of The Crisis. Features include an essay on the im- peachment of President Nixon, and, “Mr. Ford and Civil Rights: A Mixed Record” by Clarence Mitchell. There are articles on “The Police and the Panthers;” “Pan Africanism vs. Communism;” and “Effective Control of Urban Crime: Mission Impossible?” Michael Meyers looks at, “Voluntary Segregation: One Viewpoint” and Vernon Jordan pens, “Together,” about Black and Jewish relations. In education, “Black Students at Eastern Col- leges 1895-1940,” is studied and Dr. Kenneth B. Clark writes on, “Seg- regation—The Road to Desegregation?” Other stories range from the need for multiethnic curriculum to, “Brown: 20 Years Later,” to higher education and the poor to desegregating Detroit‘s school system. Actress Cicely Tyson appears on The Crisis cover in her television role, “The Auto- biography of Miss Jane Pittman.” The NAACP National Radio Network is launched. There is, “Love You Madly,” a tribute to the late Duke Ellington. Globally, “American Negroes and Israel,” by Bayard Rustin; St. Croix; and Panama are spotlighted.
Margaret Bush Wilson is celebrated on The Crisis cover for becoming the first black woman chairman of the NAACP. Articles explore, “Newark: City of the Future,” and “The Future of Black-Jewish Relations.” In educa- tion, stories focus on racism and sexism and children’s books; deseg- regating Boston schools; a journal of a ghetto school; and, “Survival or Surrender: Dilemma in Higher Education.” A feature on, “Black Musicians in Symphony Orchestras: A Bad Scene,” is spotlighted. A demographic survey reveals that The Crisis subscriber is highly educated, of high eco- nomic level, belongs to several organizations, speaks regularly at public meetings and performs leadership services.
The Crisis announces Roy Wilkins retirement from the NAACP. The maga- zine covers issues related to the presidential campaign between former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter and President Gerald Ford. The scandal of the Wilmington Ten is examined. Articles include: the black worker in America; the continuing search for jobs and freedom; changes in Bedford-Stuyvesant; and minority business development. Christopher F. Edley, United Negro College Fund president, writes on, “Black Education: The Need for Black Support.” Baseball legend Hank Aaron is on The Crisis cover for receiving the Spingarn Medal. Broadway’s Bubbling Brown Sugar is spotlighted.
Benjamin Hooks lands on The Crisis cover as he begins his role as execu- tive director of NAACP. The Crisis features a cover story on President Carter’s appointees Patricia Roberts Harris, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Andrew Young, U.S. Ambas- sador to the U.N. There is, “Roots: The Saga of Most Black Families in America,” looking at Alex Haley’s historic mini-series and an article on choreographer Alvin Ailey. Global stories include, “NAACP and Africa: A Historic Profile” and the Seventh Annual African American Conference in Maseru, Lesotho. Shirley Graham Du Bois dies.
The Crisis covers the NAACP’s march on apartheid in South Africa taken place in Nashville, TN. There is a major essay on the NAACP convention being held days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bakke decision that overturns preferential minority admissions practices at University of California Davis Law School. Other articles look at The National Alliance of Black Educators conference, the role of the black church in educa- tion, systematic racism and minority mental health, and the launch of the NAACP’s ACT-SO program for high school students. Global articles range from, “Steve Biko: South Africa’s Modern Symbol” to The NAACP Task Force on Africa Report to, “Africa: Continent of Concern,” to “Egypt Yesterday and Today - An Enchanting Adventure.” The NAACP announces an anti-apartheid program demanding American corporations withdraw investments from South Africa.
The Crisis focuses an entire issue on the fallout behind the Bakke deci- sion and impact on minority college admissions. It features an article on Justice Thurgood Marshall’s opinion on the Bakke Case, the Bakke Deci- sion and its threat to black educational institutions, the “Bakke Decision: Illusion and Reality in the Supreme Court.” Other articles include: New Orleans Mayor Ernest Morial on, “Economic Equality: The Great Unfin- ished Agenda;” Benjamin Hooks writes on, “Jubilee Day;” and there is a resolution to revoke the use of NAACP initials used by the Legal Defense and Education and Fund, a separate organization. Clarence Mitchell is honored on his 68th birthday and Donald McHenry is named U.S. Ambas- sador to United Nations. There are cultural profiles on science fiction writer Samuel Delaney, sculptor Chester Williams, Paul Robeson vs. Hollywood and theater legend Owen Dodson. There is a painting by the late Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas gracing the cover. The Crisis publishes the transcript of Margaret Bush Wilson and Benjamin Hooks testifying before the House Subcommittee on Africa in opposing the lift- ing of sanctions against Rhodesia.
The Crisis celebrates its 70th anniversary with a major issue exploring justice, economics, education, labor, foreign affairs, politics, women, housing, health and culture. The NAACP launches a massive “get out
the vote” during the presidential campaign between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. In addition, The Crisis coordinates a special energy forum issue that includes an article by Earl Graves, publisher of Black Enterprise, on the energy crisis affecting urban communities. Other stories include: economic literacy, employment for African Americans and black youth unemployment. The Dance Theater of Harlem is profiled. History articles examine the W.E.B. Du Bois papers and, “Black America: 1910-1935,” by historian Benjamin Quarles. Chester Higgins questions, “Is the Black Press Dying?” Globally, featured stories encompass Haitians in America, the South Africa scene and African Americans and Cuba.
