The Chicago Defender, Legendary Black Newspaper, Prints Last Copy
Source: New York Times
CHICAGO Decade by decade, the newspaper told the story of black life in America. It took note of births and deaths, of graduations and weddings, of everything in between. Through eras of angst, its reporters dug into painful, dangerous stories, relaying grim details of lynchings, clashes over school integration, and of the shootings of black men by white police officers. Among a long list of distinguished bylines: Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks.
After more than a century, The Chicago Defender will cease its print editions after Wednesday, the newspapers owner has announced. The Defender will continue its digital operation, according to Hiram E. Jackson, chief executive of Real Times Media, which owns The Defender and other black newspapers around the country. He said the move would allow the news organization to adapt to a fast-changing, highly-challenging media environment that has upended the entire newspaper industry.
It is an economic decision, Mr. Jackson said, but its more an effort to make sure that The Defender has another 100 years.
Still, the demise of The Chicago Defenders print editions represented a painful passage for many people who grew up in Chicago and for those with memories of its influence far beyond this city. Of its many significant effects over many years, The Defender told of economic success in the North, and was seen as a catalyst in the migration of hundreds of thousands of black Americans from the South.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/chicago-defender-newspaper.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytpolitics
Anon-C
(3,430 posts)...published over 20 years.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Rt10NTSpK58C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
RestoreAmerica2020
(3,434 posts)kimbutgar
(21,036 posts)Sad that black media is dying during this period.
iluvtennis
(19,821 posts)LisaM
(27,791 posts)It's like unpacking the Christmas ornaments, or your grandparents' old boxes, with things wrapped in old newspapers. Such richness - going through old newspapers is rewarding, and it connects people to a past in a way that scrolling through online archives can't. Sure - you can look up individual things, but you don't find this kind of scope, or stumble on some interesting story you'd never have found in a targeted search.
This makes me sad.
BlueWI
(1,736 posts)What a powerful legacy their print editions have created. Glad to know they will still be an online presence.