"Claude Albert Barnett" {September 16,1889-August 2,1967}

Entrepreneur and founder of the Associated Negro Press (1919-1967),was born in Sanford,Florida to William Barnett & Celena Anderson.At nine months he was brought to Mattoon,Illinois to live with his maternal grandmother.He

grew up in Illinois,attending schools in Oak Park & Chicago.In 1904 he entered Tuskegee University.Two years later in 1906 he received a diploma and was granted the College's hightest award.Following graduation Claude returned to Chicago and became a postal worker.Through his new employment he read numerous magazines and newspapers.Fascinated by the advertisements,in 1913 he began reproducing photographs of notable African Americans luminaries,which sold through advertising in African American newspapers.By 1917 Claude hd transformed this endeavor into a thriving mail-order enterprise.After this initial success,Claude and several partners started the Kashmir Chemical Company,a cosmetics business where he served as advertising manager.Shortly thereafter he resigned his post office position and traveled the country,promoting both his photographs and beauty products to mostly African American customers.As he placed his ads in various African American newspapers across the country he noticed a common trend,these newspapers were in dire needs of substantive news to report.Consequently,in 1919,Claude created the Associated Negro Press (ANP),a service designed to provide news outlet with a reliable stream of news stories.At first he bartered news stories from varied sources to the African newspapers in return for advertising space.Eventually he built a reliable team of African American news reporters known as "stringers"who provided stories of interest to African Americans.Claude then charged newspaper publishers $25 per week for access to the latest stories.At its zenith in the early 1950s,the ANP simultaneously served 200 newspapers across the United States and the world.He expanded his network of stringers beyond the United States into the West Indies & Africa.He became one of the most influential figures among African Americans.Beginning in 1930 he sered as a consultant to the United States Department of Agriculture for secretaries Henry A.Wallace,Claude R.Wickard,& Charles F.Brannon.In 1934 Claude married popular entertainer Etta Moten and together the world and most notably Africa,which they visited 11 times in a 13 year period.Between 1938& 1942 he served as president of the board of directors of Provident Hospital in Chicago.By the late 1940s Claude wa considered a celebrity by many black people all over the world.In 1949 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humanities Degree from Tuskegee University.Two years later,Paul Eugene Magloire,the president of Haiti presented him the Chevalier Order of Honor and merit and in 1952 Liberian President William V.S.Tubman bestowed the honorary title,commander of the Order of Star of Africa." In the 1950s,Claude served n the Board of Trustees for Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company in Chicago.Claude in his home of a cerebral hemorrhage in,South Park,Chicago.