The Crisis and the NAACP mourn the loss of Roy Wilkins who dies in Sep- tember. The organization wins a major Boston discrimination victory for minority police officers and firefighters. The Fair Share Program, which works with corporations to increase jobs, promotions, and business opportunities for blacks, is launched by the NAACP. Benjamin Hooks is elected chairman of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Award- winning journalist Chester Higgins, Sr. is named editorial director of The Crisis and features a cover story on the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Other features include: early photo of stage actor Denzel Washington; “Black Studies A Decade Later;” and an examination of hunger crisis in Africa.
The Crisis features a series of special issues: “Inside the U.S. Prisons with the NAACP,” “The Black Church,” and, “The Profile of Black America.” Other articles deal with: “Reaganisms, Reaganauts and the NAACP;” the impact of Reganomics on minority businesses; violent crime; unemploy- ment rates; anti-busing amendments; minority economic opportunities; and black buying power. Stories look at the Jackie Robinson Foundation; blacks and American popular culture; and the death of Thelonious Monk, the High Priest of Be-Bop. “The Role of the Artist in the Freedom Strug- gle,” by Bayard Rustin is featured and artist Jacob Lawrence reflects on receiving the Spingarn Medal. Artwork by acclaimed black artists Romare Bearden and Alma Thomas grace covers. Warren Marr II retires as editor.
Under Chester Higgins’ editorship, The Crisis features a series of special issues: “The Black Athlete;” “The Black Woman;” and “NAACP vs. Hollywood. There is a Benjamin Hooks cover story on the NAACP Fair Share Program. Other stories include: the 15th anniversary of the NAACP Image Awards; a profile on Nelson Mandela; contemporary black theater; blacks in the armed forces; and the devastating impact of joblessness in Detroit. This year that Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday becomes a national holiday, The Crisis features a legislative update on the first two years of the Reagan presidency and, “I am Against Affirmative Action,” an interview with Clarence Thomas, EEOC chairman. Other stories include: racial injustice in Miami, FL; Harlem’s newly renovated Schomburg Center for the Research in Black Culture; artist Selma Burke; and contemporary Haitian art. Lena Horne is awarded the Spingarn Medal and graces The Crisis cover.
Maybelle Ward is named editorial director of The Crisis. The NAACP celebrates its 75th Anniversary with a Crisis cover story on, “Diamond Jubilee: and Black History Month.” The NAACP joins with the National Urban League for a summit on the black family while the NAACP Black Dollar Days demonstrate the power of the black consumer. Cover stories include, “Clarence Mitchell: His Life and Times,” and, “Reaganomics: The Poor People’s Plight.” Articles encompass: equal pay for black teachers; Reagan administration on civil rights; school desegregation education in crisis; Buffalo Soldiers; Paul Robeson; and the 30th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education. Other topics include: crime, violence and the black family; the black aged; the impact of the NAACP conventions on race relations; and the death of Dr. Benjamin Mays. Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Coretta Scott King receive special honors at the NAACP Image Awards. The NAACP board attacks South Africa policy and Bishop Desmond Tutu receives the Nobel Peace Prize. Garland Thompson (edi- tor 1992 - 1994) serves as executive director of the nation’s oldest black newspaper, The Philadelphia Tribune.
On June 7th, Henry Lee Moon dies after a prolonged illness. The Crisis names Fred Beauford acting editor. Beauford, a proponent of activist journalism, condenses the NAACP news and adds an arts criticism column. It is the year of The Crisis 75th Anniversary issue with a pictorial overview of the NAACP’s history. Throughout the year, there are major features examining: “Are TV Ratings Fair to Blacks?; “South Africa’s Winds of Conflict;” “Medical Care in the US for Blacks;” “Hollywood’s Real Invisible Minorities;” and “Fallen Warriors of the Civil Rights Struggle.” Harvard’s Dr. S. Allen Counter looks at racial slurs. Other stories explore blacks on the rise in corporate America; Hollywood’s black comedians; high tech; Black entrepreneurs Africare’s role in Africa; and profiles on Wynton Marsalis, Bayard Rustin, and Robert Johnson, founder of BET. Jill Nelson interviews with Winnie Mandela.
The Crisis celebrates the NAACP’s historic move to Baltimore with a cover story spotlighting Benjamin Hooks. The Crisis looks at issues, ideas and arts. Stories include: “A Report on The State of the Arts;” “The Color Purple” review; “An Economic Development Report;” “Black Urban Professionals: Have They Forgotten Their Roots?;” “Are Black Males in Jeopardy?;” and “The African Face of the New World.” Political stories encompass a profile on Rep. Parren Mitchell; “The Political Legacy of Dr. King;” “A Historic Overview of Voting Rights;” “The Economic Impact of Black Mayors;” an examination of the Black Caucus in Congress: How Are They Doing?;” and an interview with Senator Robert Dole question- ing a future for blacks in the Republican Party. Other Interviews include Randall Robinson of TransAfrica and Rev. Allan Boesak, a founder of the South Africa’s anti-apartheid United Democratic Front. The history of U.S. foreign policy in Southern Africa is examined.
