Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities
BETA

Newspaper The Washington Tribune (Washington, D.C.) 1921-1946

View All Front Pages

About The Washington Tribune (Washington, D.C.) 1921-1946

From 1921 to 1946, the Washington Tribune was published semi-weekly for African American residents of Washington, D.C., but its audience extended beyond the capital. The paper was co-founded by African American newspaperman William O. Walker and the Murray Brothers Printing Company in 1921. Walker wrote for the Pittsburgh Courier before moving to Washington and served as the managing editor of the Washington Tribune from 1921 to 1930.

During the Washington Tribune’s 25-year run, it had many managing editors. After William O. Walker, the paper was managed by James A.G. LuValle, an African American man who formerly served as the city editor of the paper. In the mid-1930s, Garland Mackey became the editor, after contributing articles to the paper’s sports and theater columns. Mackey was eventually followed by William Clark, who managed the paper until it ceased publication in 1946.

According to news correspondent Enoch P. Waters in his book American Diary: A Personal History of the Black Press, the Washington Tribune The paper regularly called attention to cases of local and national racial discrimination and amplified calls for civil rights and racial justice from local and national organizations and individuals. On January 3, 1925, one of the front-page articles was titled “1924 LYNCHINGS SHOWED MARKED DECREASE” and discussed the national Department of Records and Research 1924 lynching report. In addition to news, the Washington Tribune provided updates about the local community in the “Society and Club” column. The “Children’s Page” was included weekly and offered puzzles and book recommendations for children.

The Washington Tribune also contained a remarkable sports section that documented the activities of African Americans in sports at the community, college, and national levels. In October 1926, noted African American and Native American journalist Samuel H. Lacy joined the paper and often reported on the difficulties of being an African American sportswriter. On January 7, 1927, Lacy wrote about racial barriers in sports in his article “Officials Committee Draws the Color Line.” In this article, he revealed that the memberships of all the African American members of the Amateur Athletic Union Officials had not been renewed for the 1927 season. Lacy initially assumed this was an error but was told that no error had occurred and none of the memberships would be renewed. Lacy called out this racial discrimination, stating that “always prevalent, always menacing is prejudice. The white man’s jealousy and hatred for the Negro is never in need for a place to show itself. Like the proverbial ‘thunderbolt from a clear sky’ comes the latest drawing of the line by whites.” Lacy later became one of the first African American members of the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1948.

During its publication, the Washington Tribune was a well-circulated paper. In the January 5, 1924 issue, the masthead read “first in local circulation.” As reported by the publisher, the Tribune’s circulation in 1930 was 8,055, but by 1946 it had declined to 5,500. The paper ceased publication in 1946 and was eventually absorbed by the Baltimore Afro-American and merged into their Capital edition, the Washington Afro-American, in 1964, becoming the Washington Afro-American and Washington Tribune. The title was eventually condensed to the Washington Afro-American, serving as the Washington, D.C. branch of the national Afro-American. As the Washington Afro-American, the paper was published into the 1990s.

Provided By: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Washington Tribune (Washington, D.C.) 1921-1946

Dates of Publication

  • 1921-1946

Created / Published

  • Washington, D.C. : Washington Tribune Pub. Co., 1921-

Headings

  • -  African Americans--Washington (D.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Washington (D.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  Washington (D.C.)
  • -  United States--District of Columbia--Washington

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Semiweekly, Nov. 5, 1935-
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (May 14, 1921)-
  • -  Ceased in 1946?
  • -  "Black publication."
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service, the New York Public Library, and the Microfilm Graphic Corp. for Howard University.
  • -  Vol. 25, no. 2 (Apr. 2, 1946).

Medium

  • volumes : illustrations

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn87062236

OCLC Number

  • 16046622

ISSN Number

  • 2997-5654

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Washington Tribune Washington, D.C. 1921 to 1946. (Washington, DC), Jan. 1 1921. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87062236/.

APA citation style:

(1921, January 1) The Washington Tribune Washington, D.C. 1921 to 1946. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87062236/.

MLA citation style:

The Washington Tribune Washington, D.C. 1921 to 1946. (Washington, DC) 1 Jan. 1921. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn87062236/.