Eye on the Struggle (BOOK REVIEW)
Eye on the Struggle
Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press
By James McGrath Morris
Amistad Books
Hardcover, $27.99
496 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-0-06-219885-3
Book
Review by Kam Williams
“This
groundbreaking biography… illuminates the life and accomplishments of
pioneering journalist Ethel Lois Payne, while also bringing to the fore the
critical role of the black press in the civil rights era… In the 1950s and
1960s, she raised challenging questions at presidential press conferences about
matters of importance to African-Americans…
At
some considerable personal risk, Payne [also] covered such events as the Montgomery bus boycott, the desegregation of the University of Alabama,
and the Little Rock
school crisis… She became for many black Americans their eyes on the frontlines
of the struggle for equality…
President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized Payne’s
seminal role by presenting her with pens used in the signing of the Civil
Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.”
--
Excerpted from the Bookjacket
In recent years, some
of the unsung black females who played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights
Movement have finally begun getting their due, sisters like Daisy Bates, Ida B.
Wells, Diane Nash and Ella Baker. Another deserving icon belatedly being
recognized is Ethel Payne (1911-1991), an intrepid journalist who embedded
herself with grassroots activists while covering the fight for freedom from the
front lines.
The reason why the history
books have overlooked this worthy pioneer heretofore is ostensibly because she
was a reporter for the Chicago Defender, an African-American paper not a part
of the mainstream media with which white folks were familiar. However, that’s
precisely what made Ethel’s stories unique.
For, she felt free to write from the
impatient perspective of one who believed the Declaration of Independence
included all races when it spoke of the self evident truth that all men were
created equal. That attitude was a far cry from her Caucasian peers who saw
civil rights as a gift being gradually bestowed upon blacks by paternalistic
whites via legislation.
Eye on the
Struggle recounts not only Ethel Payne’s remarkable career, but her private
life as well. Author James McGrath Morris drew upon a treasure trove of source
material for the opus, including his subject’s articles and journals, and even
her FBI file. He also relied on anecdotes as recounted by relatives, friends
and colleagues.
We learn that Ethel’s
grandparents were slaves, and that her father, a Pullman porter, passed away
when she was only 14, leaving his widow Bessie to raise a half-dozen kids alone
in Chicago. That formidable challenge was further amplified upon the inception
of the Great Depression just a few years later.
That unfortunate development
forced Ethel to abandon her dream of studying law in favor of becoming a
librarian. Still, between a gift for writing and a commitment to progressive
politics, it was only a matter of time before she would parlay those interests
into a position as the Chicago Defender’s Washington correspondent.
An important
biography rescuing from obscurity a seminal figure in the annals of
African-American journalism who covered the Civil Rights Movement from a
point-of-view which proved to be on the right side of history.
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