The Crisis explores themes ranging from the homeless to sports to mili- tary. There is a cover story on, “The Homeless” that looks inside a homeless hotel and examines the human face of the homeless. A Special issue on “Blacks in Sports: 40 Years after Jackie Robinson,” features an interview with Hank Aaron and also questions, “Is there Racism in the NFL?” President Ronald Reagan’s legacy is analyzed in the “Twilight of the Reagan Years.” The Black Press is examined in an issue with John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet, on the cover. A focus on blacks in the military features Rear Admiral Robert L. Toney. Frances Hooks shares photos on, “The Long Sad Road to Cumming Georgia.” Articles include: blacks in corporate America breaking middle management barriers; black public colleges at a crossroads; and profiles on playwright George Wolfe and artist Jacob Lawrence. Percy Sutton is awarded the Spingarn Medal.
The Crisis explores the presidential campaign with a cover feature, “Bush vs. Dukakis: Which is Better for Black America?” Both presidential can- didates address the NAACP convention. Another cover story on George Bush asks, “What Can We Expect from the New President? What Black America Needs from the New Administration.” Other articles include the NAACP’s support of the passage of the Civil Rights Restoration Act. Congress approves the NAACP - sponsored amendment to the Fair Hous- ing Act of 1968. A look at Medgar Evers, 25 years after his assassination, and an interview with his widow Myrlie Evers are featured. The ashes of novelist Dorothy Parker are laid to rest in the NAACP Memorial Garden at 4805 Mt. Hope Drive in Baltimore, MD.
The NAACP and the Black Leadership Forum, in response to a series of Supreme Court decisions hostile to blacks and other minorities, convene a conference called “The Present Crisis.” Decisions include barring some minority set-aside measures. The Crisis reports over 100,000 supporters conduct a “Silent March” on Washington, DC. The Crisis looks at the national campaign to promote organ transplants in black communities launched by the NAACP. The organization clashes with President Reagan over 1990 Civil Rights Act; which his administration opposes as a “quota bill. In othe NAACP news, The Crisis reports that a mail bomb explodes in the NAACP Atlanta office with no fatalities. However, in Savannah, a mail bomb kills civil rights attorney Robert E. Robinson. The NAACP 80th an- niversary issue proves to be successful editorially and financially.
The Crisis cover stories feature the historic election of Douglas Wilder becoming Governor of Virginia; “The Case for a Third Black Party;” “The Great Migration 1915-1945;” and a special black health issue looking at preventive care, cancer and AIDS. Articles examine: “The Fighting Black Clergy;” Father George Clements; evolution of Black ministry in America; “The First Great Migration: The Underground Railroad;” government spending and minority-owned businesses; the 1990 census; soaring black population; educating the new immigrants; and homelessness in U.S. cit- ies. Benjamin Hooks writes on the death of Rev. Ralph David Abernathy of the South Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). There are enter- tainment and cultural articles on careers in the entertainment industry, Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center’s famed writer’s workshop and the Harlem School of the Arts. A demographic study suggests The Crisis still reaches an educated and affluent audience.
The Crisis spotlights a congressional majority passing the Civil Rights Act similar to the one vetoed by President George Bush in 1990. The NAACP opposes the confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court to succeed Justice Thurgood Marshall. Special Crisis issues include: “South Africa: Violence or Non-Violence? Does Peace Have a Chance?;” “The Future of the Black Press;” “The Impact of Environmental Racism on the Black Community;” “Mom and Pop Business: Can Blacks Make It Grow?;” “Billy Club Justice: Can the Police and the Community Find a Better Way?;” “Educating Black Boys: Are all Male Schools the Answer;” and “Black Music in the New World,” which looks at pop, jazz, sacred, classical and Caribbean music. The Crisis examines, “Out of Focus,” a NAACP landmark study on problems facing blacks in the TV and film industry. There are articles on, “King, Mandela and Moral Commitment;” artist Ernie Barnes; African Americans and hypertension; and a profile on Lindiwe Mabuza, spokesperson for the African National Congress. Warren Lindiwe Mabuza, spokesperson for the African National Congress. Warren Marr II forms Amistad Affiliates Inc. that builds a replica of the schooner La Amistad as a floating museum and educational center.
The Crisis welcomes Garland Thompson, Esquire as editor. Thompson institutes a computerized editing process. The Crisis examines the elec- tion of President Bill Clinton sweeping out of the south. Benjamin Hooks announces his retirement. The Crisis features Rev. Hooks’ official NAACP statement on the Rodney King verdict and the uprising in Los Angeles resulting in many fatalities and his meeting with California officials. There is a cover story spotlighting presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Presi- dent George Bush entitled, “Which Way America? Riots or Rebuilding?” Other cover stories include: “Black Political Power: Real or Apparition?” “The Changing Role of Black Women;” a debate on the philosophies of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois; a spotlight on black attorneys and adoption in the black community. The Crisis articles include: blacks in the Peace Corps; black Americans in foreign policy careers; foreign aid to Africa; and a history of the Caribbean.
