Oral history interview with Nannie Mitchell Turner, 1971

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Name: Turner, Nannie Mitchell (Interviewee); La Brie, Henry G (Interviewer)
Title: Oral history interview with Nannie Mitchell Turner, 1971
Other Titles: Reminiscences of Nannie Mitchell Turner : oral history, 1971
Abstract: In this interview conducted with Henry La Brie III, Nannie Mitchell-Turner details her life history to frame her long career at the St. Louis Argus. She discusses her husband's education, how she became educated, and how the Argus ran without any formal journalistic training. Mitchell-Turner recounts the struggles of running the Argus without missing an edition during the Great Depression and two f ires in their building. Also discussed in this interview: the scope of the Argus' reporting; its changing readership; expanding to white readership; her understanding of the future of the black press; the different approaches of the white press and black press; and competition in the newspaper business. Mitchell-Turner states that the black press is an important area of study and explains her criteria for calling a newspaper black.
Collection Name: Black Journalists oral history collection
Subjects: African American women journalists; Journalism--Social aspects; Newspapers--Circulation; Journalists; African Americans--Civil rights; African American press; African American journalists; Saint Louis (Mo.); United States Race relations; Turner, Nannie Mitchell
Format: oral histories
Genre: Interviews
Date: 1971
Physical Description: sound files : digital preservation master, WAV files (96kHz, 24 bit); 57 pages

Note (Biographical): Nannie Mitchell-Turner was born in 1887 in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1904 she married William Mitchell, moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and had a son, Frank, the following year. She worked as a caretaker until she, her husband, and her brother-in-law foun ded the St. Louis Argus in 1912. Initially she worked as an assistant to her husband, who was business manager, until his death in 1945. From that point onwards, she was business manager, treasurer, and president of the Argus until her death in 1975.
Note (Funding): Digital reproduction funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Note: Interviewed by Henry G. La Brie III on August 7, 1971.; Interview conducted by Henry La Brie for a work on the history of the African-American press.; Service copy (44 kHz, 16 bit) and rendered version (96 kHz, 24 bit) of sound file derived from a digital preservation master digitized at 96 kHz, 24 bit.
Note (Provenance): Henry G. La Brie III Gift, 1975
Language: English
Library Location: Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content
Catalog Record: 6984796
Also In: Oral History Archives at Columbia; Time-Based Media; Time-Based Media
Persistent URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-42ah-1492
Related URLs: Available digital content for this interview.