doi:10.7916/d8-pk4m-g372Oral history interview with Arna Bontemps, 1971Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973oral historiesmixed materialAuthorsAfrican American pressAfrican American journalistsNewspaper publishing--Economic aspects--United StatesAfrican Americans--Civil rightsAfrican Americans--Migrations--20th centuryMigration, InternalUnited States Race relationsBontemps, Arna, 1902-1973Bontemps discusses: Free At Last, his biography of Frederick Douglass; the successes of the black press and its dwindling significance; his early exposure to black newspapers; and their role in the Great Migration of black Americans out of the south. Bontemps describes the new employment opportunities available to black journalists at mainstream news outlets and the challenges this creates for black papers that cannot offer competitive salaries and thus cannot appeal to the available talent pool. He examines the credibility of black newspapers and whether or not it is important for black papers to be black-owned. Bontemps recalls his aspirations to be a journalist and his refusal by The Los Angeles Times. He describes the black newspaper as a phenomenon of the North and how, in the Deep South, black papers were met with hostility because they encouraged social change and activism.