The Crisis salutes retiring NAACP Executive Director Rev. Dr. Benjamin Lawson Hooks in a commemorative edition overflowing with congratula- tory ads and welcomes civil rights activist Benjamin Chavis as the new NAACP executive director. There is a cover story on Nelson Mandela who is presented the W.E.B. Du Bois International Award. The NAACP mourns the death of Thurgood Marshall with the cover feature, “A Trumpeter for Freedom 1908-1993.” There are other cover stories on President Clinton’s African American appointees Ron Brown, Hazel O’Leary and Jesse Brown and, “Violence in the Schools: Staying Alive while Learning Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.” Other stories include: “Mandela’s Triumphant Encore in the USA; ”a Michael Jordan cover, “Jordan’s Last Jam;” “Col- lege Grads and Career Changes;” and a report card on race in sports.
The Crisis celebrates the 85th anniversary of the NAACP with a historical pictorial cover story. Denise Crittendon is named The Crisis editor. The Crisis articles include: Haitian refugee crisis; deadbeat black dads; health care for blacks; and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders. Popular African American television shows like, “Sinbad,” “In Living Color,” and “Living Single” are featured. There is a cover feature on the NAACP Image Awards. Under Benjamin Chavis, the NAACP condemns rap music that degrades black women, holds a hip hop forum on the issue, and uses MTV to reach out to youth on civil rights. In August, Benjamin Chavis is replaced by the interim management team of Earl Shinhoster and Fred Rasheed as senior administrators. A range of feature articles look at the Haitian refugee crisis; black Olympic hopefuls; African Americans moving to South Africa; OJ Simpson trial; Youth ACT-SO competitors; and Asian stores in African American communities.
In February, Myrlie Evers-Williams is elected chairwoman of the NAACP national board of directors. The Crisis profiles Maryland Congressman Kweisi Mfume and Myrlie Evers-Williams. Articles range from, “Black Flight to the Suburbs: Why are so Many Blacks Leaving the Community?,” to ”Moving into the Fast Lane on the Information Superhighway,” to “Cracking Down on Crack and Crime,” to “The Graying of Black America.” Issues examined include homelessness in black America, AIDS in the black community, dismantling affirmative action, teen pregnancy and black advertising agencies making a difference. In December, Gentry Trotter becomes editor of The Crisis. St. Louis, MO native Gentry Trotter serves as editor as well as chairman of The Crisis board.
A new board of directors is named at The Crisis. Congressman Kweisi Mfume is elected president and CEO of the NAACP. The NAACP marches on the Louisiana governor mansion in response to an order terminating affirmative action programs. The Crisis issues an investigative report on police, judges and prisons, and an examination of, “Black Males in the System.” Other articles include: “Rosa Parks: Still Making a Difference; “Blacks in Hollywood: Who Really Has the Power?;” “Black Economic Gains in Tinseltown;” and the NAACP Image Awards making a difference. Articles on award-winning author Virginia Hamilton, and an obituaryof Congresswoman Barbara Jordan are spotlighted. The Crisis reports that from 1995-1996, there are over 100 arson fires at African American churches. Myrlie Evers-Williams efforts erase the NAACP debt. After the first issue for the year, The Crisis ceases publication to reorganize.
The Crisis is restructured to The New Crisis and resumes publication in July with Paul Ruffins as editor. The Crisis announces Kweisi Mfume’s major nationwide endowment campaign for NAACP. A rally held at the Justice Department to withhold federal dollars on communities with recurring police brutality is covered in The Crisis. High profiles articles include: “New York Police are Out of Control,” by former New York City Mayor David Dinkins; “Du Bois and the Challenge of the Black Press,” by David Lever- ing Lewis; “Christmas is a Political Holiday,” by Rev. Jesse Jackson and “Integration is Yesterday’s Struggle,” by Dr. Glenn C. Loury.
Ida F. Lewis is named editor-in-chief of The New Crisis. NAACP Chairwom- an Myrlie Evers-Williams steps down and former Georgia state legislator, civil rights activist and broadcaster Julian Bond is elected chairman. Pulit- zer Prize-winning journalist Roger Wood Wilkins, nephew of Roy Wilkins, is named chairman and publisher of The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. Articles featured include a cover article on Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, “Can This Man Keep Peace in the World?;” “Har- vard professor Derrick Bell: A Man of Principle;” a memorial “Remember- ing Clarence Mitchell;” President Clinton’s trip to Africa; and a profile on author Chinua Achebe. The Crisis investigates James Byrd Jr’s brutal racial murder, a lynching by dragging, in Jasper, TX and the conviction of NAACP official Vernon Dahmer’s killer. High profile contributors include: Amiri Baraka reviews the Civil Rights Movement; “Clinton in Crisis,” by Gwen Ifill; Roger Wilkins writes on, “Clinton: At Ease with Black People;” Barbara Reynolds investigates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination; David Du Bois reflects on his father, W.E.B. Du Bois and Myrlie Evers- Williams pens, “A Black History Month Message.” At its annual meeting, the NAACP board votes that life members would only be entitled to The Crisis for ten years.
The Crisis mourns the death of Maybelle Ward. The Crisis cover stories range from “First Patriot, Crispus Attucks: The Founding Father of Black America” to “Lauryn Hill: Young, Gifted and Blessed” to “The Gospel According to Johnnie Cochran.” Roger Wilkins challenges readers with, “Who Needs the NAACP Anymore?” and Ralph Wiley writes on, “The Mind of Michael Jordan.” Other stories include: an investigation of un- armed African immigrant Amadou Diallo being gunned down by New York City police; Enolia McMillan: the first woman president of the NAACP; a profile on Marian Wright Edelman; the National Portrait Galleries painting of historic black women; and “Musings of Abbey Lincoln.” A NAACP/Crisis 90 year timeline is published to celebrate the 90th anniversaries.
