The Voice of the Negro

Last updated
The Voice of the Negro
Cover page of Voice of the Negro Magazine Vol 3, 1906.png
Cover Page of The Voice of the Negro Volume III, April 1906. Atlanta: Hertel, Jenkins, and Company, 1906
Editor John W. E. Bowen, Sr. and Jesse Max Barber
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherJ.L. Nichols and Company (Jan. 1904 – Apr. 1904)

Hertel, Jenkins, and Company (May 1904 – July 1906)

Voice Publishing Company (Aug. 1906 – Oct. 1907)

Contents

First issue1904
Country United States
Based in Atlanta, Georgia (Jan. 1904 – July 1906) Chicago, Illinois (Aug. 1906 – Oct. 1907)
LanguageEnglish

The Voice of the Negro was a literary periodical aimed at a national audience of African Americans which was published from 1904 to 1907. [1] [2] [3] It was created in Atlanta, Georgia in June 1904 by Austin N. Jenkins, the white manager of the publishing company J. L. Nichols and Company. He gave full control of the magazine to the Black editors John W. E. Bowen, Sr. and Jesse Max Barber.

It relocated to Chicago following the Atlanta Race Riot of September 1906, and ceased publication in 1907. The periodical published writing by Booker T. Washington, as well as work by a younger generation of Black activists and intellectuals: W. E. B. Du Bois, John Hope, Kelly Miller, Mary Church Terrell, and William Pickens. It featured poetry by James D. Corrothers, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.

History

Beginnings

The Voice of the Negro was the first African-American periodical based in the South.[ dubious discuss ] It was originally published in Atlanta in 1904, and created by Austin N. Jenkins, the white manager of the publishing company J. L. Nichols and Company. However, he left complete control and responsibility over the magazine to the Black editors John W. E. Bowen, Sr. and Jesse Max Barber. Barber and Bowen aimed for the magazine to include "current and sociological history so accurately given and so vividly portrayed that it will become a kind of documentation for the coming generations." [4] At this time, Atlanta had the most Black institutes, so the editors also strove to uplift the Black literary and political voice there. [5]

The manifesto for the magazine was published in the January 1904 edition at the start of the issue. Part of the manifesto is as follows:

The Voice of the Negro for 1904 will keep you posted on Current History, Educational Improvements, Art, Science, Race Issues, Sociological Movements and Religion. It is the herald of the Dawn of the Day. It is the first magazine ever edited in the South by Colored Men. It will prove to be a necessity in the cultured colored homes and a source of information on Negro inspirations and aspirations in the white homes. [6]

The editors wanted the magazine to be ideologically and politically independent both to avoid partisan affiliation and to mediate the divide in the Black community between W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington's differing ideologies. However, Booker T. Washington sought to have influence over the magazine and had his personal secretary Emmett Jay Scott become an associate editor. For the first volume, the editors stayed balanced and published contributions from both DuBois and Washington. Scott eventually left the editorial board in August 1904, however, due to a conflict behind the scenes between Washington and the editors. The editors still wanted to stay neutral for the second volume, but from Spring 1905 and on the magazine became publicly anti-Washington. [4]

Political developments

Through the articles and editorials, The Voice of the Negro emerged as a vocal political magazine during the early 1900s. The magazine's role as a "political advocate in national and local politics" has content that consists of local and national political figures and how black and white people saw the quality of their work. The "important" people within these discussions were W.E.B Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt. However, the person with the most significant role in presenting the political movements and political commentary was Booker T. Washington. He became the "spokesman and leader" of the Black race with his Atlanta Exposition in 1895.

The Voice of the Negro inspired black intellectuals across the nation and allowed Du Bois to start his political movement, the Niagara movement, in 1905. Which was made of "educated and elite blacks" and promoted political and social equality. The organization also created local organizations in seventeen of thirty states where the magazine was sold. Throughout the journal productions, there was periodical controversy where some of the presented language was not acceptable. Specifically, the words were "Leopard Spots" and "Clansman."

