titles; 16-year old Hosea Richardson, the
first Negro to attain real prominence as a
jockey for many a year; and Art Dor-
rington, on the Washington Lions of the
Eastern Hockey League and first Negro
to play in organized hockey in the U.S.
For the second straight year Howard
Wheeler participated in the National
Open Golf Championships, but failed to
qualify as one of the 50 finalists (his
score, 75-78-153).
Among the most encouraging incidents
was the participation by Negroes for the
first time in a National Bowling Associa-
tion tournament (Baltimore, April).
There is every indication that this "peo-
ple's" sport will soon function as demo-
cratically as the other major American
sports.
The Negro Press
CIRCULATION ARIZONA arc.
Phoenix
. T Sun (wkly) 2,000
Since the beginning of 1947, 27 Negro
newspapers have been established in the
United States. Seven were born in 1947, California Eagle (wkly) 20,000
six in 1948, four in 1949, seven in 1950, ri . te ,fL V" 1 , 6 ^ kly) / Lu<
. . Tf.r'i TU J if. . Neighborhood News (wkly)
three m 1951. 1 hey appeared in 16 states Sentinel (wkly) 25,000
and the District of Columbia, one in each J ribune %W :; 10 ' 000
, .-., . , T. ,. i i Spotlight (Th. & Sun.) 30,000
location except Ohio and Missouri, which Star Review (Th.). 12 500
had three each, and Alabama, Georgia, Oakland
TII. . FT! f, vr j c i_ California Voice (wkly) 10.500
Illinois, lexas, California, and bouth Herald (wkly)
Carolina, which had tWO each. San Bernardino
In 1951, a total of 187 Negro news- San f e o nty Bulletin (wkly)
papers were functioning in 35 states and Comet (wkly) 10,000
tVlP District ni rnlnmhia with a rnmViinprl San Francisco
iCt 01 ^Olumma, Wltn a combined Sun-Reporter (wkly) 24,480
circulation of 2,444,593, and there were Labor Herald (s-mo.) 85,567
43 Negro magazines, with a combined Tota/ 228 047
circulation of 1,299,637. COLORADO
Denver
Colorado Statesman (wkly) 2,700
Circulation of Newspapers 1 _ St *f ( wkl y) 1 500
Pueblo
Western Ideal (wkly) 1,100
ALABAMA Circ.
Birmingham Total 5,300
Baptist Leader (wkly) 3,500 DIST RICT OF COLUMBIA
Review (wkly) 18,893 Washington
World (s-wkly) 10,500 ^tSmerican (s-wkly) (Tue.) 15,120
Mirror (wkly) ......... .. ... 21,106 Afro-American (s-wkly) (Fri.) 19 281
Alabama Weekly Review (wkly) 28,438 c ital Times (Uly) . 13 500
M b, lle ,. , . . . Gaily News (Fri.). 10,000
Advocate (wkly) Nite Life fFri ) 5 000
Gulf Informer (wkly) 12,643
Montgomery T t , 62 o 01
Alabama Tribune (wkly) 1 ,500 J M ^' VU1
Tuscaloosa FLORIDA
Alabama Citizen (wkly) 8,000 J a cf onville
Tuskegee2 Florida Tattler (wkly) 10,508
Herald (wkly) 2,740 Progressive News (wkly) 8,650
_____ Florida Star (wkly) 5,000
Total 107,320 Mj 31 ....
Call, The (wkly)
ARKANSAS Tropical Dispatch (wkly)
Little Rock Florida Times 5,500
Arkansas Survey-Journal (wkly) 12,550 Pensacola
Arkansas World (wkly) 13,560 Colored Citizen (wkly) 1,100
Baptist Vanguard Courier (wkly) 5,342
State Press (wkly) 17,656 Tampa
Arkansas Flashlight (wkly) 1,500 Bulletin (wkly) 780
Pine Bluff Courier (Sat.) 1,500
Negro Spokesman (wkly) 7,000 Florida Sentinel (Tues.) 9,400
Total 52,266
Total 47,780
1 Circulation figures from N. Jf. Ayer & Son's Directory Newspapers and Periodicals (1950) and Editor and
Publisher International Yearbook (1951).
2 Owned by whites and edited by Negroes.
32
CIRCULATION
33
GEORGIA Circ.
Albany
Enterprise (wkly) 2,242
Southwest Georgian (Sat.) 1,500
Atlanta
World (dly) 29,500
Augusta Review 4,000
Columbus
World (Sun.) 2,800
Macon
World 2,500
Rome
Enterprise (ftntly) >.