The Crisis mourns the death of Earl T. Shinhoster, Interim Executive Direc- tor of the NAACP, who is killed in a car accident. The NAACP Strategic Blueprint for the next 10 years is unveiled. As we usher in the millennium, editor Ida Lewis recognizes NAACP leadership with cover stories: Julian Bond, “Still Spearheading the Cause of Racial Justice;” “Mildred Bond Roxborough: NAACP’s Indomitable Heroine;” “Vernon Jarrett: Pied Piper of Black Youth Excellence;” and Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington Bureau. The Crisis 90th anniversary issue opens with a con- gratulatory letter from President Bill Clinton and is packed with historical articles and reprints from The Crisis. There is a special feature on, “Elec- tion 2000: Levering the Black Vote.” The NAACP branches report an in- crease in police abuse and The Crisis examines the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act introduced by Congressman John Conyers. A march on Florida’s state capitol on affirmative action draws approximately 50,000 protesters. The NAACP’s hearing on the lack of diversity on network television is featured in the magazine. Joe Madison visits the Sudan and reports on, the “Horror of Slavery in Sudan;” a profile on TransAfrica’s Randall Robinson; “Why Sexism Should Top the Civil Rights Agenda,” by Judy Simmons; and “A Tribute to Sarah Vaughn,” by Amiri Baraka are included this year. Former Black Enterprise editor, Phil Petrie, steps in as interim editor. The Crisis mourns the death of fomer associate publisher, Jerry Guess.
Former White House press agent Victoria Valentine joins The Crisis as editor. The format is redesigned to include additional sections as: Up Front - news briefs; The Color Line - discussing issues of race; Crisis Forum - spotlights African American culture and the arts; and Backstory- a personal essay. The Crisis excerpts David Levering Lewis’, Volume II, W.E.B. Du Bois, The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919 – 1963, which wins a Pulitzer Prize for this Crisis board member. The civil rights photos of Jim Hinton are featured and the NAACP joins the class action suit against Florida over the 2000 presidential vote count. The NAACP an- nounces the election of Roslyn M. Brock as the youngest and first woman to serve as vice chairman. The Crisis examines private prisons profiting
at the expense of women of color, profile of Dr. Ruth Simmons who is named the first African American woman president of Brown University and other African American women college presidents. The Crisis reports on the guilty verdict of Ex-Klansman Thomas Blanton, Jr. who is found guilty of plotting the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that killed four black girls. The Crisis excerpts Roger Wilkins’, Jefferson’s Pillow that discusses black patriotism. The future of black youth leader- ship; Ella Baker, Godmother of the student movement, and campus activism are examined. There are stories on the NAACP reactivating the Prison Project; “Race and the Death Penalty;” “The Changing Face of Racism;” Census 2000 and race; global racism; and a profile on Vernon Jordan. Other articles include Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Les Payne on, “Malcolm X: Hero of History’s Footnote?”and scholar Ronald Walters on, “Bush is President: Will We Count?” A special education issue looks
at Ronald Paige, secretary of education; the state of HBCUs; and “the achievement gap separating black and Latino students from white and Asian students. The Crisis examines a Harvard report that states schools are more racially segregated now and spotlights Ella Baker. Scholar Tricia Rose investigates Hip Hop at the crossroads and Russell Simmons’ sum- mit of artists and black leaders. There are memorials on the deaths of renowned artist John Biggers; Leon Sullivan, who headed the movement for divestment in South Africa; musician John Lewis; singer and actress Aaliyah tragically killed in a plane crash and pioneering advertising execu- tive Caroline Jones. And, The Crisis remembers Myrlie Evers’ Williams’
son, Darrell Evers. The Crisis has a cover story on the complexity of black patriotism and a feature looking at the tragedy of 9/11 with “September 11 and Beyond.”
September 11, 2001 is memorialized in The Crisis. The story, “National Security Concerns Must Not Trample Our Constitutional Rights,” is a look at post 9/11 America. The Crisis celebrates Langston Hughes, “The Bard of Black America,” on his 100th birthday with a special issue remembering the prolific literary legend whose words capture the texture of black life. Fellow Harlem Renaissance writer and Crisis contributor Arna Bontemps is also honored on the centennial of his birth with a cover feature. The Crisis examines the University of Mississippi on the 40th anniversary of its integration by James Meredith and black and white women collaborat- ing during the civil rights movement in what was called, “Wednesdays in Mississippi.” Historian Manning Marable investigates, “Selling Malcolm: Black History on the Auction Block,” a controversial unauthorized auc- tion. TransAfrica’s new agenda is explored after the departure of founder Randall Robinson. Articles include, “Cellblocks or Classrooms;” prostate cancer and black men; and black churches taking the lead in AIDS out- reach among African Americans. The death of jazz great Lionel Hampton is observed by Gene Seymour. Other memorials include, “Defining June Jordan” and author Claude Brown. The Crisis reports on the Miami NAACP push for more police accountability. The 25th anniversary of the landmark television mini-series, “Roots” is observed. The NAACP and the Black Farmers Association attend a goodwill trade mission to Cuba and Kweisi Mfume decries President Robert Mugabe’s strong-arm tactics against an opposition party in Zimbabwe. The Crisis recognizes Congressman John Lewis as the recipient of the 87th Springarn Medal.
