Written in Black and White: Creating an Ideal America, 1919-1970

Abstract

This project juxtaposes the careers of three unique publishers in order to analyze how the twentieth century public sphere gave publishers new pathways to prominence, an ability to cultivate personal audiences based on ideology, and wide latitude to express personal visions for America. Emanuel Haldeman-Julius, a socialist sympathizer and the son of Russian immigrants, founded Haldeman-Julius Publishing in 1919 and advocated a rational reordering of American society. Haldeman-Julius used nationwide mass-marketing, multiple periodical publications, and the popular Little Blue Book series to vigorously challenge conservative views on sexuality, religion, labor, race, and education. Further challenging the exclusionary characteristics of American society, the African American newspaperman Chester Franklin founded the Kansas City Call in 1919 and championed racial uplift through hard work, self-reliance, and education. He expanded the paper throughout the Midwest and gave a voice to campaigns for integration and improved working conditions in the region. Finally, native Kansan William Lindsay White used the combination of national and local platforms to articulate a conservative vision for America based on a return to traditional values. Specifically, his writing advocated hard work and self- reliance along with an emphasis on anti-communism. Despite his traditionalism, however, he envisioned an American society that granted equal opportunities to African Americans and immigrants who embraced these values. The success of each publisher depended upon individual initiative, career opportunism, and community commitment. Each pursued an audience outside his local community and, collectively, they demonstrate how the printed word became a tool of advocacy for competing social and political agendas during the twentieth century.