Sixth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

This paper argues for Ebony’s effective intervention during the Black revolt that swept the U.S between 1967 and 1968. Ebony was a widely read glossy magazine. It was designed mainly to promoting Black fashion, advertising, and marketing. In 1967, the U.S was embroiled in a massive Black rebellion that swept the whole nation. Over 200 major cities were engulfed in race riots, resulting in hundred deaths, thousands injured, and over a million properties in damage. Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration quickly established an 11-member commission to investigate the riots but their conclusion fretted over a racial division. Amidst national turmoil, the American media also lavished its attention to the Black revolts but failed to provide a practical resolution to these unabated riots. In fact, some popular White-oriented newspapers sought to vilify the revolts whereas others provided instances of sensationalism to demonise its advocates. From a contrasting perspective, Ebony magazine, owned by the Black businessman John H. Johnson, positioned itself at the heart of the Black revolts by bringing about effective approaches to quell the race riots and improve the race relations in America. Its intervention and its injection of a set of social resolutions had paid off, with the popular White and the Black-owned media admiring its crucial role while the Johnson administration urgently approached the magazine to work with them over the suppression of the riots. Based on archival materials as well as Ebony’s special issues, this paper sheds new light on Ebony’s social standing in Post-war America.