The Crisis drops “New” from its title.The Crisis salutes the 100th anniver- sary of W.E.B. Du Bois’ milestone book, The Souls of Black Folk, with a cover feature by historian David Levering Lewis. Other Crisis cover stories include: “Not Married with Children,” an investigation on 70 percent of black children born out of wedlock; direct descents of slaves fight for reparations; and the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington. Articles include: Derrick Bell on law and literature; a look at civil rights activist “Bayard Rustin: The Invisible Man Behind the Scenes;” and race- based politics sending GOP election victory in the south. Gender politics in the black community; the historic rise in the prison population and Af- rican American faith in Islam are discussed. Sports writer William Rhoden investigates, “The Color Line: Arthur Ashe, Still Waiting on Black Athletes to Heed his Call to Glory.” “Black Catholic Roots,” explores black saints, black popes and black church leaders. There are articles on government policies making blacks house poor; a FCC ruling threatens diversity in broadcast ownership; and a profile on Rep. Elijah Cummings, new head of the Congressional Black Caucus. On the education front, The Crisis studies whether college students could decide the 2004 election; HBCUs tackling homophobia with diversity initiatives; lack of women and minorities in the technology workforce; and strategies for improving public schools. In entertainment, there are stories on Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder; the Stax Music Museum; star and activist Danny Glover; and literary legend Zora Neale Hurston. Memorials include: soul’s high priestess Nina Simone; Maynard H. Jackson Jr., the first black mayor of Atlanta; Zina Garrison recalls the legacy of tennis great Althea Gibson; broadway pro- ducer George Wolfe pens a tribute to the late Gregory Hines; Charlayne Hunter-Gault writes on Walter Sisulu, South Africa’s quiet warrior. Judge Constance Baker Motley receives the 88th Spingarn Award.
The Crisis remembers board member, fellow journalist, and ACT-SO found- er Vernon Jarrett. The Crisis spotlights the presidential election between George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry with a special issue. During elec- tion year, topics range from, “Who Will Win the Swing Vote” to “Battle- ground States” to raising money to support black women politicians to the NAACP outreach to young voters at hip-hop concerts. There is a cover photo of democratic strategist Donna Brazile in which she demands respect for black voters. Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder discusses his campaign for mayor of Richmond. A pictorial essay on the presidential campaign’s chief photographers Sharon Farmer and Eric Draper, who are black, is presented by photography historian Deborah Willis-Kennedy.
The Crisis looks back at Freedom Summer 1964 remembering Fannie Lou Hamer and Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman. The NAACP marks the 50th Anniversary of the Brown Decision with a year-long celebration. Articles include, “Ralph Bunche at 100: A Diplomat for the Ages;” an interview with Colin Powell on Iraq and his legacy; and, “Thurgood Marshall, My Father,” by Thurgood Marshall Jr. The Emmett Till murder case is reopened; the NAACP archive is reported as the largest at five million pieces and most used at the Library of Congress; and Eddie Williams steps down from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. A special issue on the state of African American health examines mental illness, heart disease, obesity, cancer, smoking and young, and black women with AIDs. Bill Cosby raises controversy for comments on the state of the black community; a profile on acclaimed choreographer Bill T. Jones; and the renowned quilts of Gees Bend, AL are displayed. Memorials include: Ray Charles; music artist Rick James and Charles Duncan, former dean of Howard University Law School who worked on Brown v. Board of Educa- tion. A Crisis special issue on African American soldiers sharing stories on the Iraq war includes Afro Iraqis and the country’s history of slavery. The Crisis reports on Rwanda’s legacy of genocide.
The Crisis has a pivotal year ranging from a change in the NAACP leader- ship to the Hurricane Katrina tragedy to the deaths of black history makers. NAACP president Kweisi Mfume’s departure is a cover story that ponders the new NAACP leadership. Incoming president, corporate executive Bruce S. Gordon, is greeted with a Crisis cover. Also gracing the cover, civil rights legend Rosa Parks who dies at age 92 and is permitted the rare tribute to lay-in-honor in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol through a Congressional resolution. Black Enterprise publisher Earl Graves pays homage to John H. Johnson, publisher of Jet and Ebony magazines. A memorial on the death of Dr. Kenneth Clark is penned by Dr. Alvin Pous- saint and Luther Vandross is remembered by his friend Patti LaBelle. The article, “Arthur Fletcher: On the Right,” looks at the late black republican. The Crisis remembers the lives of Judge Constance Baker Motley, civil rights legend James Forman, former Green Bay Packer Reggie White, and Congresswoman and presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm. The Crisis explores the Voting Rights Act at 40; looks back at 40 years after the 1965 Watts Riots; and examines the 100th anniversary of the Niagara Move- ment, precursor to NAACP. Cover stories include the role of parents in student achievement and what blacks need to know about social security. There are articles on fear that new gang legislation will unfairly target minority youth; the FBI reports an increase in anti-black hate crimes; “African Burial Memorial Design Honors Enslaved;” Rep. Gwen Moore becomes Wisconsin’s first black person in Congress and North Carolina’s Rep. Mel Watt becomes chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. The Hurricane Katrina crisis has The Crisis focusing stories encompassing black leaders from the NAACP, National Urban League, Congressional Black Caucus, and Rainbow Coalition responding to the disaster. Scholar David Levering Lewis writes, “Unchanged Melody: The Negro and the Flood,” that looks at the horror of the 1927 Mississippi flood. Journalist Vern E. Smith talks to Katrina survivors with, “Starting Over.” Other Katrina stories include, “Hip-Hop Saves: Giving Back To Hurricane Victims;” the NAACP helps thousands of Katrina victims with housing, food and care; Mississippi and New Orleans State NAACP responds to the needs of Ka- trina victims; and the NAACP remembers hurricane victims in Alabama.