Savannah
Tribune (wkly) 3,992
Herald . .
Total 46,534
ILLINOIS
Chicago
Defender (wkly) 155,074
World (wkly) 32,000
Globe (wkly) 35,000
East St. Louis
Crusader, The (wkly)
Robbing
Herald (wkly) 3,800
Views and Voices of Chicago and
Suburbs
Springfield
Illinois Chronicle (wkly) 1,200
Illinois Conservator (s-mo.) 3,500
Total 230,574
INDIANA
Evansville
Consolidated News (bi-wkly) 7,000
Gary
American (wkly) 5,500
Lake County Observer (wkly) 8,000
Indianapolis
Recorder (wkly) 11,635
Total 32,135
IOWA
Des Moines
Iowa Bystander (wkly) 1 ,863
Iowa Observer (wkly) ; 1,100
Total 2,863
KANSAS
Hutchinson
Blade (Fri.) 635
Kansas City
Peoples Elevator (wkly)
Plaindealer (wkly) 15,000
Wyandotte Echo (wkly) 1,000
Wichita
Negro Star (wkly) 1,000
Total 17,635
KENTUCKY
Louisville
American Baptist, (wkly) 1,500
Defender (wkly) 1 5,226
Kentucky Reporter (wkly) 1 ,000
Leader (wkly) 15,296
Total 33,022
LOUISIANA
New Orleans
Central Christian Advocate (wkly) 23,000
Informer and Sentinel (wkly) 3,890
LOUISIANA (Cont.) Circ.
New Orleans
Louisiana Weekly (wkly) 12,678
Sun (wkly) 1,000
Shreveport
Sun (wkly) 10,680
Total 51,248
MARYLAND
Baltimore
Afro-American (wkly) 60,742
(Tues. local issue) 31,511
(Sat. local issue) 32,352
Total 124,605
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston
Chronicle (wkly) 5,000
Guardian (wkly) 10,000
Times (wkly) 12,000
Total 27,000
MICHIGAN
Detroit
Michigan Chronical (wkly) 21,619
Telegram (wkly) 1,1*00
Tribune (wkly) 18,500
Inkster
Voice (wkly) 1,600
Total 42,719
MINNESOTA
Minneapolis
Spokesman (wkly) 4,318
Twin City Observer (wkly) 5,127
St. Paul
Recorder (wkly) 3,958
Total 13,403
MISSISSIPPI
Greenville
Delta Leader (Sun.) 3,000
Jackson
Advocate (wkly) 5,500
Mississippi Enterprise (wkly) 10,000
Meridian
Echo (s-mo.) 7,500
Mound Bayou
News-Digest (s-mo.) 4,728
New Albany
Community Citizen (s-mo.) 1,925
Total 32,653
MISSOURI
Kansas City
Call (wkly) 38,892
St. Louis
American (wkly) 18,374
Argus (wkly) 25,650
News (wkly) 3,000
Total 85,916
NEBRASKA
Lincoln
Voice (wkly) 843
Omaha
Guide (wkly) 15,965
Star (wkly) 25,575
Total 42,383
NEW JERSEY
Newark
New Jersey Afro-American (wkly) 14,609
34
THE NEGRO PRESS
NEW JERSEY (Con/.) Circ.
Newark
New Jersey Herald News (wkly) 28,371
New Jersey Record (wkly)
Patterson
North Jersey Independent (wkly) 26,498
Total 69,478
NEW YORK
Buffalo
Criterion, The (wkly) 2,500
Empire Star (wkly) 8,115
New York
Age (wkly) 32,750
Amsterdam News (wkly) 59,849
Westchester County Press (wkly) 6,000
Rochester
Star (wkly) 2,825
Voice (bi-wkly) 3,267
Syracuse
Progressive Herald (wkly) 5,500
Total 120,806
NORTH CAROLINA
Asheville
Southern News (wkly) 2,700
Charlotte
Post (wkly) 5,000
Star of Zion (wkly) 8,000
Eagle 15,000
Durham
Carolina Times (wkly) 10,385
Henderson
Mountain News (wkly) 2,000
Raleigh
Carolinian, The (wkly) 1 5,000
Wilmington
Journal (wkly) 10,000
Total 68,085
OHIO
Cincinnati
Independent (wkly) 7,500
Union (wkly) 12,000
Cleveland
Call and Post (wkly) v . . . . 23,530
Guide (wkly)
Herald (wkly) ; 12,000
Columbus
Ohio State News (wkly) 7,380
Sentinel (wkly) 6,232
Dayton
Ohio Express (dly) .' 7,500
Citizen (wkly) 5,000
Hamilton
Butler County American (wkly) 1,600
Youngstown
Buckeye Review, The (wkly) 2,100
Toledo
Script (wkly) 25,000
Total 109,842
OKLAHOMA
Muskogee
Oklahoma Independent (wkly) 2,000
Oklahoma City
Black Dispatch (wkly) 23,888
Okmulgee
Observer (wkly) 1,800
Tulsa
Appeal (wkly) 3,320
Oklahoma Eagle (wkly) 5,000
Total 36,008
OREGON Circ.
