Word In Black to Grow Black Media’s Legacy, Impact

In 1828, two New Yorkers — Samuel Cornish and John B. Russworm — got so fed up with the white press’ distorted and false depictions of Black people, that they did what our ancestors have always done to make change: They took action.

“We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us,” the duo wrote on the front page of the first issue of Freedom’s Journal, the first Black newspaper in the United States. At long last, Black stories would be told from Black perspectives.

Nearly two centuries later, the struggle continues. That’s why in 2020, 10 of the nation’s leading Black publishers, with 800+ years of collective experience, responded to the systemic racism in the mainstream press and the murder of George Floyd by banding together to form Word In Black.

Now Word In Black’s publishers — AFRO News, The Atlanta Voice, Dallas Weekly, Houston Defender, Michigan Chronicle, New York Amsterdam News, The Sacramento Observer, The Seattle Medium, The St. Louis American, and The Washington Informer — are doubling down on their commitment to the Black community by investing even more in news that tells the truth, serves the community, and bends the arc of the moral universe toward justice.

To that end, on Jan. 1, Word In Black officially incorporated as a public benefit company. 

“This is a day to celebrate an important step in the evolution of Word In Black,” Dr. Frances Toni Draper, CEO of the 131-year-old AFRO American, said in a statement. “Launching a digital news site focused on racial inequities in America, in collaboration with nine other leading Black publishers, has been game-changing for all of us. The transition to a public benefit corporation allows us to take Word In Black out of the pilot phase and develop it into a much larger national brand that is unapologetically Black.”

The public benefit corporation will be supported by the Word In Black Racial Equity Fund, a component fund of the Local Media Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with Local Media Association — which has championed and backed the creation and growth of Word In Black since Day One.

“None of us could have imagined this type of collaboration three years ago,” Denise Rolark Barnes, publisher of The Washington Informer and a shareholder in Word In Black said in a statement. “It shows that we are driven to share our common mission of informing and empowering our readers and expanding upon our common legacies of keeping the Black-owned media viable and alive.” 

Collectively, the 10 publishers and Word In Black connect with more than 1 million members of the community who, in a time of rampant race-based misinformation, disinformation, and attacks on democracy, need news they can trust more than ever. 

The formation of the public benefit corporation enables Word In Black to grow both the national brand and the local papers that have tirelessly amplified the voices of Black folks for so long.

Progress toward racial justice and equity can seem slow or even nonexistent. Many of the promises made in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder have been shelved over the past four years due to the ongoing cultural and political whitelash against racial justice. 

But Word In Black remains committed to reporting solutions-focused news that confronts the racial inequities woven into the fabric of this nation. In collaboration with our 10 publishers, we do what our Black press ancestors, Samuel Cornish and John B. Russworm, bravely did all those long years ago: take action, take action, take action.