Victoria Valentine writes in her editor’s note that sports has provided an avenue of opportunity and path to financial security for African Ameri- cans and historically, black athletes have been among the most outspo- ken on social justice and human rights issues. Valentine dedicates the No- vember/December issue to “Race and Sports” where she reports in 300 newspapers surveyed, blacks account for only 1.6% of the sports editors compared to 90% for whites. Five black leaders weigh in on the immigra- tion. The Black Panthers mark 40 years and veteran members including Bobby Seale recall efforts to build a social and political empowerment movement. The Crisis looks at saving Morris Brown College which is down to 50 students and Johnetta Cole’s efforts to save Bennet College after fortifying Spelman College. Mayors calling for gun control, the politics of hair in the workplace and the AIDS crisis are examined. Editor Valentine reports that the government has spent more than $318.5 billion dollars on the war in Iraq. NAACP Washington, D.C. branch president, Lorraine Miller becomes the first African American clerk of the House of Representatives and graces the cover of The Crisis. The Crisis questions whether or not Barack Obama is “black enough” and the politics of blackness. The Crisis asks the question, “Can Black Immigrants and African Americans Get Along?” in the January/February issue. Black Native Americans fight for recognition and The Crisis reports that the states of Maryland and North Carolina apologize for slavery. It is reported that the Amistad Commis- sion seeks to ensure that the history and legacy of slavery is accurately taught in the public schools. And The Crisis reports on the claim of reverse racism by whites. The NAACP reports on its new program to combat police brutality and seeks justice for Midshipman Lamar Owens who is accused of raping a female midshipman. The NAACP also reports that it has reorganized its advocacy programs. The Crisis writes on the death of Coretta Scott King whose graces the cover of the March/April issue with a portraiture by Chester Higgins Jr. Myrlie Evers-Williams recalls the bond they shared as widows of the civil rights movement. In the article, “Surveillance: Bush Spies, Hoover’s Ghost,” The Crisis reports on news that President George W. Bush signs a secret order authorizing spying on Americans. The Crisis makes known, the work of Jo Ann Robinson in laying the groundwork for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Crisis presents a photo essay on the black farmer. And, The Crisis goes back to the Big Easy where life six months after Hurricane Katrina is worse. The NAACP, 74 years later, is given permission by the Nation Park Service to lay the Great Tablet W.E.B. Du Bois created recognizing the courageous work of abolitionist John Brown. The pilgrimage to Harpers Ferry, WVA at the site of the former Storer College, is highlighted as part of convention activities.
Victoria Valentine resigns as editor and Jabari Asim, author and deputy book editor for the Washington Post, assumes the position months after Phil Petrie serves as interim editor. Asim continues the format and design set by Valentine. The Crisis announces that Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks receives the Presidential Medal of Honor. The NAACP pages report 6,000 in at- tendance at the NAACP National convention in Detroit, MI, home of the largest NAACP chapter. Here, the NAACP puts the “N-word” to rest. The Supreme Court deals a staggering blow to desegregation with its ruling to limit the use of race as a factor in integration efforts. The NAACP rallies around six teens in Jena, LA, “Jena Six,” charged with attempted murder. The threat of global warming to minorities and the continuing challenges faced by HBCU’s are examined. Nearly 10,000 activists from around the country convene in Atlanta, GA for the first-ever U.S. Social forum to explore neoliberal economic models and the privatization of health care and natural resources. The Crisis reports that four government agencies and NASA spend 5% of a $4.3-billion dollar advertising budget on minority and small business contracts. The death of Oliver Hill, the “Last Lion” is announced, Patrice Gaines reports on, “Prosecutorial Misconduct,” citing in too many of the nation’s courtrooms, equal justice remains beyond the reach of the poor and disadvantaged. The pioneering black golfer, William Powell, blazes a trail for fellow black golfers. Payday loans are examined as well as the Bush administration on civil rights. The Crisis reports on the movement to fight the negative portrayal of African American women in music and the media and sr. editor Lottie Joiner chats with the president of Morehouse forty years after civil rights and his vision of hope. The Crisis announces the deaths of former NAACP general counsel, Herb Henderson and the mother of Julian Bond, Julia Washington Bond. And with the up- coming 2008 presidential election, The Crisis asks, “Where is Diddy?” after he made the presence of the hip-hop generation known in 2004 with his non-profit group Citizen Change and the “Vote or Die” campaign.
