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Atlanta Daily World

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The Atlanta Daily World is the oldest black newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia.

History

Establishment

It was founded as the weekly Atlanta World on August 5, 1928 by William Alexander Scott II who was only 26 at the time.[1] Scott was Morehouse graduate who later worked as the only black clerk on the Jacksonville to Washington, D.C. rail line, then in 1927 published a Jacksonville business directory to help blacks find each other. A year later he published a similar directory for Atlanta.[2]

At the time, there was very little coverage of black educational institutions, businesses, prominent persons, churches, or other news of significance; the exceptions being crime news and death listings. This was despite the fact that Atlanta contained at the time the most prominent black educational institutions and persons of influence in the country. Whites lived to a large extent sealed off from black Atlanta and only interacted with blacks in service positions, virtually unaware of the black institutions and achievements taking place only a mile or two from their homes.

The paper became a semi-weekly in May 1930, and a triweekly in April 1931. In 1931, Scott also began publishing the Chattanooga Tribune and Memphis World, and by doing so, founded the first chain of black newspapers, a chain that would eventually grow to a peak of fifty publications.[1]

Daily publication

In 1932 Scott's Atlanta World became a daily and added "Daily" to its title, becoming the first black daily in the U.S. in the 20th century[2] and the first successful one in all U.S. history.[1] At the time of its founding, the only other black paper in the area was the Atlanta Independent, which ceased publication in 1933. This left the Daily World as the only black paper in town. Its offices were on Auburn Avenue ("Sweet Auburn") celebrated as the home of the black business, social, and religious community and famously called by John Wesley Dobbs the "richest Negro street in the world".

On February 4, 1934, Scott was shot and killed; no one was ever convicted of the crime. His brother, Cornelius Adolphus Scott, took over as head of the paper, which subsequently adopted a more conservative, Republican position, reflecting Cornelius' own political views.[1]

Content

Editorial content was mainly neutral in tone as opposed to promoting Negro rights or attacking racism, and as such white businesses did not feel threatened by its content, allowing the Daily World to secure advertising support from companies such as Coca-Cola, Sears, Roebuck and Rich's, the largest department store in the city. [1]

The Daily World covered, on a national basis, topics including:

The paper urged black to shop at black-owned businesses (including the "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work" campaign). In the 1940s it sponsored voter registration efforts. The paper also covered the Atlanta black community's social, church, and sports news.[1]

Civil Rights era

During the Black Civil Rights era, the Daily World was criticized for not supporting sit-ins staged at several white-owned restaurants in downtown Atlanta.[1] Advertisers threatened to pull their business if the demonstrations didn’t stop.[2] Scott thought the demonstrations were dangerous, would work against the participants when they later would be looking for jobs,[2] and reasoned that blacks would more effectively improve their situation by working towards ending segregation in education, obtaining political and voting influence, and improving their economic situations.[1]

Cornelius Scott retired in 1997 and his great niece, Alexis Scott Reeves, took over as publisher.[1] Reeves has previously been a journalist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta's leading daily, and later vice-president of community affairs there.[2]

Fate of historic Atlanta Daily World building on Auburn Avenue

In 2008 the Downtown Atlanta tornado damaged the World's offices at 143 Auburn Avenue. The paper's operations subsequently moved to another location.[3] In 2012 Scott announced plans to sell the building where this important part of Atlanta's black history took place; the buyer had plans to demolish the building. This caused outcry in the local Old Fourth Ward neighborhood at the loss of yet another historic building on Auburn Avenue.[3] The Historic District Development Corporation, whose mission is historic preservation in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District launched an online petition to save the building.

Daily World firsts

  • First black daily in the 20th century; first successful black daily ever[1]
  • First black newspaper with assigned White House correspondent: Harry S. Alpin, February 1944[1]
  • One of the first black newspapers to report black-on-black crimes[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Newspapers: Atlanta Daily World, "The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords", PBS
  2. ^ a b c d e "Recap: Alexis Scott Shares Atlanta Daily World History on Family Business Radio", Family Business Radio, January 12, 2012
  3. ^ a b Scott Henry, "Atlanta Daily World building is latest Auburn Avenue historical site at risk", Creative Loafing


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