The Voice of the Negro also promoted Theodore Roosevelt's presidency in the early 1901 and 1904, where he spoke and promoted his ideas of "equality," and he was an "advocate of a square deal." After he was elected in 1901, he appointed Booker T. Washington as his advisor of the "Negro population" and appointed William Crum a "black customs collector." Those advances "agitated" many white in the South. Roosevelt later made the South extremely uneasy when he invited Washington to a White House dinner. Though Washington "declared" that the White House dinner was only to the president's benefit, Theodore Roosevelt publicly announced the regret of his initial actions. In 1904, Roosevelt won the presidency, and The Voice of the Negro announced that he won based on the "overwhelming majority of American people believed civic righteousness and fair play to all races."

During Roosevelt's presidency, The Voice of the Negro criticized his role in the change of his racial policy and called his failures to call Congress's attention to open the nullification of the 14th and 15th Amendments. The black community also became outraged with Roosevelt's lack of action in the Brownsville, Texas incident where one citizen was killed and two wounded during a violent riot by white citizens.

The Voice of the Negro became the black population's voice and reflected the anger and outrage of the black population.

Social and educational developments

The Voice of the Negro's manifesto from the first issue. Manifesto of The Voice of the Negro, Vol 1, 1904.png
The Voice of the Negro's manifesto from the first issue.

Through its articles and editorials, The Voice of the Negro worked to encourage the social and educational development of Black people. The magazine "advocated Black pride, Black self-respect, and encouraged the Black race to seek all of its rights and privileges guaranteed by law." [7] There were many ways in which it worked to advocate these things. For example, the magazine urged the Black population to not emulate the white race to the degree where they lose the appreciation for the beauty and qualities of their own. As well, they stated that since freedom of speech and press were greatly limited in the South, they encouraged people of races to valiantly stand for the rights of everyone and demand their freedoms. The magazine also discussed the attributes a Black man should have: he should think of himself as a worthy man and to demand equal justice and common courtesy from the white man. [7]

The Voice of the Negro encouraged the educational development of Black people, especially in higher institutions of learning. Two universities that were commended by the magazine were Atlanta University and Tuskegee University. In Georgia, Atlanta University was the first higher institution to allow admission to people of all backgrounds and in The Voice of the Negro they were praised for being an institution that had not been "swept from its course by the phantasy of Negro industrial supremacy. It believes in practical education, but it believes that practical education is that kind of education that introduces a man to mankind and helps him to know intimately his own soul." [8] Booker T. Washington was principal of Tuskegee University and the magazine praised his efforts to develop the school despite the mistakes he made a long the way. The Voice of the Negro gave recognition to Washington's success and honored the hard work he put into honoring his race and his nation. [7] Despite the differing ideologies of each institution's leaders, the magazine still praised their success in supporting the educational development of Black people.

Decline of the magazine

The cover of the magazine for the issue published in November 1906 in Vol. 3, now renamed The Voice. Cover page of The Voice Magazine Vol 3, November 1906.png
The cover of the magazine for the issue published in November 1906 in Vol. 3, now renamed The Voice.

There was a lot of racial violence occurring in Georgia in the beginning of the 20th century, but the event that impacted the magazine the most was the Atlanta Massacre of 1906. One of the main editors, Jesse Max Barber, was enraged at the speculations that the riot was caused by Atlanta's Black population, so he anonymously wrote in the New York World that the white press was to blame. His authorship was discovered eventually by white leaders and he was threatened with arrest. To avoid arrest, Barber fled to Chicago and continued publication under the shortened name The Voice. However, after relocating, "the subsequent financial instability, coupled with increasing pressure from Tuskegee, compelled Barber to cease production, reluctantly, in October 1907." [4]

Content

Volume One [6]

The first volume of The Voice of the Negro, was published January 1904. Their goal was to keep the American people updated on the current history, educational improvements, art, science, race issues, sociological movements and religion. The price to subscribe to the issues were $1.00 per year.

Volume one was released in 12 different issues containing events that happened in that particular month. Each of these issues had different editors and contributors which made the content different in every issue.