In an effort to cut costs, The Crisis moves to a quarterly publication schedule: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. The NAACP welcomes Benjamin Todd Jealous as the new president/CEO who also serves as secretary of The Crisis Board of Directors. The presidential election arouses the world when the first African America is elected president of the U.S. The most popular covers for the year are the Summer and Fall issues that feature Barack Obama. The centennials of native son Richard Wright and legal eagle Thurgood Marshall are remembered. And the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.; the Kerner commission; and the 1968 Civil Rights Act 40 years later are reviewed. The NAACP mourns the loss of Rupert Richard- son, the “Grand Dame of the NAACP,” and Johnnie Carr, “Montgomery’s Mother of Courage.” Health care disparities and ten black thinkers on ideas about the future are examined. The nation prepares for the switch to digital TV and the impact this has on poor blacks. In “Beyond Prison Walls,” a multimedia project helps prisoners get their works published. The Crisis profiles some who have turned Booker T. Washington’s famous quote into action, “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” The NAACP sues 12 subprime mortgage companies and Friendly’s res- taurant for discrimination and joins in a lawsuit against Eli Lilly. Ethiopian Jews struggling to make Israel their home is examined. The Crisis profiles black female jockey Sylvia Harris who has endured hardships to get to where she is today.
The NAACP celebrates one hundred years of progress. The Crisis begins the year with an issue to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the NAACP. In this issue, a visual narrative of the NAACP’s history is present- ed and the impact of the murder of Emmitt Till in 1955 is examined. The Image Awards honors the milestones of the past. Alabama re-enfranchis- es former felons; the Maine State NAACP prison branch registers inmates to vote; and the youth and college division motivates the southern states on the Vote Hard Bus Tour. The Crisis collaborates with the NAACP and Gibbs Smith Publisher to produce, NAACP, 100 Years in Pictures, a 450 page
The 100th anniversary of The Crisis is celebrated with a special centennial issue. Roger Wilkins retires as chair and publisher and Justice Laura D. Blackburne is voted the new chairman and publisher. This transition comes as NAACP Chairman Julian Bond steps down and Roslyn M. Brock becomes the new chairman. Months later, the world looses two great leaders as The Crisis remembers Rev. Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks and Dorothy Height. And we mourn the loss of editor Warren Marr II. The Crisis also remembers Lena Horne who graced several covers of The Crisis and Inner City Broadcasting's Percy Sutton who served on the NAACP board. The Crisis takes a look at Hollywood and all the buzz about the movie, "Precious."
An issue on, "Powerful Black Sisters," follows featuring stories
American female mayor in Utah, and black women in government such
as FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn; Jacqueline Berrien, chair of the female millionaire goes to Sarah Rector who at age 4 was assigned oil rich land through the Department of the Interior. The NAACP steps in to help her with the abuse and robbery of her land. Globally, The Crisis looks at Afro-Ukranians, My Sister's Keeper helping women in the Sudan, and reviews Nomad, the story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali who renounces her Islamic religion and navigates life as an African woman in the Netherlands. The Crisis reports that single black women have a median wealth of $100 compared to the median wealth of single white women which is $41,500. The Crisis tackles health issues with features on the obesity epidemic among black children; HIV/AIDS; and the opening of Howard University's student
run New Freedmen's Medical Clinic for the uninsured. The Crisis brings a W.E.B. Du Bois reenactor, Charles E. Pace, to the NAACP national convention and the audience is mesmerized. In September, The Crisis hosts a conversation on the hip hop culture featuring editor Jabari Asim and Erin O. Patton, author of . In the NAACP Today section, the NAACP Life Membership celebrates 100 years; the NAACP youth and college division welcomes Grammy Award-winning producer 9th Wonder continues; and the NAACP plays a major role in the One Nation 10-2-10 march for jobs, education and the economy in Washington, DC.
Listed are names of some
former staff of The Crisis
Aaron Douglas - Art Critic
Albon Holsey - Advertising Manager
Augustus Granville Dill - Business Manager
Bernadette Manners - Editorial Secretary
Bernie Rollins - Art Director
Delores McCummings - Circulation
Don Armstrong - Editorial Assistant
Ed Towles - Art Director
Edith Doar - Secretary
Eric Oliver - Photo Researcher
Evelyn Brown - Secretary
Frank Turner - Business Manager
Frankie Petrosino - Editorial Intern
George Salters - Advertising
George Schuyler - Business Manager
George Streater - Business Manager
Harriett Diles - Director of Advertising
Hazel Branch - Clerical
Irene Malvan - Business Manager
Jerry Guess - Associate Editor
Jessie Redmon Fauset - Literary Editor
Judith Hill - Director of Advertising
Karen Jackson - Administrative Assistant
Kevin Moss - Advertising Manager
Lillian Lyttle - Circulation
Lorna Maragh - Circulation
Lottie Jarvis, Secretary
Madeline Allison - Secretary
Mary Dunlop Maclean - Managing Editor
Marvel Jackson - Editorial
Monica Nell - Secretary
O’Neal Abel - Art/Design
Pat Patterson - Editorial Coordinator
Pamela Hendricks - Advertising
Phil Petrie - Interim Editor
Ruth Porter - Bookkeeper
Thomas Calloway - Business Manager
Warren A. Parker - Advertising
Zina Rodriguez - Assistant to Editor