Viewing page 156 of 355

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

DELEGATE SALUTES EBONY MAGAZINE on its 30th ANNIVERSARY

Publisher's Statement 

WHEN the first issue of EBONY Magazine appeared in November, 1945, there were no blacks in organized baseball and football and "colored" and "white" signs blanketed the South. There were no signs then in the North, but there were unwritten rules and blacks were not welcome in many restaurants and hotels in downtown areas. Nor were they welcome in the halls and columns of mass media. In that month, in that year, which is so far away and yet so near, blacks were objects of scorn and ridicule in movies and mass media. Few magazines dealt with blacks as human beings with human needs. Fewer magazines dealt with the whole spectrum of black life. It was, for example, rare for radio, newspapers or magazines to take note of the fact that blacks fell in love, got married and participated in organized community activities. 

We mention these facts, not to gloat or to cast stones, but to remind ourselves of the climate and the mandate of our birth. EBONY was founded to provide positive images for blacks in a world of negative images and non-images. It was founded to project all dimensions of the black personality in a world saturated with stereotypes. We wanted to give blacks a new sense of somebodiness, a new sense of self-respect. We wanted to tell them who they were and what they could do. We believed then—and we believe now—that blacks needed positive images to fulfill their potentialities. We believed then—and we believe now—that image power is a prerequisite of economic and political power.

Since that time, the world has changed and black people have changed. Some people have been kind enough to say that we played some small part in that change. However that might be, it is gratifying to note that so many of the issues we raised are now part of the image landscape. There are black faces in advertisements and on the covers of magazines. From time to time, we read human interest stories on black families; and there are occasional stories which recognize that we are people, and not "problems." 

The world has changed, black people have changed, and, of course EBONY has changed. It has changed, however, within the context of the original melody, a melody composed of different notes reflecting different reading interests. Some notes in that melody have been softened, some have been deepend, some have been relegated to the bottom line. To cite only the most obvious and the most important change, the idea of achievement has been broadened to include new factors, including struggle. At the same time, we have increased the number of text pieces and expanded our coverage of social and historical events. Perhaps the best example of this is our series of special issues. It is a matter of pride to us that material from almost every issue of EBONY is used in classrooms and quoted in scholarly books. 

It is encouraging to note that so many things have changed. But it is alarming to note that so many things remain the same (The first editorial in our first issue called for full employment, and full employment is still the No. 1 issue in the black community.). Largely because of the work of black activists and the persistent hammering of the black press and black civil rights organizations, the boundaries of the black world have widened. Despite that fact, or perhaps because of it, the black image is threatened today almost everywhere. There is an increasing tendency in white media to identify blackness with crime, disorder, and dependency. There is an increasing tendency in academic circles to identify blacks as cultural and biological inferiors. To make matters worse, the economic situation has created a climate which intensifies the difficult identity problems of black youths.

For all these reasons, and for others as well, there has never been a greater need for black-oriented media dedicated to a continuous and accurate projection of all facets of the black experience. We felt in 1945—and we feel now—that our story, the story of our hopes and hurts, the story of our dreams and agonies and triumphs, is one of the most eloquent and important stories in the world. We felt in 1945—and we feel now—that the story is central to the meaning and the redemption of America. Our mission today, as in 1945, is to tell that story. Our mission is to tell black America, and the world, what black America is thinking, doing, saying, feeling, and demanding. Our mission is to tell it only like it is but also like it was and like it must be. 

Some magazines have different missions and different formats. Some magazines speak primarily to women; some speak primarily to businessmen; some speak primarily to teen-agers. We have the difficult task, and the high honor, of speaking to, for, and about all. This is by no means an easy task. Black America is a many-splendored panorama of swirling and sometimes contradictory forces. It is composed of laborers, professionals, militants, moderates, merchants and street people. And we speak to, for, and about all of them. For all of them are part of the great and pulsating nation within a nation that we call the black community.

Some people and some media tell part of the story of that community some of the time. We are committed to telling all of the story—the good and the bad, the trials and the triumphs—all of the time. We are a magazine of record and a magazine of the whole. If it happens in the black community, if it happens to the black community, if it matters to the black community, it happens to us and it matters to us. 

For 30 years, for 360 months, for 10,950 days, we have been part of that community. And we believe that despite the adversities of the moment the next 30 years will carry that community to new and unparalleled heights. We face the future with hope. We believe today, as we believed 30 years ago, that truth and freedom are mighty above all things and will prevail. 

[[image - black and white portrait photograph of Gertrude Johnson Williams]]
[[caption]] Mrs. Gertrude Johnson Williams
Mrs. Williams, mother of the publisher, helped him get his start in business. She is vice-president of Johnson Publishing Co. [[/caption]]

[[image - black and white portrait photograph of Eunice Johnson]]
[[caption]] Mrs. Eunice W. Johnson
Mrs. Johnson, the publisher's wife, is Fashion Director of EBONY Magazine and secretary-treasurer of Johnson Pub. Co. [[/caption]]

[[image - black and white photograph of John H. Johnson]]

[[signature]] John H. Johnson [[/signature]]

Congratulations to the Johnson Family

156