Volume One No.1 had major contributors like Prof. William Scarborough, Prof. John Hope, Prof. Kelly Miller, Mr. S. A. Beadle and Prof. Silas X. Floyd. All these authors also contributed a short excerpts and poems, an example is S. A. Beadle's short story "If I Had a Million".

Volume One No. 2 had the same contributors as No.1 but introduced newer content from Kelly Miller, Jno. H. Adams Jr, J. Max Barber, W. G. Carver, Benjamin Brawley, H. M. Porter, L. A. J. Moorer, D. Webster Davis, and Silas X. Floyd.

Volume Two [8]

The second volume of The Voice of the Negro, was published in January 1905. This volume is split up into different numbers going all the way to Number 12. This is released on a monthly basis and is shown next to the title of the Journal.

The credited editors on this Volume Two No. 1 are Benjamin Brawley, Corporal Simmons, Mary Terrell, Bishop Warren Candler, Rev. Dr. Bradley, William Ward, W. E. B. DuBois, Kelly Miller, W.H. Council, Dr. Landrum, James Corrothers, Gardner Goldsby, Alice Ward Smith, and Silas Floyd.

The Voice of the Negro's front page of Volume Two #1. Published January 1905. Front Page of Volume Two -1.png
The Voice of the Negro's front page of Volume Two #1. Published January 1905.

The Voice of the Negro first opens with a Monthly Review, which would consist of events that are happening within that year and some insight as to some congressional decisions that had occurred within that year. This journal also includes pieces that are written by the editors discussing a variety of topics. These topics consist of some valuable insight into some of the actions that affect Black people, such as a paper written by Bishop Candler who wrote on the subject of Hostility to lynching. The journal also consists of short stories one of them written by James Corrothers, the title of the short story is "Lincoln".

The credited editors in Vol. Two No. 2 were Gardner Goldsby, Pauline E. Hopkins, Wellington Adams, Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, Daniel Murray, John Henery Adams, and newer material from W.E.B DuBois, Silas X. Floyd, and W. S. Scarborough.

Volume Three [9]

The third volume of The Voice of the Negro, was published in January 1906. This volume continued the same structure as the previous volumes by releasing twelve different installments corresponding to the year's months.

Vol. 3 No. 1 had contributions from Asa Thombson, William Pickens, T.H. Malone, J.W.E. Bowen, G.A. Lee, W.E.B. DuBois, Mrs. L.K. Wiggins, and Benjamin G. Brawley

Vol. 3 No. 2 had contributions from Alice Ward Smith, Mary White Ovington, J.H. Gray, T.H. Malone, John Henry Adams, Florence Bentley, Daniel Murray, M.A. Majors, Joseph Manning, William Maxwell, John Jenifer, and Silas Floyd

Vol. 3 No. 3 had contributions from Azalia Marlen, Henry Proctor, James Corrothers, Daniel Murray, Will Hendrickson, W.E.B. DuBois, T. THomas Fortune, Lida Wiggins, S.H. Archer, C.C. Poindexter, Anna Comstock, Fanny Williams, and Henery Middleton

Volume Four [9]

The fourth volume of The Voice of the Negro, was published in January 1907. This volume continued the same structure as the previous volumes by releasing twelve different installments corresponding to the year's months. This was the last volume produced by The Voice of the Negro.

The first issue of vol. Four was a conjoined issue with content from January and February 1907, this issue had contributions from J. Francis Lee, Jasper Phillips, John Daniels, Alexnder Chamberlain, W.S. Scarboroguh, Joseph B. Foraker, Lena Lewis, Russell Fleming, Azalia Martin, John Fraser, Daniel Thompson, John Work, Katherine Tillman, Vere Goldthwaite, William Pickens, Florence Bentley, Fiona Macleod, Jack Thorne, and Silas X. Floyd

