The Pervasiveness of Media: You Can’t Hide From It

We have always been dominated by the pervasiveness of media messages - there is no way of hiding from it. If I were to have seen the latter sentiment on a piece of paper yesterday, I would have replaced the word ‘always’ with ‘recently’ because I did not think that the media was active centuries ago. However, I have since discovered from performing this case study that I do not know as much as I thought I did. Back in the 1890s, newspapers circulated throughout the United States that presented negative messages toward African Americans with respect to voting. Many African Americans launched their own newspaper chains during the 1880s and 1890s in efforts of bringing awareness to African American struggles and to unite with one another in their struggle of being ‘members of an inferior race.’

One of the most popular African American newspaper chains of its time was The Richmond Planet. This newspaper was effective in its campaign against racial inequality and racial violence; however, it achieved its mission through the incorporation of live-action images to support African American struggles. With regards to the messages an eighteen year old African American male received in the 1890s, one of the most prominent articles that was devised by The Richmond Planet discusses voting struggles for African Americans. John Mitchell Jr. was the editor of the newspaper chain and put fastidious effort into his articles on the voting struggle especially. His article from 1890, entitled Lynching, consists of “printed stories about lynchings and other injustices towards blacks. From this, African Americans in Virginia still lived in daily fear of lynchings and other forms of mob violence,” which demonstrates just how much of an effect media messages had on African American voter turnout during the 1890s (Mitchell Jr. 1890, 1). An African American voting for the first time in the 1890s constantly read about what happens to people of their kind when they vote - if they wanted to avoid being lynched and beaten to death, they knew not to vote.

* Attached below is a link to access an archive of Mitchell's newspaper article, Lynching. https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/online_classroom/shaping_the_constitution/doc/richmond_planet_lynching

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In addition to newspapers, postcards depicted lynchings and were distributed to both blacks and whites. “Whites then used the postcards to teach their children about how disgusting African Americans were in hopes that their children would grow to lynch African Americans too,” which was stated by a faculty member and History Professor at Fairfield University, Dr.Shannon King. Dr.King is a scholar of African American History, so I thought it would be appropriate to have him share his brief thoughts on how the media shaped African American voting during the 1890s. Expanding the conversation, I myself performed further research on the postcards Dr.King informed me about and I have since discovered the following: “Postcards showcased body parts, including genitalia, were sometimes distributed to spectators or put on public display.” Since Dr.King was able to conclude what white people used the postcards for, I concentrated on deciphering what it was African Americans did with the postcards - I came to an awareness that, “the postcards were covered in local African American newspapers with headlines spelling out the horrific details,” and since newspapers papers like The Richmond Planet campaigned against racial inequality and racial violence, I conclude that postcards were used as a strategy for African Americans to unite in their struggle. As I mentioned above in the preceding paragraph; however, the messages African Americans received only managed to scare and deter them from voting.

WARNING: ATTACHED BELOW ARE POSTCARDS CONTAINING SENSITIVE CONTENT - Think about how an eighteen year old African American male in the 1890s must have felt after receiving postcards that featured images as disgusting as what is depicted in this gallery.

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Shifting gears, something that came to mind when I was researching various newspaper chains from the 1890s was a newspaper article I read earlier this year about how the United States contains voters from every single ethnic background. Messages like these are what I grew up with, so I never realized the harsh obstacles an African American my age had to endure during the 1890s. Performing this case study has challenged me in ways I never thought possible before; however, I am glad to have gained a greater sense of awareness on such an important topic. We are all in this together and I find it so difficult to wrap my head around our nation’s past - especially considering how our nation was founded upon principles of democracy and equality. As an eighteen year old man in the year 2020, I grew up with the notion that I have nothing stopping me from voting, so it bothers me to even fathom the idea that African American men my age in the 1890s were not afforded the same messages as me - they put their lives on the line if they decided to cast their vote, and my only hope is that you gained a newfound respect for members of the African American community after engaging with my case study. Thank you so much for your due diligence and cooperation.

Reference to the newspaper article I mentioned above to briefly showcase my voting literacy: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/02/upshot/these-526-voters-represent-america.html