Portland
Northwest Clarion (wkly) . ; 15,000
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia
Afro-American (wkly) 18,496
Christian Review (wkly) 6,000
Independent (wkly) 24,213
Tribune (s-wkly) 20,916
Pittsburgh
Courier (wkly) 268,447
Triangle Advocate (wkly) 2,000
Total 340,072
RHODE ISLAND
Providence
Chronicle (wkly) 1,541
SOUTH CAROLINA
Charleston
New Citizen (wkly) 2,000
Columbia
Lighthouse and Informer (wkly) 6,400
Palmetto Leader (wkly) 4,680
Greenville
American (wkly) 2,000
Sumter
Samaritan Herald and Voice 1,000
of Job (wkly)
Total 16,080
TENNESSEE
Chattanooga
Observer (wkly) ,
Jackson
Christian Index, The (wkly) ,
Knoxville
Flashlight Herald (wkly)
Monitor (wkly)
Memphis
World (s-wkly) (Tues.)
(Fri.)
Nashville
Globe and Independent (wkly)
National Baptist Union Review (wkly) .
Recorder (wkly) .
4,000
6,000
6,500
5,700
16,000
21,000
26,000
53,460
8,000
Total 146,660
TEXAS
Dallas
Express (wkly)
Fort Worth
Defender and Baptist Herald (wkly) ....
Lake Como News (wkly)
Mind (wkly)
Houston
Defender (wkly)
Houston Informer (wkly)
Informer and Texas Freeman, The(wkly)
Negro Labor News (wkly)
Marshall
Traveler (wkly)
San Antonio
Register (wkly)
Waco
Messenger (wkly)
Total 71,111
VIRGINIA
Charlottesville
Tribune (wkly) 3,000
Norfolk
Journal and Guide (wkly) 63,428
8,728
3,860
2,000
2,000
3,361
7,803
26,109
2,000
1,500
9,750
4,000
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS
35
VIRGINIA (Cont.)
Richmond
Afro-American (wkly)
Roanoke
Tribune (wkly)
Circ.
11,303
15,000
Circ.
Total
WASHINGTON
Seattle
Northwest Enterprise (wkly)
WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield
Independent Observer (wkly)
WISCONSIN
Milwaukee
Globe (wkly)
Wisconsin Enterprise-Blade (wkly)
92,731
10,500
2,400
975
55,000
Total 55,975
Circulation of Magazines 1
NEW YORK
New York
Crisis (mo.) 40,000
Interracial Review (mo.) 10,000
Journal of the National Medical Associa-
tion (bi-mo.) 4,032
Our World (mo.) 166,031
Voice of Missions (mo.) 2,300
NORTH CAROLINA
Charlotte
Quarterly Review of Higher Education
Among Negroes (quar.) 2,000
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia
Bronze Woman (mo.) 5,700
Kappa Alpha Psi Journal (mo.) 4,000
TENNESSEE
Memphis
Sphinx Magazine (quar.) 14,000
Whole Truth, The (mo.) 2,000
Nashville
American Negro Mind (mo.) 3,000
Broadcaster, The (quar.) 2,791
Message Magazine (mo.) 5,000
ALABAMA Circ. Modern Farmer, The (mo.) 32,^00
Tuskegee National Baptist Voice (bi-mo.) 5,000
Service (mo.) 5,000 Review, The (quar.) 3,000
CALIFORNIA West'n Christian Recorder (s-mo.) 2,000
Berkeley Union City
Ivy Leaf (quar.) 5,000 Cumberland Flag, The (mo.) 500
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA I EX , A , S .