The second issue of vol. Four was released in March 1907 and consisted of contributions from Chas Mayberry, A.D. Delaney, Edward E. Wilson, Will H. Hendrickson, Alexander F. Chamberlain, W.E.B DuBois, W.S. Scarborough, J.E. Bruce, Florence Bentley, William Pickens, John Henery Adams, Mary Church Terrell, Florence Lewis Bentley, William Braithwaite, J.A.G. Luvall, Silas X. Floyd and Mrs. Bettie G. Francis

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Booker T. Washington</span> American educator, author, orator and adviser (1856–1915)

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. E. B. Du Bois</span> American sociologist and activist (1868–1963)

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Weldon Johnson</span> American writer and activist (1871–1938)

James Weldon Johnson was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917. In 1920, he was chosen as executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer. He served in that position from 1920 to 1930. Johnson established his reputation as a writer, and was known during the Harlem Renaissance for his poems, novel and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of Black culture. He wrote the lyrics for "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which later became known as the Black National Anthem, the music being written by his younger brother, composer J. Rosamond Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niagara Movement</span> African-American civil rights organization founded in 1905

The Niagara Movement (NM) was a civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of activists—many of whom were among the vanguard of African-American lawyers in the United States—led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. The Niagara Movement was organized to oppose racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Its members felt "unmanly" the policy of accommodation and conciliation, without voting rights, promoted by Booker T. Washington. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and took Niagara Falls as its symbol. The group did not meet in Niagara Falls, New York, but planned its first conference for nearby Buffalo. The Niagara Movement was the immediate predecessor of the NAACP.

<i>The Crisis</i> Official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

The Crisis is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Miller, William Stanley Braithwaite, and Mary Dunlop Maclean. The Crisis has been in continuous print since 1910, and it is the oldest Black-oriented magazine in the world. Today, The Crisis is "a quarterly journal of civil rights, history, politics and culture and seeks to educate and challenge its readers about issues that continue to plague African Americans and other communities of color."

<i>The Century Magazine</i> US magazine (1881–1930)

The Century Magazine was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Association. It was the successor of Scribner's Monthly Magazine. It was merged into The Forum in 1930.

William Henry Ferris was an author, minister, and scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrie Williams Clifford</span> American feminist author, clubwoman and civil rights activist

Carrie Williams Clifford was an author, clubwoman, and activist in the women's rights and civil rights movements in the United States.

The National Negro Committee was created in response to the Springfield race riot of 1908 against the black community in Springfield, Illinois. Prominent black activists and white progressives called for a national conference to discuss African-American civil rights. They met to address the social, economic, and political rights of African Americans. This gathering served as the predecessor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was formally named during the second meeting in May 1910.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John W. E. Bowen Sr.</span> American Methodist clergyman and academic

John Wesley Edward Bowen was born into American slavery and became a Methodist clergyman, denominational official, college and university educator and one of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. degree in the United States. He is credited as the first African American to receive the Ph.D. degree from Boston University, which was granted in 1887.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Afro-American Council</span> US civil rights organization

The National Afro-American Council was the first nationwide civil rights organization in the United States, created in 1898 in Rochester, New York. Before its dissolution a decade later, the Council provided both the first national arena for discussion of critical issues for African Americans and a training ground for some of the nation's most famous civil rights leaders in the 1910s, 1920s, and beyond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry A. Hunt</span> American educator

Henry Alexander Hunt was an American educator who led efforts to reach blacks in rural areas of Georgia. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as the Harmon Prize. In addition, he was recruited in the 1930s by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to join the president's Black Cabinet, an informal group of more than 40 prominent African Americans appointed to positions in the executive agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James D. Corrothers</span> African American poet and minister

James David Corrothers was an African-American poet, journalist, and minister whom editor Timothy Thomas Fortune called "the coming poet of the race." When Corrothers died, W. E. B. Du Bois eulogized him as "a serious loss to the race and to literature."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Barber</span> American journalist

Jesse Max Barber was an African-American journalist, teacher and dentist.

The American Negro Academy (ANA), founded in Washington, DC in 1897, was the first organization in the United States to support African-American academic scholarship. It operated until 1928, and encouraged African Americans to undertake classical academic studies and liberal arts.

