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The Colored American Magazine
The Colored American Magazine was the first monthly publication in the United States that covered African-American culture. It ran from May 1900 to November 1909 and had a peak circulation of 17,000. The magazine was initially published out of Boston by the Colored Co-Operative Publishing Company, and from 1904 forward, by Moore Publishing and Printing Company in New York. The editorial staff included novelist Pauline Hopkins who was also the main writer. In a 1904 hostile takeover involving Booker T. Washington, Fred Randolph Moore purchased the magazine and replaced Hopkins as editor.
The Colored American Magazine was founded by Harper S. Fortune, Walter Alexander Johnson, Walter W. Wallace, and Jesse W. Watkins—all Virginians in their late twenties who had moved to Boston. Wallace was the managing editor and Fortune was the treasurer.
The magazine was published by the Colored Co-Operative Publishing Company. A promotional piece declared, "This magazine shall be devoted to the higher culture of Religion, Literature, Science, Music, and Art of the Negro, universally. Acting as a stimulus to old and young, the old to higher achievements, the young to emulate their example." After its first year, the magazine had layout, prose, photography, and production values that were professional and indicated solid finances.
Originally, the magazine operated at 232 West Canton Street in Boston's South End; it moved to 5 Park Square in Boston by 1902. It had 15,000 subscriptions by 1901 at one dollar each; its national circulation peaked at 17,000. Although its target audience was African Americans, at least a third of its readers were White. Its inclusion of serialized novels, short stories, and poems turned it into a "quality journal" that appealed to "Boston's Smart Set."
Despite these successes, the magazine had financial problems as early as August 1900. These problems were linked to poverty in the African American community and an unwillingness of white banks to finance a risky project managed by an African American team. Wallace also cited the company's venture into book publishing as a constraint on its liquidity.
Novelist Pauline Hopkins was the magazine's most prolific contributor from 1900 to 1904. She used literary texts to advocate for African American equality, writing biographical essays, serialized novels, and short stories for the magazine. A modern historian notes, "Hopkins, in contrast to some other figures attached to the magazine, was uncompromising in her critique of racial oppression in Jim Crow America, as well as in what she perceived as the moral cowardice and racial paternalism of white Northern liberals."
Other contributors to The Colored American Magazine included Cyrus Field Adams, William Stanley Braithwaite, James D. Corrothers, W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, T. Thomas Fortune, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimké, Charles Winslow Hall, Fred R. Moore, Maitland Leroy Osborne, J. Alexandre Skeete, Albreta (Alberta) Moore Smith, Moorfield Storey, Marie Louise Burgess-Ware, Booker T. Washington, Gertrude Dorsey Brown and Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Hopkins became the women's section editor in 1901 and literary editor in May 1903. Braithwaite recalled that Hopkins introduced paying writers for their stories and poems to attract better writers.
In 1903, John Christian Freund became an outside investor in the magazine. London-born and Oxford-educated, Freund, was the co-founder and editor of two magazines in New York City, The Music Trades and Musical America. At the time, his investment in the magazine was crucial. As a White man, Freund preferred Booker T. Washington's "racially conciliatory rhetoric" and pressured Hopkins to move away from what he considered to be a "militant political stance". Hopkins did not comply, refusing to change the magazine to please its backers.
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The Colored American Magazine
The Colored American Magazine was the first monthly publication in the United States that covered African-American culture. It ran from May 1900 to November 1909 and had a peak circulation of 17,000. The magazine was initially published out of Boston by the Colored Co-Operative Publishing Company, and from 1904 forward, by Moore Publishing and Printing Company in New York. The editorial staff included novelist Pauline Hopkins who was also the main writer. In a 1904 hostile takeover involving Booker T. Washington, Fred Randolph Moore purchased the magazine and replaced Hopkins as editor.
The Colored American Magazine was founded by Harper S. Fortune, Walter Alexander Johnson, Walter W. Wallace, and Jesse W. Watkins—all Virginians in their late twenties who had moved to Boston. Wallace was the managing editor and Fortune was the treasurer.
The magazine was published by the Colored Co-Operative Publishing Company. A promotional piece declared, "This magazine shall be devoted to the higher culture of Religion, Literature, Science, Music, and Art of the Negro, universally. Acting as a stimulus to old and young, the old to higher achievements, the young to emulate their example." After its first year, the magazine had layout, prose, photography, and production values that were professional and indicated solid finances.
Originally, the magazine operated at 232 West Canton Street in Boston's South End; it moved to 5 Park Square in Boston by 1902. It had 15,000 subscriptions by 1901 at one dollar each; its national circulation peaked at 17,000. Although its target audience was African Americans, at least a third of its readers were White. Its inclusion of serialized novels, short stories, and poems turned it into a "quality journal" that appealed to "Boston's Smart Set."
Despite these successes, the magazine had financial problems as early as August 1900. These problems were linked to poverty in the African American community and an unwillingness of white banks to finance a risky project managed by an African American team. Wallace also cited the company's venture into book publishing as a constraint on its liquidity.
Novelist Pauline Hopkins was the magazine's most prolific contributor from 1900 to 1904. She used literary texts to advocate for African American equality, writing biographical essays, serialized novels, and short stories for the magazine. A modern historian notes, "Hopkins, in contrast to some other figures attached to the magazine, was uncompromising in her critique of racial oppression in Jim Crow America, as well as in what she perceived as the moral cowardice and racial paternalism of white Northern liberals."
Other contributors to The Colored American Magazine included Cyrus Field Adams, William Stanley Braithwaite, James D. Corrothers, W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, T. Thomas Fortune, William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina Grimké, Charles Winslow Hall, Fred R. Moore, Maitland Leroy Osborne, J. Alexandre Skeete, Albreta (Alberta) Moore Smith, Moorfield Storey, Marie Louise Burgess-Ware, Booker T. Washington, Gertrude Dorsey Brown and Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Hopkins became the women's section editor in 1901 and literary editor in May 1903. Braithwaite recalled that Hopkins introduced paying writers for their stories and poems to attract better writers.
In 1903, John Christian Freund became an outside investor in the magazine. London-born and Oxford-educated, Freund, was the co-founder and editor of two magazines in New York City, The Music Trades and Musical America. At the time, his investment in the magazine was crucial. As a White man, Freund preferred Booker T. Washington's "racially conciliatory rhetoric" and pressured Hopkins to move away from what he considered to be a "militant political stance". Hopkins did not comply, refusing to change the magazine to please its backers.