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The Rise and Fall of the Associated Negro Press: Claude Barnett's Pan-African News and the Jim Crow Paradox
For more than fifty years, the Chicago-based Associated Negro Press (ANP) fought racism at home and grew into an international news organization abroad. At its head stood founder Claude Barnett, one of the most influential African Americans of his day and a gifted, if unofficial, diplomat who forged links with figures as diverse as Jawaharlal Nehru, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Nixon. Gerald Horne weaves Barnett's fascinating life story through a groundbreaking history of the ANP, including its deep dedication to Pan-Africanism. An activist force in journalism, Barnett also helped send doctors and teachers to Africa, advised African governments, gave priority to foreign newsgathering, and saw the African American struggle in global terms. Yet Horne also confronts Barnett's contradictions. A member of the African American elite, Barnett's sympathies with black aspirations often clashed with his ethics and a powerful desire to join the upper echelons of business and government. In the end, Barnett's activist success undid his work. Horne traces the dramatic story of the ANP's collapse as the mainstream press, retreating from Jim Crow, finally covered black issues and hired African American journalists.
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 4, 2017
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160 people want to read
About the author
Gerald Horne
71 books413 followersDr. Gerald Horne is an eminent historian who is Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. An author of more than thirty books and one hundred scholarly articles and reviews, his research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations, war and the film industry.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 27, 2022
This was... OK. The book focuses on Claude Barnett, who founded the Associated Negro Press, the counterpart for the Associated Press, but with its staff of reporters focusing on news for Black newspapers and on issues concerning Black people- both in the United States and, later, in Ghana, Nigeria and several other African countries. Barnett is a fascinating figure, who, for the post part, successfully straddled the line between the interests of Black people throughout the world and his own business interests. It's pointed out throughout the book that Barnett's crusade against Jim Crow and segregation would lead to the demise of the ANP. This is repeated multiple times, even in chapters outlining the ANPs heyday. This point was struck home, multiple times, to the point of tedium. The book also really glosses over Barnett's death, after hinting at, but not going into, his health problems- again, numerous times. Also, sometimes the choice of words is rather unfortunate. One of the more glaring occasions for this is regarding Alice Allison Dunnigan, who was described as having "wailed" about lost opportunities and how she never lost an opportunity to complain about the least slight. This makes Dunnigan sound like a petulant toddler rather than a talented journalist with legitimate complaints. I say this is still worth a read because it covers a slice of American history that I'm sure few people know about, but there are issues.
March 16, 2019
I received this book from Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review.
The subject of the Associated Negro Press promised to be interesting. On the one hand an alternative view of world events during one of the most tumultuous eras of the 20th century and on the other the paradoxical story of a venture who own success lead to its demise.
Unfortunately this narrative felt more like a high school essay than a book, liberally seasoned with name dropping of the important and influential, and stuffed full of quotes which were often irrelevant or non-sequiturs. It also seemed to be written with the expectation that those reading it would have the same, if not greater, knowledge of the subject matter than the author.
“Soon thereafter, Harlem received a premonition of better times to come when a French army captain— a Negro with roots in Guadeloupe— visited this community accompanied by a Haitian American translator who had just arrived from the percolating battlefields of Indochina.”
There is no explanation of the identity of this French army captain, why he might be so important to the residents of Harlem and the premonition of better times is so vague it could mean anything.
“The cases of Loren Miller and Fay Jackson and their city of residence, Los Angeles, also illustrated neatly the problems faced by Barnett and the ANP.”
The author does not elucidate as to the nature of these ‘cases’ or the problems they illustrated. Leaving the statement dangling mid-air before a perplexed reader.
“Barnett, the Republican, was of a like mind with Miller, the presumed Communist. Miller also wrote for an ANP affiliate, the California Eagle in Los Angeles, and it was from there that he chose to congratulate Barnett on his Scottsboro coverage: “your zeal in covering the most important case of [this] generation should merit the applause of your member papers.” ……Reflecting the sensitivity of a case that involved inflammatory allegations of interracial rape, Jasper T. Duncan of the San Antonio Register adopted an opposing tack”.
Again there is no explanation or illustration of what is meant by an ‘opposing tack’. Did Duncan ignore the Scottsboro issue, try to minimize coverage of the trial or did he support an opposing point of view?
Part of what drove the ANP … to the left were rumblings from the base…. Ultimately, Barnett arranged for the leading black pilot, John Robinson, to travel to Addis Ababa to organize the fledgling air force there and file stories besides, decision prompted by sentiment emerging from the Negro masses.
By delving into my knowledge of history I guess the significance of organizing an air force in Addis Ababa was resistance against colonial forces but this is not explained and what exactly was the “sentiment emerging from the Negro masses.” Surely not feelings against colonialism which would already have been fully developed at this late stage?
There were occasions where the author seems to show some insight.
This example showing the ANP willing to be purposefully blind as much as everyone else:
“The ANP coverage of the Soviet Union was stunningly positive and in contrast to its U.S. counterparts, which focused on human-rights violations. …Hence, the ANP correspondent responded breathlessly in 1937 at the height of the purges in Moscow that Soviet speakers at a rally assailed disfranchisement laws in Dixie.”
And this showing the irony of the ANP’s support of legislation against foreign workers while railing against other countries for controlling African American immigration
“The ANP did not necessarily come to this issue with clean hands, for it could be accused easily of falling victim to nativist bias in objecting to Latin American migration to the United States, as it demanded an open door for African Americans to enter other nations. The agency “warmly congratulated “Senator Hiram Johnson of California when he sought “to place Mexico upon the quota list and thereby subject its prospective immigrants to the same rigid but reasonable rules as apply to the immigrants coming from continental Europe and other foreign countries “because “they have displaced from jobs both white and black natives.”