Washington Port Worth
Journal of Negro Education, (quar.).... 4,500 World's Messenger (mo.) 6,000
Journal of Negro History (quar.) 1 ,450 Ne S ro Aclnevements (mo.) 4,000
Negro History Bulletin (mo.) 9,000 VIRGINIA
Pulse (mo.) 25,000 Manassas
i^urMsr-TA Bulletin of the National Dental Assn.
GEORGIA (quar.)... 1,650
Atlanta D . K j
Colored Morticians Bulletin, The (mo.) 1,500 ^^ke Fraternal Bulletin (mo.) .... 1,400
Foundation, The (quar.) 1,000
Georgia Baptist, The (s-mo.) 2,500 WEST VIRGINIA
Macon Charleston
Sunday School Worker (bi-mo.). ..?... Color (mo.) 100,483
ILLINOIS
Ch E C bo g ny ( mo.) 379,000 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
Negro Digest (mo.) 100,000 PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Negro Traveler 72,000
Tan Confessions 200,000 _, ,. T ,., r ui u A
p eoria The Negro Newspaper Publishers Asso-
Bronze Citizen (mo.) 1,000 ciation, which recently substituted "Na-
KENTUCKY tional" for "Negro" in its name, ended its
LO Kenmcky Negro Education Assn. Journal eleventh year of existence in 1951 with
(bi-mo.) ,1,400 the announcement of a venture designed
MARYLAND to raise the income of individual member
Ba Ced Harvest, The (mo.) 46,000 P a P 6rS and tO & VG the organization a
MICHIGAN greater unity. The venture, to be headed
Detroit by Dowdal H. Davis, general manager of
Postal Alliance, The (mo.) 10,000 the Kansas City Call and former NNPA
MISSISSIPPI president, is a national survey of con-
Bay St. Louis , i ^1 r i -ii-
St. Augustine's Messenger (mo.) 9,400 sumer preferences in the $15-billion an-
Mound Bayou nua l Negro market. Surveys of Negro-
Taborian Star (mo.) 6,000 , , t
Yazoo City consumer brand preferences were con-
Central Voice, The (mo.) 2,500 ducted earlier by individual publications
1 Circulation figures have been derived in the main from N. W. Ayer & Son's Directory Newspapers and
Periodicals (1950).
36
THE NEGRO PRESS
the Pittsburgh Courier, Afro-American,
Louisville Defender, Ebony magazine
and by one newspaper representatives
agency, the Interstate United News-
papers, Inc. Results of the findings have
been printed for distribution mainly to
potential advertisers. The Davis survey
marks the first such inquiry by an organi-
zation of Negro publishers.
At the beginning of 1947, the NNPA
organized within itself three societies de-
voted to editorial, advertising, and circu-
lation interests. Every year these societies
meet concurrently with the parent or-
ganization.
In an effort to strengthen the news
service for Negro newspapers and to meet
objections to the costs of its existing
service, the NNPA, in its eighth annual
session in Detroit in June 1947, voted
transference of its news-service opera-
tions to a group of its members to be
incorporated. P. Bernard Young, Jr.,
editor-in-chief, Journal and Guide, served
as the first chairman of the new agency,
which kept the initials NNPA, signifying
National Negro Press Association. News-
papers subscribing the necessary capital
stock were: The Call, Journal and Guide,
Kansas City Plaindealer, Ohio State
News, Afro-American, Louisville De-
fender, Atlanta Daily World, Cleveland
Call and Post, Houston Informer. Chicago
Defender, and Detroit Tribune.
Thomas W. Young, business manager
for the Journal and Guide r succeeded
Frank L. Stanley, editor-publisher of the
Louisville Defender, as president of the
publishers' organization. Young, a jour-
nalism and law graduate of Ohio State
University, was the first professionally
trained member to serve as the leader of
NNPA. Convention resolutions deplored
the end of National Housing Expediter's
race-relations service, approved the pro-
gram of the American Heritage Founda-
tion, encouraged Negro business, urged
the Senate Sub-Committee on Appropria-
tions to restore cuts in the Farmers Home
Administration Funds for 1948, supported
the Taft-Hartley labor legislation, and
pledged unrelenting vigilance in the
Negro's effort to gain first-class citizen-
ship. Nnamdi Azikiwe, West African
newspaper publisher, who addressed the
convention, was made an honorary mem-
ber.
After the NNPA news service had been
in operation for a period of 25 weeks,
servicing 20 newspapers with a combined
circulation of more than 1,000,000 copies
weekly, the new incorporated set-up was
announced a definite success. There were
prospects that foreign publications would
soon subscribe to the service. Louis
Lautier headed the news staff of six
workers.
