Read Double Victory for Free Online

by race. Black-owned newspapers were widely read in black communities. Readers learned about upcoming events sponsored by community organizations and women’s clubs. They read about what was happening at their children’s schools. And they followed the movements of black troops in the war. It was through the newspapers that black people learned about events in Washington that would have an impact on their lives. Black newspapers were a source for information that they couldn’t get from white newspapers—in which the accomplishments of black citizens were ignored.
    Lula Jones Garrett, Rebecca Stiles Taylor, Diana Briggs, Venice T. Spragg, and Bettye Murphy Phillips were journalists whodevoted their careers to improving the lives of black women. And they were passionate about their work.
    Lula Jones Garrett reported for the
Afro American,
a black newspaper that had been in existence since 1892. She wrote news articles and editorial columns. In her column “These Versatile Women” she highlighted the lives of famous black women in entertainment and the arts. Her “Lipstick” column was a lighthearted look at women’s lives, sprinkled with a little advice: “The most delicate job any wife has is to feed her husband the proper dose of flattery.” But Lula was not confined to “soft” news—articles about hair, makeup, and fashions. She also wrote “hard” news—articles about black women in the workforce and in the military. In the winter of 1944 she wrote a series of articles about how black women lived and worked in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). And in her book review of the popular book
Strange Fruit
she wrote, “For though I have witnessed two lynchings, I had not until today, understood the look of unhuman blood lust on the face of a lyncher.”

    Lula Jones Garrett was a reporter and columnist for the
Afro American.

National Park Service; Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site; National Archives for Black Women’s History/Photo Courtesy of the Afro-American Newspapers Archives and Research Center

    Newspaper publisher Charlotta Bass published the
California Eagle
in Los Angeles.
Courtesy of the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research/Photographer George M. Cutler Jr.
    Charlotta Bass was a businesswoman who made a living from journalism. Not only did she do the dayto-day reporting for the
California Eagle
, but she also owned the paper. Charlotta used her newspaper as a vehicle to demand rights for black citizens in Los Angeles. She used her editorial column “On the Sidewalk” to make her opinions known and to call readers to action. She encouraged readers to write to politicians about racial injustices and to become involved in their communities. In the 1930s she led a move to boycott businesses that would not serve or hire black people in the Los Angeles area. She sent telegrams to President Roosevelt to demand action against racial injustices in Los Angeles. When a white columnist from another paper attacked black newspapers she called him “one of the biggest skunks in the history of American journalism.” One of Charlotta’s biographers wrote, “Indeed, visibility in the community characterized nearly all of Charlotta’s actions through the 1940s.”
    Female journalists were highly visible on the pages of the
Chicago Defender
, a black newspaper, during the war years. Rebecca Stiles Taylor, Venice T. Spragg, and Diana Briggs wrote about issues that affected women’s lives.
    Rebecca Stiles Taylor started her career as a junior high school English teacher in Savannah, Georgia. Her work led to her involvement in the women’s club movement. Black women’s clubs in the 1940s were instruments of social and political change. And Rebecca was a vital part of several clubs at the local, state, and national levels. During the war years she wrote a weekly column,