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Historian to speak about government's pressure on black press during World War II By
the USU department of journalism and communication
LOGAN -- The author of one of the most significant mass communication books of the century will speak about the black press next week on the Utah State University campus. In his book, A Question of Sedition, Patrick S. Washburn of Ohio University exposed a massive investigation of black newspapers by the U.S. government during World War II. The book also told of FBI efforts to take legal action against African-American publishers who spoke out against racism during the war. Washburn's speech, titled "Suppressing the Fight for Civil Rights: The Black Press and the Double-V Campaign During WWII," is part of the USU Department of Journalism & Communication's ongoing Media & Society Lecture. Washburn's appearance will be co-sponsored by the USU Black Student Union. The lecture is from noon to 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, in the auditorium of the Business Building (Room 215). The event is free and open to the public. "Pat Washburn is perhaps the foremost expert on the black press and the role of African-American journalists in the Civil Rights movement," said Michael S. Sweeney of the USU journalism department. "We are very fortunate to have Dr. Washburn on campus during Black History Month to help us recall and recognize the contributions of the black press in American history." A committee of media historians selected Washburn's book last year as one of the 35 most significant works of the century. Other authors on the list include Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who broke the Watergate story; journalist and author David Halberstam, whose books include works on Vietnam and the U.S. Supreme Court; sociologist Marshall McLuhan, who predicted the information age in the 1960s; and famed columnist and press critic Walter Lippmann. "The books on this list have advanced mass communication as a discipline by providing unique insight, creative thinking, exhaustive and original research, and critical analysis and synthesis," wrote scholars Paula M. Poindexter and Jean Folkers in announcing the list of outstanding books. Washburn's book was published in 1986 by Oxford University Press. Washburn, a journalism professor at Ohio University, is editor of the scholarly journal Journalism History and becomes president of the American Journalism Historians Association in 2002. A former newspaper reporter and sports information director, Washburn served as associate director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism in Ohio for 10 years and as graduate director for 13 years. A 1963 Baylor University graduate, he worked as a sportswriter, columnist, and science reporter for newspapers in Texas, New York, Virginia and Georgia, and was sports information director at Harvard University and the University of Louisville for four years. He earned his doctorate in 1984 at Indiana University. For further information about the Media & Society Lecture Series, contact the USU Department of Journalism & Communication at 435-797-3292.
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