Georgia NDNP Advisory Board

Administrative Information

Selection Resources

Theme: Jim Crow and the Early Civil Rights Period, 1877-1963

At the heart of Georgia’s history and that of the country as a whole is the question of race. During the Jim Crow and early Civil Rights Movement period, Black citizens faced state-sanctioned discrimination in nearly every aspect of life: employment, education, housing, and more. We propose a selection of titles which includes both Black and White newspapers from this period. Although Georgia's papers of record in the era were often unsympathetic to the Civil Rights Movement and tacitly supported White supremacist policies, a selection of papers that expressly supported the Segregationist and White supremacist cause is also included.


African-American Publications

Georgia's Black press began after the Civil War; yet, today, only a handful of Georgia Black newspapers continue to publish, and few historical titles have been preserved. The Black press challenged racism and the White press’ belittling narratives. By contrast, the White press, entangled with segregationist power brokers, stirred up anti-Black violence, published racist propaganda, and dehumanized Black Americans. To fully understand the lives of Black Georgians at this time, it is essential to study the output of both Black and White journalists. Ranging from 1875 to 1963, and heavily centered on Savannah, the titles in this grouping offer the Black press' perspectives during the end of Reconstruction through to the early Civil Rights Movement.


South Georgia Papers of Record

Rural Georgia was particularly hostile to its Black residents in the Jim Crow Era. Newspapers from these areas covered the everyday injustices and deadly violence faced by Blacks and did so from the perspective of an unsympathetic White establishment. Counties such as Brooks, Mitchell, and Dodge were rife with lynching. Papers of record like the Quitman Free Press, Camilla Enterprise, and Eastman’s Times-Journal sought to downplay or outright ignore area lynchings, including those of Mary Turner and Eli Cooper. Rural southwestern Georgia counties earned violent sobriquets such “Bad Baker,” “Terrible Terrell,” and “Lynching Lee” and became early targets of SNCC activity in the state. Local White-owned papers like the Albany Journal, Americus Times-recorder, the Dawson News (Terrell County), and The Lee County Journal unapologetically covered the repression and bigotry of region in the post-war period and the civil rights activities of the Albany and Americus movements that activists organized in response to these injustices.


Segregationist Publications

Journalism and politics were intertwined in Georgia, and many of the state’s politicians had careers as journalists. Virulently segregationist governor and one-time state agricultural commissioner Eugene Talmadge edited the Statesman (Atlanta, 1932-1956) and in its pages he called for the restoration of the Georgia Democratic Party’s white primary and condemned Roosevelt’s New Deal policies. Political kingmaker Roy V. Harris owned and edited the Augusta Courier, the official organ of the Georgia branch of the Citizens’ Council of America. Segregationist governor (1955 to 1959) Marvin Griffin served as publisher of the Bainbridge Post-search light from 1933 to 1972 pledged to block desegregation efforts “come hell or high water.” Racist views were also espoused in the Atlanta-based Klan newspaper the Searchlight. Columbus, Georgia preacher, Klan member, and radio broadcaster Ezra “Parson Jack” Johnston used the Georgia Tribune to shrilly advocate for white supremacy and against labor and the Jewish community. He would call for the formation of White Citizens’ Councils and “segregation academies.”


DLG Newspaper Information

Georgia Historic Newspapers (GHN)

Forthcoming Titles - Fall 2021/Winter 2022