The Reporter was a weekly Black-owned newspaper serving the New York City area from 1935 to 1937.[1] It was published by the Newspaper Guild of New York on behalf of the editorial members of the New York Amsterdam News during a 1935 strike, the first such strike within a Black-owned newspaper.[2]
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Newspaper Guild of New York |
| Founded | October 11, 1935 |
| Ceased publication | April 10, 1937 |
| Headquarters | 205 West 135th Street, New York, NY 10030 |
| City | New York City |
| Country | United States |
| OCLC number | 19059659 |
History
editIn 1935 fifteen editorial workers within the Amsterdam News sought to form a local unit of the then recently founded American Newspaper Guild. In response, the owners of the Amsterdam News locked out the majority of their editorial workers, leading to picketing and calls for a boycott against the newspaper. This is reported to be the first such case of successful labor action by Black workers against Black employers.[2]
In response to these calls for a boycott, The Reporter was published a few days later by the former editorial workers and by the Newspaper Guild. Issues of the newspaper were typically two pages long, with one page consisting of news and updates about the strike and the other page consisting of "DON'T BUY AMSTERDAM NEWS" in large font filling the page.[3] This newspaper was published out of the Dumas Hotel on West 135th Street, in an office set up by the Newspaper Guild for the striking workers.[4]
The final publication made during the strike was on December 12, 1935.[5] The strike ended on December 24, 1935, after eleven weeks, with the striking workers reinstated and receiving a 10% pay raise.[6]The Reporter stopped publishing due to the end of the strike, as the people who wrote and edited for it returned to their jobs at the Amsterdam News.
The Reporter had a second volume published in 1937, to deny the existence of segregationist policies by the Newspaper Guild of New York and deny allegations that their union had tried to seize control of the Amsterdam News.[7] No volumes of The Reporter were published after 1937.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Danky, James Philip; Hady, Maureen E. (1998). African-American newspapers and periodicals: a national bibliography. Cambridge (Mass.) London: Harvard university press. p. 489. ISBN 9780674007888.
- ^ a b Ayers, Oliver (2014). "The 1935 Labour Dispute at the 'Amsterdam News' and the Challenges Posed by the Rise of Unionism in Depression-Era Harlem". Journal of American Studies. 48 (3): 797–818. doi:10.1017/S0021875814000024. JSTOR 24485934. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
- ^ "Union Staff Locked Out By Amsterdam News". The Reporter. Vol. 1, no. 1. New York. October 11, 1935. pp. 1–2.
- ^ "Baltimore Paper May Purchase Amsterdam News". The Washington Tribune. November 29, 1935.
- ^ "Owners Balk Paper Deal; Guild Continues Battle". The Reporter. Vol. 1, no. 10. December 12, 1935. pp. 1–2.
- ^ "Newspaper Strikers Win". The New York Times. December 25, 1935.
- ^ "Amsterdam News Bids to Prejudice". The Reporter. Vol. 2, no. 1. April 10, 1937. p. 1.