A House for the Struggle: The Black Press and the Built Environment in Chicago

In May 1972, a crowd including Mayor Richard J. Daley gathered at 820 S. Michigan Avenue to celebrate the opening of the new Johnson Publishing office building. For decades, John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, had built a publishing empire and now declared this building a "miracle on Michigan Avenue." His new eight-story headquarters was a symbol of success to his admirers and of the limits of Black capitalism to his detractors.E. James West's insightful A House for the Struggle adds to literature that, while recognizing the racism experienced by Chicago Blacks, argues for agency among them and their institutions, in this case newspapers and magazines. Buildings such as the one at 820 S. Michigan, along with the content put out by the print media they housed, were important edifices that linked the media, community, and nation, serving as foci for culture, politics, protest, and ideology for Black Chicagoans. This book tells their stories and in doing so contributes to the history of Chicago and of its Black press.Many years before Johnson's Michigan Avenue headquarters became both a symbol and cause for debate, Chicago's Black press clustered on the city's South Side, close to Black-owned businesses. West traces the establishment of Robert Abbott's Chicago Defender alongside competitor papers such as the Conservator, Broad Ax and Appeal. State Street's newspaper row grew during the First World War and in the wake of the 1919 riot. Abbott wanted to create a "Defenderland" to assert the power of Black journalism. Other competitors like the Chicago Whip and the Chicago Bee offered their takes on Chicago and national news while establishing buildings that housed writers and stood as symbols of progress. In addressing these buildings, and in later chapters as well, West contributes to architectural history by describing the styles used in each component of the built media environment.By the time John H. Johnson entered the publishing business, Chicago's Black community was in transition as the city's Black Renaissance bloomed in the mid-twentieth century. West traces Johnson's rise and his establishment of the Negro Digest, which West terms a "watershed moment in Black print history" (p. 93). Johnson started Ebony in 1945, and as his readership expanded so did his staff and his need for more office space. West analyzes the friction caused by the employment of white staffers and conflict over gender roles in the office, and examines the content of Ebony to illustrate Johnson's publishing vision.Meanwhile, Robert Abbott's nephew John Sengstacke had risen through the ranks at the competing Defender and now sought additional space for his staff. Sengstacke and Johnson were tough competitors but maintained good professional and personal relations as their companies grew, while competitors like the Whip and Broad Ax folded. The two also remained committed to Chicago's Black community even as they relocated their offices to Michigan Avenue, just south of the Loop. While this move from the heart of the South Side concerned some Black Chicagoans, it placed the publishing houses "perfectly situated at Bronzeville's northern border, within striking distance of the Loop" (p. 128). These new plants were not just corporate headquarters but spaces that promoted Black history and offered educational tours.Their publications also addressed the growing global decolonization and American Civil Rights movements. West highlights Johnson's struggles to make his voice relevant among those found in newer publications like Muhammad Speaks and Black Panther. He faced increased attacks, viewed as someone behind the times and not fully supportive of the Civil Rights Movement. The Defender, now at 2400 Michigan Avenue by the 1960s, housed the Chicago Urban League and became an important "organizing hub" despite editorial turnover and internal strife over the employment of white typesetters. West examines the writings of the "Black Radical Press" and the role each publication's office played in the struggle for rights.West concludes by delving deeply into the design and construction of Johnson's 820 S. Michigan Avenue office and its reception by Black activists. In mere decades, Johnson had moved from a backroom office to his own showpiece. West analyzes Johnson's achievement within the context of the Southern Strategy and critiques of Black capitalism that argued it co-opted Black Power. He also notes the effects of urban renewal into the 1970s and 1980s as he provides a succinct conclusion to his study.A House for the Struggle is an engagingly written, even-handed, and impressively researched book. West relies not only on newspapers and magazines but memoirs, personal letters, and papers from numerous archives in his examination of the Black press and its built environment. Along the way, he convincingly crosses over into cultural geography and enriches our understanding of twentieth-century Chicago.