It was acquired in 1965 by John Herman Sengstacke a major African American publisher and owner of the Chicago Defender,he re-opened it in 1967 as the New Pittsburgh Carrier in 1967,making it one of his four
newspapers the African-American audience.
The paper was begun by Edwin Nathaniel Harleston,a guard at the H.J.Heinz Company food packing plant in Pittsburgh.Edwin a self-published poet,started printing the paper at his own expense in 1907.Generally about two pages,it was primarily a vehicle for Edwin's work,and he printed around ten copies which he sold for five cents a piece.In 1909,Edward Penman,Hepburn Carter,Scott Wood,Jr,and Harvey Tanner joined Edwin to run the paper.They did not contribute financially.They named the paper Pittsburgh Courier after the Post and Courier of Charleston,South Carolina,Edwin's hometown.Edwin prepared the copy of the first issue of the Courier at his home,Edward and Hepburn ordered five hundred copies from a printer in Philadelphia.The five men sold most of the copies throughout the Hill district on January 5,1910.During this period,Courier issues were four pages in length.In early March 1910,Robert Lee Van drew up incorporation papers for the Courier and began writing contributions.The courier was being printed Union News Company in Pittsburgh to save money,by March,Edwin began to run out of money for the paper.Robert's connections,the paper was able to attract wealthy investors including Cumberland Willis Posey Sr.On May 1910,the Pittsburgh Courier was formally incorporated
with Robert Lee handling the legal means.During the summer,grew from four to eight pages,but struggled with circulation and financial solvency due to a small market and lack of interested advertisers.In the
fall of 1910,Edwin left the paper for financial and creative reasons,Robert Lee became editor,a position he would held until his death in 1940.
The courier under Robert Lee's as a lawyer and public figure.In the early 1910s,a staff of four (Robert Lee,a secretary,a sports editor,and an errand boy who also proof-read and handled mail) operated from a spare room above a funeral home parlor in the Hill District.In 1914,the Courier moved to real offices on Forth Avenue.As editor Robert Lee wrote editorials encouraging readers to only patronize business that paid for advertisements in the Courier and ran contests to attempt to increase the circulation.In his Christmas editorial at the end of of 1914,
Robert Lee wrote of paper's intent to "abolish every vestige JimCrowism in Pittsburgh.
In the 1920s,Robert Lee made efforts to improve the quality of the news included in the growing paper.In November 1925,the Courier joined the Associated Negro Press,the news collective of African-American publications.Under Robert Lee, the "Local News section of the Courier covered the social lives of the upper and middle-class of the Hill District.This included accounts of vacations,marriages,and parties of prominent families and the goings on of local group,such as the Pittsburgh Frogs.Robert Lee stirred up controversy and 10,000 news readers by hiring George Schuyler in 1925,whose editorials and opinons made him famous as the" African-American Henry Louis Mencken (who was a Courier subscriber).In addition to George's contributions,the paper also ran special features by writers such as Joe Augustus Rogers and serialized novels Walter Francis White's Fire in the Flint.Sports was well covered by writers including Chester Lloyd Washington Jr.Who began writing for the paper while still in high school
in Pittsburgh Wendell Smith,and Cumberland Posey,son of the first investors.The sports coverage focused on African-American leagues,sometimes to the exclusion of white sporting events in Pittsburgh,including the 1927 World Series.
The Courier also worked as a tool for social progress.Most significantly,
the paper extensively covered the injustces on African-Americans perpetrated by the Pullman Company and supported the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters.Robert Lee to gain support for causes such as improving housing conditions in the Hill District,better education for African American students,and equal employment and union opportunities.However,Robert Lee often used his Courier editorials to publicly fight with the NAACP and William Edward Burghardt over issues such as President Calvin Coolidge's grants of clemency to African American soldiers involved the Houston Riots and Robert Lee's allegations that James Weldon Johnson embezzled money for personal use from the NAACP and the Garland Fund.This disharmony was resolved in 1929 by published apologies by Robert Lee,William Edward Du Bois,and James Edward Johnson,and within the decade,William Edward Du Bois became a regular Courier contributor.In 1938,Robert Lee's ended up at odds with the NAACP once again.Robert Lee,through national campaigns and contact Franklin Delano Roosevelt pursued inclusion of African-American units in the United States Armed Forces.
