When we think of the early Black journalists in our nation’s history, we most often think of men. Like the original editors of Freedom’s Journal, Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm. But what about the Black women journalists who were writing and editing right right along side their male counterparts?
Remembering Black Women Journalists
For today’s Black journalist’s profile, I’d like to submit not one single person, but rather the collective of Black women journalists of the nineteenth century who forged careers as newspaper women and used their voices to advocate for the causes they believed in, from civil rights to women’s suffrage. What makes their work so amazing and inspiring, is that these pioneers in the newspaper industry were getting published when Black women had neither the rights nor the respect enjoyed by their white contemporaries, male or female. But unfortunately (but not surprisingly), their legacy is often forgotten because the chroniclers of history too often ignored their important contributions to the field of journalism. But thankfully not everyone forgets.
Say Their Names
Maya Millett wrote this informative piece profiling six 19th century Black women journalists whose names we should all know; Lillian Parker Thomas Fox, Katherine Davis Chapman Tillman, Lucy Wilmot Smith, Mary Virginia Cook-Parrish, Dr. Mary Ellen Britton, and Victoria Earle Matthews. These six brave, brilliant women found a way around violent racism and sexism to make their voices heard in the pages of not only the Black press, but also in some of the biggest mainstream newspapers of the day! And the six women in Millett’s article clearly aren’t the only Black women journalists who were getting published in the 18th and 19th centuries. Millett writes:
“If they didn’t know one another directly, the women journalists working during the era of the black press’s proliferation at least knew, and often publicly admired, the others’ work—so interconnected were their worlds. These women were fighting against multiple systems—racism, sexism, an exclusionary white feminist movement—that were determined to keep them unseen and unheard. With their platforms, they were attempting to write themselves, and all black women across America, into undeniable visibility. Together with the leading women thinkers, leaders, and activists of the race, they offered black women powerful tools to advocate for themselves—and gave us language, ideas, and strategies for political engagement that we are still influenced by today.”
Never Forget: Black Women Journalists Did That
Please read Millett’s informative article – illustrated by some of my favorite contemporary Black artists – and get inspired by the idea of what’s possible. You might also want to read this Washington Post article that puts into historical context the legacy that Black women journalists follow today. The story begins with the example of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the first Black woman to publish her own newspaper in 1854!
Maybe we should all pick up a pen and write.
Peace!