At its eleventh annual convention in
1950 in Houston, Texas, the publishers
group, which now consisted of 48 papers,
or approximately 80% of Negro news-
paper circulation, created four new re-
gional directors for the purpose of pro-
moting closer relations among the news-
papers in each division. Dowdal H. Davis,
general manager, Kansas City Call, was
re-elected to his second term as president.
The 1951 NNPA meeting at New York
City witnessed the shift in name from
Negro Newspaper Publishers Association
to National Newspaper Publishers Asso-
ciation. Declared the Louisville Defender
editorially. June 30: "The change in the
name of the NNPA will enable the more
democratic thinking publishers to elimi-
nate some of the glaring inconsistencies
in their papers and will permit them to
go ahead with the fight for full integra-
tion and the full participation of Negroes
in the American way of life."
Retiring president Dowdal Davis said
at the opening luncheon session: "There
will be a Negro market just as long
as the word 'restricted' appears or is
implied in advertising and various con-
tracts [and] just as long as there is an
insensitivity on the part of the majority
in its appraisal of the minorities." He
said that there is a Negro press because
of these things, and because mass media
do not adequately picture the "depriva-
tion of civil rights, discrimination in em-
ployment, exposure to personal indignity,
housing problems or class legislation."
NEGRO PRESS AND NEGRO MARKET
37
David Wasko, of Donahue and Com-
pany, president of the Media Men's Asso-
ciation, offered "constructive criticism"
which might get the publishers more na-
tional advertising. He mentioned some of
the shortcomings of the Negro papers:
insufficient information about the market ;
failure of the advertising to appear in the
paper after the copy and order have been
sent; delay in billing and sending proofs
of publication, and inattention to corre-
spondence. The 1951 convention elected
Louis Martin, Michigan Chronicle pub-
lisher, its new president.
Dateline, the first official publication of
NNPA, made its bow as a quarterly in
January 1949 under the direction of
Ernest E. Johnson, New York City public-
relations representative for NNPA. It
appeared in four pages of S^'xll" stock
with three columns to a page. This pub-
lication was succeeded in February 1951
by the NNPA Bulletin, a 16- to 24-page
pocket-size bi-monthly magazine pre-
pared and printed at Lincoln University
of Missouri under the guidance of its
School of Journalism.
National Negro Newspaper Week,
sponsored by NNPA annually since 1939,
shifted its date in 1951 from the last week
in February to the middle of March, to
fall during the week of the anniversary
of the birth of the first Negro newspaper,
Freedom's Journal, which is March 16.
During the winter meeting of NNPA
in Chicago in January 1950, the delegates
passed a resolution asking for an investi-
gation by the Department of Justice of
the threats to freedom of the press in-
volved in the indictments of two South
Carolina newspapermen for "criminal
libel" in reporting a statement of a Negro
denying an attack on a white girl. John
H. McCray, editor, Lighthouse and In-
former, Columbia, and Darling Booth, AP
writer, were indicted because they re-
ported the denial-of-attack statement of
Willie Colbert, who has since been elec-
trocuted for the alleged crime. In their
complaint the publishers said that prose-
cution of the newsmen, under South Caro-
lina law, was a violation of their civil
rights. A four-man committee was named
to represent the Association before the
Department of Justice: John H. Seng-
stacke, publisher, Chicago Defender; C.
A. Scott, publisher, Atlanta Daily World;
Thomas W. Young, business manager,
Journal and Guide, and D. Arnett
Murphy, vice-president, Afro-American
newspapers. NNPA offered McCray finan-
cial and legal assistance for his court
appearance.
Late in June 1950, at his trial, McCray
pleaded guilty and was fined $5,000 with
a suspended one-year jail term and a
three-year probation by Circuit Judge
Steve C. Griffin. The sentence required
that the editor publish both his plea and
sentence in his paper within a reasonable
length of time.
Early in May 1949, Thomas W. Young,
business manager, Journal and Guide,
NNPA president, and Dowdal H. Davis,
general manager, Kansas City Call,
NNPA vice-president, on invitation, ap-
peared at the annual meeting of the
American Newspaper Publishers Associa-
tion in New York City. In his address
before the assemblage, Young said that
the chief aims of the Negro press are to
maintain a united front "to protest and
expose every condition inconsistent with
the democratic concepts we all treasure"
and to give coverage to that news of the
Negro population which is ignored or
distorted by the white papers. He stated
that the Negro press serves to inspire the
race to greater accomplishment by pub-
lishing news of outstanding achievements
of Negroes in all fields and ranks of life
and strives for greater cooperation and
unity between white and Negro news-
papers and between the ANPA and
NNPA.