Robert Lee saw this as an achievable step on the path to integration of the military,the NAACP leadership,primarily Walter White,publicly disagreed with this halfmeasured,despite the protests of Thurgood Marshall.As a result of the Courier's influence and Robert Lee's political clout,New York Congressman Fish successfully added an admendment prohibiting racial discrimination in selection and training of men drafted to the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.
In 1932,Robert Lee officially put Courier behind the party realignment of African Americans.He urged readers to vote for Democrats,writing,"My friends,go home and turn Lincoln's picture to the wall.
In 1927,the Courier's New York City branch manager,Floyd J.Calvin,
began broascasting broadcasting the weekly "Pittsburgh Courier Hour" on New York radio.By 1928,the Courier's four editions (local,eastern,and southern) were distributed in all 48 states and internationally,and by 1938,the paper was the largest African American weekly,with a circulation OF 250,000.Robert Lee legitimized the Courier
with a professional staff,national advertisments a dedicated printing plant,and wide circulation.
Following Robert Lee's death in late 1940,close associate Ira Lewis,filled his role as president and executive editor.The Courier maintained its upward trajectory,reaching an all-time circulation of 357,000 in 1947.
When Ira died in 1948,Robert Lee's widow,Jessie Matthew Vann, assumed the role of president-treasurer.
Up the entrance of The United States into World War two the editors of the Pittsburgh Courier nominated African-American journalist Franklin Eugene Bolden to be an accredited war correspondent.Frank was one of
only two African-American war correspondent accepted,and became a
nationally recognized journalist,in addition to being city editor of the Courier from 1956 until 1962.
In 1953,the Courier published sixteen regional editions,totaling 250,000 copies.This drop in circulation in just six years illustrates the Courier's decline.The Courier's decline can be attributed in large part to advances in civil rights,became as white publications included more African American news news,circulation steadly fell.Also,the paper struggled without the financial expertise of the late Ira Lewis.
Percival Leroy Prattis a career journalist,rose from city editor in 1936,to managing editor in,1948,to executive editor of the Pittsburgh Courier in
1956.In 1947,Percival was unanimously granted membership in the US
Senate and House press galleries by the executive committee of the Peiodical Correspondents Association.That year he was the first African-American journalist permitted to enter the United States Congress via the Periodical Press Galleries of the United States Congress.He remained executive editor until 1965.In 1965,Percival retired Courier after John Herman Sengstacke purchased the ailing paper.
Some famous contributors to the Courier were Joel Augustus Rogers,who worked as a journalist for the Courier in the 1920s,and Sam Milai,editorial cartoonist for the Courier for 33 years.The Courier was the first to spot the talent of a young William Gardner Smith,who was
hired by the Courier while still in high school.This was in 1943,some years before he gained fame as an expatriate novelist and journalist living in France.
Trezzvant Anderson covered the early years of the civil rights movement for the paper.
John Herman Hernry Sengstacke,published of The Chicago Defender and a national figure for African American newspapers,closed the Courier in 1966.He re-opened it in 1967 as the New Pittsburgh Courier.
with Robert Lee handling the legal means.During the summer,grew from four to eight pages,but struggled with circulation and financial solvency due to a small market and lack of interested advertisers.In the
fall of 1910,Edwin left the paper for financial and creative reasons,Robert Lee became editor,a position he would held until his death in 1940.
The courier under Robert Lee's as a lawyer and public figure.In the early 1910s,a staff of four (Robert Lee,a secretary,a sports editor,and an errand boy who also proof-read and handled mail) operated from a spare room above a funeral home parlor in the Hill District.In 1914,the Courier moved to real offices on Forth Avenue.As editor Robert Lee wrote editorials encouraging readers to only patronize business that paid for advertisements in the Courier and ran contests to attempt to increase the circulation.In his Christmas editorial at the end of of 1914,
Robert Lee wrote of paper's intent to "abolish every vestige JimCrowism in Pittsburgh.
In the 1920s,Robert Lee made efforts to improve the quality of the news included in the growing paper.In November 1925,the Courier joined the Associated Negro Press,the news collective of African-American publications.Under Robert Lee, the "Local News section of the Courier covered the social lives of the upper and middle-class of the Hill District.This included accounts of vacations,marriages,and parties of prominent families and the goings on of local group,such as the Pittsburgh Frogs.Robert Lee stirred up controversy and 10,000 news readers by hiring George Schuyler in 1925,whose editorials and opinons made him famous as the" African-American Henry Louis Mencken (who was a Courier subscriber).In addition to George's contributions,the paper also ran special features by writers such as Joe Augustus Rogers and serialized novels Walter Francis White's Fire in the Flint.Sports was well covered by writers including Chester Lloyd Washington Jr.Who began writing for the paper while still in high school
in Pittsburgh Wendell Smith,and Cumberland Posey,son of the first investors.The sports coverage focused on African-American leagues,sometimes to the exclusion of white sporting events in Pittsburgh,including the 1927 World Series.
