Civil Rights Journalism and the Portrayal of Blacks in Media
Juanita Jewel Craft was a crucial member of the Dallas chapter of the NAACP during the Civil Rights Era, as she persistently worked to expand the efforts for Black equality throughout the nation. Craft heavily worked with the National Youth Council to create new chapters and provide youths with opportunities to fight for their equality and rights in a world riddled with inequality and racism. In addition to her work with the NAACP, Craft participated in acts of protest in her fight for her equal rights. As seen in this letter, she made a stand on a train car and caused a "scene." This letter was sent after inquiry regarding the incident and ultimately asked Mrs. Craft and the NAACP to not push the issue any further and to accept the decision that had been made. This incident on the train car is similar in many ways to the Rosa Parks bus incident which was covered heavily by the news and various media outlets. However, after much research, it was evident that Craft's incident was not covered in the media at all. This brings into question what constituted material as "news-worthy" and how many similar incidents were hidden or forgotten by the media during this time period. Had the media reported on more of these events, would the trajectory of the civil rights movement been different?
Media, in its many different platforms, played an influential role in the perception of the civil rights movement by the public. Television, radio, and print media signifcantly affected the civil rights movements during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Print media, specifically newspapers, did an extraordinary job of presenting bias in their review of the civil rights movement through the extensive coverage of certain events juxtaposed with ignorance of similar movements, protests, and actions by activists. Hesitation to print stories and photographs of violence, dehumanization, and bigotry rattled throughout the United States media outlets, leading to potential extension of the need for the civil rights movement. Radio and television also played an extremely important role during the civil rights movement, specifically highlighting the portrayal of black stereotypes and absence of black representation in broadcast. Although negative in these aspects, radio and television broadcasts of the events during the civil rights movement evoked sympathy in the hearts of thousands across the United States, helping to increase support for civil rights activism. In the twenty-first century, media usage during the civil rights movement is analyzed through broadcasts originally published in the 1960s, as well as through secondary analyses by scholars in novels, journals, and interviews in the modern age. While many media platforms did hinder the exposure to the public of civil rights activism and actions, scholars and non-scholars alike argue that the civil rights movement owes a great deal of its success to its media coverage. Without the public exposure to photographs and news stories of activist demonstrations and the violence that followed them, the civil rights movement would have never taken off in its eventual success.
This interview, reported and published by Alabama Public Radio in 2013, explores the first-hand account of the Children’s March in 1963 Birmingham through the eyes of Hank Klibanoff, a 14-year-old paperboy at the time. Klibanoff stated that the media coverage of the infamous event was front-page material for hundreds of newspapers, except those in Birmingham. The news in Birmingham regarding the event was almost hidden in the back pages of the newspapers, void of pictures and detailed information. The “iconic event” was covered very little, which leads to questions as to why the Birmingham press decided to hide this event in some ways. Donald Brown, a Birmingham reporter in the 1960s, reported his unease and discomfort with the hiding of the narratives and photographs of this event, as he believes the editors of newspapers were forced to keep the coverage to a minimum. Birmingham news editors were hesitant to publish information about protests and events like the Children’s March, even though they provided insight into the horrific violence that occurred during the civil rights movement nationally.
Brown and Klibanoff agree that if the entire nation had been as hesitant to publish the reality and violence of protests during the civil rights movement as the Birmingham press, dehumanization and violence would have occurred for many more years than what happened in reality. Media coverage played a huge part in enacting change across the nation. This interview highlighted the corruption and bias that was often portrayed in the media during the civil rights movement. Hiding of information and photographs was often more common than led to believe, and many news stories and photographs were censored by the press to avoid the true understanding of the violence and oppression that occurred during the civil rights movement. This is potentially very similar to the absence of reports on actions such as Juanita Craft’s altercation on the Dallas train in 1950.
https://www.paleycenter.org/cbs-reports-who-speaks-for-birmingham
Additionally, media coverage during the Civil Rights Era displays the wide discrepancy in the black and white perspectives of the racism that surrounded them. The clip linked above is of an interview with Southern elite member, Mrs. George Bridges, discussing her views on the segregated South. Mrs. Bridges is asked if she believes if the South is segregated, and her adamancy that the South is not truly that segregated is highlighted in the interview. Another clip of an interview with Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil rights activist, is posted on the webpage as well. In his interview he discusses the racism he has personally experienced in the South when attempting to enroll his son in a previously all-white school. He relives how he was violently mobbed and beaten when trying to complete his son’s enrollment. These clips show the stark difference in experiences of segregation of whites and blacks during the civil rights movement. While a white elite like Mrs. Bridges did not truly see the effects of segregation, as she does not experience them herself, a black activist like Rev. Shuttlesworth experienced racist violence at its peak. Their experiences and how they were both reported on in the media within this 1961 documentary focuses in on the different experiences and different points of views of blacks and whites during the civil rights movements.