NEGRO PRESS MEDIA TO
NEGRO MARKET
"The Negro Market: 15,000,000 strong,
its people have an aggregate income of
$14 billion and the will to buy." These
lines, below a group picture of Chicago
Negroes, appeared on the cover of the
38
THE NEGRO PRESS
July 29, 1951, issue of Tide magazine,
which gave over 13 pages to a discussion
plus media ads of the Negro market.
"Always under-estimated," declared the
headline, "it is rich, ripe and ready
today." The piece opened and closed on
a hot current issue: the "Amos 'n' Andy"
TV show, which has raised the displeas-
ure of the NAACP but which Blatz Beer,
sponsor, defends. Tide told about the
Negro population, the Negro's recent mi-
gratory record, his flare for learning, and
his employment.
The brand-name advertisers have
learned of this lucrative Negro market,
said Tide, and have angled "ad" copy to
Negro newspapers and magazines. These
include Lever Brothers Company, Quaker
Oats Company, Radio Corporation of
America, Best Foods, Inc., Carnation
Company, H. J. Heinz Company, Stand-
ard Brands, Inc., Pillsbury Mills, Armour
and Company, Pet Milk, Rinso, La Palina
cigars, Jelke Margarine, Beech Nut gum,
Hadacol, Unicorn Press, Phillips Soups,
Park & Tilford, Lucky Strike cigarettes,
Lifebuoy, El Producto, Pal Blades, Sin-
clair Oil, Coca-Cola, Remington Rand,
Elgin watches, Zenith radio, Hunt's
Foods, to mention only a few.
This memo from Elinor Zeigler, Tide
editor, accompanied the report:
I think a major point of the story could
well be the striking change that has taken
place in advertisers' and agencies' attitudes
toward Negro media since our last story
(March 15, 1947). People then tended to
talk as though we were researching a pretty
obscure topic about which they knew little,
and they seemed to have only a rather dutiful,
somewhat grudging, interest.
Now that is sharply changed, not in all, but
in an impressive number of cases. Important
executives this time showed great interest,
asked me what we had found out about the
market, went far out of their way to stress
their personal appreciation of the importance
of the subject and in more cases than I can
ever remember they took pains to compli-
ment the media on the progress they had
made. . . . They seem to feel that the buyers
and sellers are learning to deal with each
other without prejudice and that the sooner
everybody on both sides achieves a fair, ob-
jective viewpoint, the sooner an important,
neglected potential in advertising can be
developed.
In an article in a January 1950 issue of
Advertising Age, Marrine Christopher
stated that "expenditures by national ad-
vertisers in Negro media may reach
$2,500,000, a gain of a half-million dol-
lars. . . ." "No matter what their economic
status," he wrote, "Negroes have made
it a part of their behavior pattern always
to buy the best and most expensive items
they can afford."
Working for more than ten years for
the various Negro newspapers in an effort
to promote the Negro market in the eyes
of national advertisers have been two
publishers' representatives groups, both
headquartered in New York City Inter-
state United Newspapers, Inc., William
G. Black, sales manager, and the Associ-
ated Publishers, Inc., Joseph B. LaCour,
general manager. Both organizations have
been active in collecting details about
their special market, publishing and dis-
playing their findings, and making con-
tact with potential space-buyer agencies
for block newspaper accounts. Interstate
services more than 100 papers while API
limits itself to 27 publications, most of
which are members of the Audit Bureau
of Circulations and total more than a
million in combined circulation.
During the two-day meeting of the
American Marketing Association at the
Hotel Waldorf-Astoria in New York City
in December 1949, API set up an exhibit
designed to explain to the country's lead-
ing manufacturers the 11 -figure buying
power of the Negro people. The exhibit
set forth data on the Negro population,
their living places, their earnings, and
their buying preferences.
The API message was prepared by
Harry Evans, API sales manager, and
Major Homer Roberts, director of the
firm's Chicago office. It was built around
a large portrait of an attractive colored
girl on horseback with horse and rider
leaping over a hurdle in perfect coordina-
tion. The picture was an actual news shot
which had been published in colored
newspapers. A caption labeled "Concen-
tration" emphasized that concentration of
the colored press on its compact market
PRESS CLUBS
39
offered advertisers an excellent oppor-
tunity to overcome sales hurdles in their
business operations. An electronic tape