Ebony Magazine, founded in 1945, became arguably the leading Black-owned publication in history. Although other scholars have studied the history of the magazine, founded by John H. Johnson under the umbrella of the Johnson Publishing Company, E. James West narrows the focus to how Ebony popularized Black history for its readers in the postwar United States, and how Lerone Bennett Jr., the eventual senior editor, was the centerpiece for the historical endeavor. West maintains that Ebony's role as an outlet for Black historical information has been “underexplored.”
West argues that Ebony was inspired by Life magazine, a photojournalistic periodical. However, Ebony took on an additional role with historical articles on Black achievements since Black history had been omitted or misrepresented, especially in public school textbooks. The Ebony historical articles formed a counternarrative to the negative racial stereotypes in popular and political cultures. Although Johnson had also published Negro Digest...