Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Back covers of Negro Digest/Black World, Pt. 1


The ranks of those who call themselves "Black", no matter what their pigmentation, grows hourly, and it seems possible now to peep the future and to foresee the day when all those "lost" children of the diaspora will be gathering their pride and power about them and coming home again.                                                                                --from the back cover of Black World, June 1974

The back covers of Negro Digest/Black World addressed a range of topics, and often presented a militant tone that supported black consciousness raising and solidarity. Rather than present advertisements on the back cover, the editors used the space as a place to project their concerns and interests.

The statements were unsigned, but the tone and focal points of the compositions resembled various other writings from the publication by the managing editor Hoyt Fuller. He definitely had to approve the contents of the back cover statements.

On my early encounters with Negro Digest/Black World, I gave relatively little attention to the back covers, as I was more interested in how the periodical presented poetry. However, moving forward, I'm planning to take a closer look and see how those back covers connected to the overall imperatives of the magazine.

Related:
Blogging about Black World magazine

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