It was a pity that he seemed unable to write so clearly about the many positive aspects of the ANP.
The author’s repetitive monotone and insistence on picking vocabulary according to the quantity of syllables rather than appositeness of meaning made this a wearying read and left me with the feeling I was chewing my way through cardboard.
After an incredibly long 25% I took pity on myself and DNFed coming to the conclusion a Google search could probably provide me with more enjoyably packaged knowledge on this subject.
The subject of the Associated Negro Press promised to be interesting. On the one hand an alternative view of world events during one of the most tumultuous eras of the 20th century and on the other the paradoxical story of a venture who own success lead to its demise.
Unfortunately this narrative felt more like a high school essay than a book, liberally seasoned with name dropping of the important and influential, and stuffed full of quotes which were often irrelevant or non-sequiturs. It also seemed to be written with the expectation that those reading it would have the same, if not greater, knowledge of the subject matter than the author.
“Soon thereafter, Harlem received a premonition of better times to come when a French army captain— a Negro with roots in Guadeloupe— visited this community accompanied by a Haitian American translator who had just arrived from the percolating battlefields of Indochina.”
There is no explanation of the identity of this French army captain, why he might be so important to the residents of Harlem and the premonition of better times is so vague it could mean anything.
“The cases of Loren Miller and Fay Jackson and their city of residence, Los Angeles, also illustrated neatly the problems faced by Barnett and the ANP.”
The author does not elucidate as to the nature of these ‘cases’ or the problems they illustrated. Leaving the statement dangling mid-air before a perplexed reader.
“Barnett, the Republican, was of a like mind with Miller, the presumed Communist. Miller also wrote for an ANP affiliate, the California Eagle in Los Angeles, and it was from there that he chose to congratulate Barnett on his Scottsboro coverage: “your zeal in covering the most important case of [this] generation should merit the applause of your member papers.” ……Reflecting the sensitivity of a case that involved inflammatory allegations of interracial rape, Jasper T. Duncan of the San Antonio Register adopted an opposing tack”.
Again there is no explanation or illustration of what is meant by an ‘opposing tack’. Did Duncan ignore the Scottsboro issue, try to minimize coverage of the trial or did he support an opposing point of view?
Part of what drove the ANP … to the left were rumblings from the base…. Ultimately, Barnett arranged for the leading black pilot, John Robinson, to travel to Addis Ababa to organize the fledgling air force there and file stories besides, decision prompted by sentiment emerging from the Negro masses.
By delving into my knowledge of history I guess the significance of organizing an air force in Addis Ababa was resistance against colonial forces but this is not explained and what exactly was the “sentiment emerging from the Negro masses.” Surely not feelings against colonialism which would already have been fully developed at this late stage?
There were occasions where the author seems to show some insight.
This example showing the ANP willing to be purposefully blind as much as everyone else:
“The ANP coverage of the Soviet Union was stunningly positive and in contrast to its U.S. counterparts, which focused on human-rights violations. …Hence, the ANP correspondent responded breathlessly in 1937 at the height of the purges in Moscow that Soviet speakers at a rally assailed disfranchisement laws in Dixie.”
And this showing the irony of the ANP’s support of legislation against foreign workers while railing against other countries for controlling African American immigration
“The ANP did not necessarily come to this issue with clean hands, for it could be accused easily of falling victim to nativist bias in objecting to Latin American migration to the United States, as it demanded an open door for African Americans to enter other nations. The agency “warmly congratulated “Senator Hiram Johnson of California when he sought “to place Mexico upon the quota list and thereby subject its prospective immigrants to the same rigid but reasonable rules as apply to the immigrants coming from continental Europe and other foreign countries “because “they have displaced from jobs both white and black natives.”
It was a pity that he seemed unable to write so clearly about the many positive aspects of the ANP.
The author’s repetitive monotone and insistence on picking vocabulary according to the quantity of syllables rather than appositeness of meaning made this a wearying read and left me with the feeling I was chewing my way through cardboard.
After an incredibly long 25% I took pity on myself and DNFed coming to the conclusion a Google search could probably provide me with more enjoyably packaged knowledge on this subject.
February 14, 2018
I got this ARC from Netgalley for review. It took me months to get through it, because there were other books that were far more compelling for me to read.
I liked and appreciated the subject and content, but the author's unnecessary use of ten-dollar words when two-dollar words would do was pretentious and off putting. This led to a lot of eye rolling for me while reading. I understood most of the words but...it felt like the author was simply showing off.
Ultimately, the Associated Negro Press became the victim of its own success and a casualty of desegregation. Once Black writers had access to "mainstream" media outlets, ANP became less influential and important.
The book was very well sourced and I will investigate some of the books mentioned in the references section.
Recommended only for US media historians, Black history buffs, and newspaper geeks.
I liked and appreciated the subject and content, but the author's unnecessary use of ten-dollar words when two-dollar words would do was pretentious and off putting. This led to a lot of eye rolling for me while reading. I understood most of the words but...it felt like the author was simply showing off.
Ultimately, the Associated Negro Press became the victim of its own success and a casualty of desegregation. Once Black writers had access to "mainstream" media outlets, ANP became less influential and important.
The book was very well sourced and I will investigate some of the books mentioned in the references section.
Recommended only for US media historians, Black history buffs, and newspaper geeks.
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July 6, 2017I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.
This is a great book if you are into history, African American studies. I had a hard time because I am not a history buff. However I know several people who would enjoy this book. I'll definitely recommend to my history buffs.
This is a great book if you are into history, African American studies. I had a hard time because I am not a history buff. However I know several people who would enjoy this book. I'll definitely recommend to my history buffs.
July 16, 2017
This book was an illuminating exploration of the meaningful work of the Associated Negro Press in addressing racism in the United States and abroad by founder Claude Barnett.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews