'Ebony' magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr. : popular black history in postwar America

From its launch in 1945, __Ebony__ magazine was politically and socially influential. However, the magazine also played an important role in educating millions of African Americans about their past. Guided by the pen of Lerone Bennett Jr., the magazine's senior editor and in-house historian, __Ebony__ became a key voice in the popular black history revival that flourished after World War II. Its content helped push representations of the African American past from the margins to the center of the nation's cultural and political imagination. E. James West's fresh and fascinating exploration of __Ebony__'s political, social, and historical content illuminates the intellectual role of the iconic magazine and its contribution to African American scholarship. He also uncovers a paradox. Though __Ebony__ provided Bennett with space to promote a militant reading of black history and protest, the magazine's status as a consumer publication helped to mediate its representation of African American identity in both past and present. Mixing biography, cultural history, and popular memory, West restores __Ebony__ and Bennett to their rightful place in African American intellectual, commercial, and political history. | Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. An Abundance of Outright Untruths 2. Tell Us of Our Past 3. White Problems and the Roots of Black Power 4. Learning Is an All-Black Thing 5. We Can Seize the Opportunity 6. A Hero to Be Remembered Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index Back cover| One of the __Chicago Sun-Time's__ Books Not to Miss A __Black Perspectives__ Best Black History Book of 2020 Honorable Mention, Research Society for American Periodicals, 2021 — One of the Chicago Sun-Time's Books Not to Miss One of the __Chicago Sun-Time's__ Books Not to Miss A __Black Perspectives__ Best Black History Book of 2020 Honorable Mention, Research Society for American Periodicals, 2021 — A Black Perspectives Best Black History Book of 2020 One of the __Chicago Sun-Time's__ Books Not to Miss A __Black Perspectives__ Best Black History Book of 2020 Honorable Mention, Research Society for American Periodicals, 2021 — Research Society for American Periodicals | **E. James West** is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in American History at Northumbria University. From its launch in 1945, Ebony magazine was politically and socially influential. However, the magazine also played an important role in educating millions of African Americans about their past. Guided by the pen of Lerone Bennett Jr., the magazine's senior editor and in-house historian, Ebony became a key voice in the popular black history revival that flourished after World War II. Its content helped push representations of the African American past from the margins to the center of the nation's cultural and political imagination. E. James West's fresh and fascinating exploration of Ebony 's political, social, and historical content illuminates the intellectual role of the iconic magazine and its contribution to African American scholarship. He also uncovers a paradox. Though Ebony provided Bennett with space to promote a militant reading of black history and protest, the magazine's status as a consumer publication helped to mediate its representation of African American identity in both past and present. Mixing biography, cultural history, and popular memory, West restores Ebony and Bennett to their rightful place in African American intellectual, commercial, and political history. | Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. An Abundance of Outright Untruths 2. Tell Us of Our Past 3. White Problems and the Roots of Black Power 4. Learning Is an All-Black Thing 5. We Can Seize the Opportunity 6. A Hero to Be Remembered Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index Back cover | One of the Chicago Sun-Time's Books Not to Miss A Black Perspectives Best Black History Book of 2020 Honorable Mention, Research Society for American Periodicals, 2021 — One of the Chicago Sun-Time's Books Not to Miss One of the Chicago Sun-Time's Books Not to Miss A Black Perspectives Best Black History Book of 2020 Honorable Mention, Research Society for American Periodicals, 2021 — A Black Perspectives Best Black History Book of 2020 One of the Chicago Sun-Time's Books Not to Miss A Black Perspectives Best Black History Book of 2020 Honorable Mention, Research Society for American Periodicals, 2021 — Research Society for American Periodicals | E. James West is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in American History at Northumbria University. "This study reveals the previously hidden impact of 'Ebony' magazine as a major producer and disseminator of popular black history during the second half of the twentieth century. Far from dismissing 'Ebony' as a consumer magazine with limited political or educational importance, E. James West highlights the value editors, readers, and advertisers placed upon 'Ebony's' role as a 'history book'. Benefitting from unprecedented access to new archives at Chicago State and Emory University, West also offers the first substantive biographical account of the writing and philosophy of Lerone Bennett Jr., who used his position at 'Ebony' to emerge as one of the twentieth century's most influential popular black historians. Focusing on Lerone Bennett's role within Johnson Publishing, and assessing 'Ebony's' broader historical coverage, this book uses the magazine as a window into the transition of black history from the margins to the center of American cultural, historical, and political representation. As an important cultural outlet with millions of readers, 'Ebony' played a powerful role in reshaping public representations of African American history. Directed by the efforts of Bennett, the magazine produced militant depictions of black history and connected activism in the present to a longstanding history of radical black protest. However, as a black consumer magazine it also helped to legitimize and facilitate corporate mediation of black history, and to frame and limit discussions of African American history, memory, and identity." -- Provided by publisher