The Courier also worked as a tool for social progress.Most significantly,
the paper extensively covered the injustces on African-Americans perpetrated by the Pullman Company and supported the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters.Robert Lee to gain support for causes such as improving housing conditions in the Hill District,better education for African American students,and equal employment and union opportunities.However,Robert Lee often used his Courier editorials to publicly fight with the NAACP and William Edward Burghardt over issues such as President Calvin Coolidge's grants of clemency to African American soldiers involved the Houston Riots and Robert Lee's allegations that James Weldon Johnson embezzled money for personal use from the NAACP and the Garland Fund.This disharmony was resolved in 1929 by published apologies by Robert Lee,William Edward Du Bois,and James Edward Johnson,and within the decade,William Edward Du Bois became a regular Courier contributor.In 1938,Robert Lee's ended up at odds with the NAACP once again.Robert Lee,through national campaigns and contact Franklin Delano Roosevelt pursued inclusion of African-American units in the United States Armed Forces.
Robert Lee saw this as an achievable step on the path to integration of the military,the NAACP leadership,primarily Walter White,publicly disagreed with this halfmeasured,despite the protests of Thurgood Marshall.As a result of the Courier's influence and Robert Lee's political clout,New York Congressman Fish successfully added an admendment prohibiting racial discrimination in selection and training of men drafted to the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.
In 1932,Robert Lee officially put Courier behind the party realignment of African Americans.He urged readers to vote for Democrats,writing,"My friends,go home and turn Lincoln's picture to the wall.
In 1927,the Courier's New York City branch manager,Floyd J.Calvin,
began broascasting broadcasting the weekly "Pittsburgh Courier Hour" on New York radio.By 1928,the Courier's four editions (local,eastern,and southern) were distributed in all 48 states and internationally,and by 1938,the paper was the largest African American weekly,with a circulation OF 250,000.Robert Lee legitimized the Courier
with a professional staff,national advertisments a dedicated printing plant,and wide circulation.
Following Robert Lee's death in late 1940,close associate Ira Lewis,filled his role as president and executive editor.The Courier maintained its upward trajectory,reaching an all-time circulation of 357,000 in 1947.
When Ira died in 1948,Robert Lee's widow,Jessie Matthew Vann, assumed the role of president-treasurer.
Up the entrance of The United States into World War two the editors of the Pittsburgh Courier nominated African-American journalist Franklin Eugene Bolden to be an accredited war correspondent.Frank was one of
only two African-American war correspondent accepted,and became a
nationally recognized journalist,in addition to being city editor of the Courier from 1956 until 1962.
In 1953,the Courier published sixteen regional editions,totaling 250,000 copies.This drop in circulation in just six years illustrates the Courier's decline.The Courier's decline can be attributed in large part to advances in civil rights,became as white publications included more African American news news,circulation steadly fell.Also,the paper struggled without the financial expertise of the late Ira Lewis.
Percival Leroy Prattis a career journalist,rose from city editor in 1936,to managing editor in,1948,to executive editor of the Pittsburgh Courier in
1956.In 1947,Percival was unanimously granted membership in the US
Senate and House press galleries by the executive committee of the Peiodical Correspondents Association.That year he was the first African-American journalist permitted to enter the United States Congress via the Periodical Press Galleries of the United States Congress.He remained executive editor until 1965.In 1965,Percival retired Courier after John Herman Sengstacke purchased the ailing paper.
Some famous contributors to the Courier were Joel Augustus Rogers,who worked as a journalist for the Courier in the 1920s,and Sam Milai,editorial cartoonist for the Courier for 33 years.The Courier was the first to spot the talent of a young William Gardner Smith,who was
hired by the Courier while still in high school.This was in 1943,some years before he gained fame as an expatriate novelist and journalist living in France.
Trezzvant Anderson covered the early years of the civil rights movement for the paper.
John Herman Hernry Sengstacke,published of The Chicago Defender and a national figure for African American newspapers,closed the Courier in 1966.He re-opened it in 1967 as the New Pittsburgh Courier.
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