Media 2070 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 41
to the Government, and to the established rule of law and
order,” the report stated.15
A number of issues drew the Justice Department’s ire,
including “the ill-governed reaction toward race rioting,”
“the threat of retaliatory measures in connection with
lynching” and the “more openly expressed demand for
social equality.”16 The report continued:
Underlying these more salient viewpoints
is the increasingly emphasized feeling of
a race consciousness, in many of these
publications always antagonistic to the
white race, and openly, defiantly assertive
of its own equality and even superiority.
When it is borne in mind that this boast
finds its most frequent expression in the
pages of those journals whose editors are
men of education, in at least one instance
men holding degrees conferred by Harvard
University, it may be seen that the boast is
not to be dismissed lightly as the ignorant
vaporing of untrained minds.17
Public-affairs programs during this time rarely addressed
issues of race. But NBC’s America’s Town Meeting on the
Air and CBS’ People’s Platform aired programming that
discussed race relations in the country. NBC aired an
eight-part series — Freedom’s People — that dramatized
the contributions of Black people in such areas as the
arts, education, the military, science and sports. The
series featured prominent Black figures such as A. Philip
Randolph and Olympic medalist Jesse Owens, and was
produced by the Federal Radio Education Committee in
the U.S. Office of Education.22
Once the war ended, so did the government’s and
industry’s efforts to produce such groundbreaking
programs. But these historical examples demonstrate that
our federal government has long been fully aware of the
power of narrative and media to influence public opinion
about the Black community. And it has often exploited this
power to further its political goals of harming Black groups
and leaders.
•••
1. Patrick S. Washburn, The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom, Northwestern
University Press, 2006, pp. 107–109
2. “Prelude to the Red Square: The Espionage and Sedition Acts,” WGBH, accessed
on Aug. 20, 2020: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldman-
The paper that troubled the Justice Department the most
was Randolph’s Messenger, which it called the “most
dangerous of all negro publications. It is representative
of the most educated thought among the negroes.” The
paper also concerned the Justice Department because it
advocated for “sex equality.”18
prelude-red-scare-espionage-and-sedition-acts/; Danna Bell, “Viewing Loyalty and
Sedition During World War I through Multiple Perspectives,” Library of Congress, May
11, 2017:
https://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2017/05/viewing-loyalty-and-sedition-during-world-war-ithrough-multiple-perspectives/
3. Patrick S. Washburn, The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom, Northwestern
University Press, 2006, p. 108
4. Ibid, pp. 101–102
5. Ibid
6. Ibid; DeNeen L. Brown, “Vandals Damage Historical Marker Commemorating
Hoover became the FBI director in 1924 and served in this
position until he died in 1972. Throughout his time at the
Justice Department, Black civil-rights activism — and the
Black press — remained in his crosshairs.19
1917 Uprising by Black Soldiers,” The Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2017: https://www.
washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/08/24/i-am-not-guilty-the-mass-hangingof-13-black-soldiers-after-the-bloody-1917-houston-riots/; Theodore Kornweibel,
During World War II, Hoover tried to convince U.S.
Attorney General Francis Biddle to bring sedition charges
against the Black press after the Pittsburgh Courier
launched the “Double V campaign” that called for victory
in the war effort abroad and victory over racism at home.
The government was concerned the Black outlets were
undermining the Black community’s support for the war.
Biddle declined to press charges.20
But while Hoover’s FBI sought to criminalize the civiland human-rights activism of Black publishers, federal
government agencies worked with radio networks
run by CBS and NBC to increase Black support for the
government’s war effort by producing programs that
portrayed Black people positively.21
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