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Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African-American Newspapers

Chicago Defender - February 22, 1965

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February - Archived Posts
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February 1, 1980: Atlanta Daily World on Carter G. Woodson and articles from 1926-27 on first “Negro History Week.”
February 2, 1936: Atlanta Daily World and black press editorial cartoons on Ethiopian anti-colonial battle against Italy.
February 3, 1948: Atlanta Daily World on efforts to block black voting rights on anniversary of passage of 15th Amendment.
February 4, 1956: Pittsburgh Courier on Montgomery Bus Boycott, in honor of Rosa Parks’ birthday.
February 5, 1977: New York Amsterdam News, “Roots Captivates Millions of T-Viewers.”
February 6, 1982: Cleveland Call & Post advertisement for Wilber Black, the (Jheri) “Kurl King” and Black’s Pride Hair Care Center.
February 7, 1944: Los Angeles Tribune ad for “Sweet ’n’ Hot” revue featuring Dorothy Dandridge.
February 7, 1948: Cleveland Call and Post editorial cartoon on segregation of University of Oklahoma Law School and Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher.
February 8, 1964: New York Amsterdam News covers NYC school boycott, the largest civil rights protest in U.S. history.
February 9, 1935: Selection of articles from Norfolk Journal and Guide on anti-lynching work, Negro History Week, Imitation of Life, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
February 10, 1959: Philadelphia Tribune reports on voter registration efforts in the city.
February 11, 1928: Valentine’s Day wishes from the Chicago Defender Junior.
February 12, 1949: “Grow Old With Me” short story in Baltimore Afro-American.
February 13, 1960: Greensboro sit-in protests in Norfolk Journal and Guide and Cleveland Call and Post.
February 14, 1946: Los Angeles Sentinel on fire in Fontana that killed O’Day, Helen, Barry, and Carol Ann Short.
February 15, 1975: Pittsburgh Courier editor-in-chief Hazel Garland on professional opportunities for retired black athletes and lack of black television news anchors.
February 16, 1965: Chicago Defender on the death of Nat King Cole.
February 17, 1979: Ad for The Warriors in New York Amsterdam News, and article by Amsterdam News intern Nelson George.
February 18, 1944: Atlanta Daily World on Harry Alpin, the first African-American reporter to cover a White House press conference.
February 19, 1910: Clubwoman Ida Cummings in the Baltimore Afro-American.
February 20, 1969: “Bowling Around L.A” by Los Angeles Sentinel columnist Juanita Blocker.
February 21, 1970: Black journalists’ statement of support for the New York Times’ Earl Caldwell and his right to protect confidential sources in the Black Panther Party.
February 22, 1965: The black press on the murder of Malcolm X.
February 23, 1957: Philadelphia Tribune on Thomas Edison (formerly Northeast) High School and how board moved school to create segregated facility.
February 24, 1934: Carter G. Woodson in Pittsburgh Courier on “Forgotten Negroes.”
February 25, 1939: Blanche Thompson, Irvin C. Miller, and “Brown Skin Models” revue in Norfolk Journal and Guide.
February 26, 1949: Baltimore Afro-American on Satchel Paige and other black major league baseball players heading to spring training.
February 27, 1937: New York Amsterdam News on Dr. Anna Cooper Johnson’s new dental office in Harlem.
February 28, 1978: Philadelphia Tribune on MOVE conflict with Philadelphia authorities eight years before bombing.
February 29, 1956: Chicago Defender on Leap Year tradition of single women courting bachelors.
February 22, 1965 On February 22, 1965, the Chicago Defender reported on Malcolm X, who was murdered the day before in New York City. Several other black newspapers carried the story over the following week, and it is interesting to see how differently the papers presented the story. The Defender gave most of its front page to a banner headline (“Malcolm X Slain at N.Y. Rally”) and a photo of Malcolm X on a stretcher, but the top headline was about the death of Reverend Louis Boddie (“The Rock will feed his flock”), the pastor of the city’s Greater Harvest Baptist Church. The Defender also ran part 2 of a tribute to Nat King Cole, which I posted about on February 16 . The Baltimore Afro-American also featured a story about Nat King Cole above news about Malcolm X.

Malcolm X’s hometown paper, the New York Amsterdam News , featured a large picture of Malcolm X lying in state at the Unity Funeral Home and a series of “Malcolm X as I Knew Him” stories by Amsterdam News reporters. The Norfolk Journal and Guide, in contrast, ran a picture of Malcolm X holding his young daughter Ilyasah with a caption noting “Militant Nationalist leader Malcolm X does not appear too ‘militant’ in this recent picture.”

The Philadelphia Tribune ran a picture of Betty Shabazz and others gathered around Malcolm X after he was shot and several stories on the event. The Cleveland Call and Post ’s headline warned, “Malcolm’s Avengers Trigger Muslim War.” The Pittsburgh Courier and Los Angeles Sentinel gave less front page space to the story, and in the Sentinel the top headline was “TV Man Dies in ‘Hot Dog’ Row,” a crime story involving a television repair man.

When I searched for news coverage of the event, I expected that the front pages of other papers would have resembled the Defender ’s banner headline. Seeing the variety of news coverage of Malcolm X’s death in the black press is a useful reminder of how this iconic figure’s legacy continued to grow after his death.

To view PDF images of the newspaper front pages, click the links below:
Baltimore Afro-American
Chicago Defender
Cleveland Call and Post
Los Angeles Sentinel
New York Amsterdam News
Norfolk Journal and Guide
Philadelphia Tribune
Pittsburgh Courier