<i>The Colored American Magazine</i> American early 20th century publication

The Colored American Magazine was the first monthly publication in the United States that covered African-American culture. It ran from May 1900 to November 1909 and had a peak circulation of 17,000. The magazine was initially published out of Boston by the Colored Co-Operative Publishing Company, and from 1904 forward, by Moore Publishing and Printing Company in New York. The editorial staff included novelist Pauline Hopkins who was also the main writer. In a 1904 hostile takeover involving Booker T. Washington, Fred Randolph Moore purchased the magazine and replaced Hopkins as editor.

The Negro Problem is a collection of seven essays by prominent Black American writers, such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Paul Laurence Dunbar, edited by Booker T. Washington, and published in 1903. It covers law, education, disenfranchisement, and Black Americans' place in American society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette M. Hershaw</span> American civil rights activist (1863–1945)

Lafayette M. Hershaw was a journalist, lawyer, and a clerk and law examiner for the United States General Land Office of the United States Department of the Interior. He was a key intellectual figure among African Americans in Atlanta in the 1880s and in Washington, D.C., from 1890 until his death. He was a leader of the intellectual social groups in the capital such as Bethel Literary and Historical Society and the Pen and Pencil Club. He was a strong supporter of W. E. B. Du Bois and was one of the thirteen organizers of the Niagara Movement, the forerunner to the NAACP. He was an officer of the D.C. Branch of the NAACP from its inception until 1928. He was also a founder of the Robert H. Terrell Law School and served as the school's president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freeman H. M. Murray</span> Civil rights activist, and journalist in Washington D.C

Freeman H. M. Murray was an intellectual, civil rights activist, and journalist in Washington D.C. and Alexandria, Virginia. He was active in promoting black home-ownership, opposing Jim Crow laws and lynching, and supporting positive representation of African Americans in public art. He was a founding member of the Niagara Movement and was an editor of its journal, the Horizon, along with W. E. B. Du Bois and Lafayette M. Hershaw. Alongside his other work, Murray was an important intellectual leader and wrote an influential book of art criticism. In this, Murray was one of the first historians of African American art. His work expressed a desire that art take seriously the representation of African Americans and that slavery not be overlooked in favor of representation of heroes and glory in public art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silas X. Floyd</span>

Silas Xavier Floyd was an African-American educator, preacher, and journalist. Active in Augusta, Georgia, he was a writer and editor at the Augusta Sentinel and later wrote for the Augusta Chronicle. In 1892 he co-founded the Negro Press Association of Georgia. He was pastor at Augusta's Tabernacle Baptist Church and was a prominent agent of the International Sunday School Convention. He was also a public school principal and an officer of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools.

References

  1. Louis R. Harlan, "Booker T. Washington and the Voice of the Negro, 1904–1907", Journal of Southern History 45 (February 1979), pp. 45–62.
  2. Rose Bibliography (Project) (1974), Analytical guide and indexes to the Voice of the Negro, 1904-1907, Greenwood Press, ISBN   978-0-8371-7174-6
  3. The Voice of the Negro : an illustrated monthly magazine, Atlanta; Chicago, 1904, retrieved 18 June 2018
  4. 1 2 3 Johnson, Bethany (Spring 2000). "Freedom and Slavery in the Voice of the Negro: Historical Memory and African-American Identity, 1904-1907". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 84 (1): 29–71. JSTOR   40584226 via JSTOR.
  5. Bowman, Peter (29 June 2016). "The Voice of the Negro". Index of Modernist Magazines.
  6. 1 2 "The Voice of the Negro. v.1 1904". HathiTrust. Negro periodicals in the United States: 4 v. in 3. 1969. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  7. 1 2 3 Walden, Carolyn (August 1, 1970). "An analysis of the Black experience as reflected in the Voice of the Negro 1904-1907" (PDF). ETD Collection for AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library.
  8. 1 2 "The Voice of the Negro. v.2 (1905)". HathiTrust. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  9. 1 2 "The Voice of the Negro. v.3-4 (1906-07)". HathiTrust. Retrieved 2020-11-05.