volume.” Johnson further explained, “Negro Di-
gest is dedicated to the development of interracial
understanding and promotion of national unity.
It stands unqualifiedly for the winning of [World
War II] and the integration of all citizens into the
democratic process (Johnson, 122). Contribu-
tors to this first issue included WALTER WHITE and
LANGSTON HUGHES. Johnson discontinued Negro
Digest in 1951, at which time the magazine’s circu-
lation had been eclipsed by Ebony.
However, wishing to meet the needs of the
growing black political consciousness of the 1960s
post–CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, growing demands
for black power, and, as Johnson wrote, “to pro-
mote the works of Black writers and artists”
(Johnson, 288), Johnson Publishing Company
resurrected Negro Digest in the late 1960s. In 1970
its managing executive editor, HOYT FULLER, re-
named it Black World, illustrating his more global
and nationalistic perspective. Fuller’s support for
the BLACK AESTHETICS proposed by LARRY NEAL,
ADDISON GAYLE, and AMIRI BARAKA clearly stood
at the opposite end of the political spectrum from
Johnson and the position he articulated in the in-
troduction to his inaugural issue.
Fuller recorded his view on the direction of Af-
rican-American literature in his now-classic essay
“The New Black Literature: Protest or Affirma-
tion,” in which he wrote,
There is a revolution in black literature in
America. It is nationalistic in direction, and
it is pro-black. That means, in effect, that it is
deliberately moving outside the sphere of tra-
ditional Western forms, limitations, and pre-
sumptions. It is seeking new form, new limits,
new shapes, and much of it now admittedly is
crude, reflecting the uncertainty, the searching
quality of its movement. But, though troubled
and seeking, it is very, very vital” (Fuller, 327).Above all, Fuller used the pages of each issue
of Black World not only to shape the direction of
this movement but to give its architects a venue for
their voices.
Under Fuller’s leadership, African-American
writers graced many of the covers of issues of
Negro Digest and Black World. For example, while
an image of a very young LeRoi Jones (Baraka)
greets reader on the cover of Negro Digest Janu-
ary 1969, and pictures of CAROLYN RODGERS and
SAM GREENLEE appears on the cover of its June
1969 issue, an image of a more mature RALPH EL-
LISON is on the cover of Black World’s September
1970 special issue on Ellison’s literary work and
status. A smiling drawing of a graying, expatriate
CHESTER HIMES appears on the cover of the March
1972 issue of Black World. More important, Fuller
provided annual special issues on each genre: the-
atre, fiction, poetry; introductions and interviews
with emerging black writers such as MARI EVANS,
AUDRE LORDE, and JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN, and
SONIA SANCHEZ; and monthly features and sec-
tions such as “Perspectives,” “Commentaries,” and
“Books Noted” to provide readers with relevant
information about the direction of African-Amer-
ican literature, authors, new publications, confer-
ences, debates, and criticism. Black World was the
first magazine to publish the works of many of the
poets of the BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT. Critics and
scholars such as STEPHEN HENDERSON and Gayle
used its pages to debate and test their theories on
the Black Aesthetic.
As Clovis E. Semmes points out, “It is in Negro
Digest/Black World that we begin to see scholars
coin and develop the concepts of Afrocentric and
African-centered analysis. In fact, there is a sus-
tained effort to probe the epistemological foun-
dation of a Black perspective in numerous areas
of intellectual inquiry” (xii). Johnson Publish-
ing Company discontinued Black World in 1976,
at which time its circulation had dropped from
100,000 to 15,000.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fuller, Hoyt. “The New Black Literature: Protest or
Affirmation.” In The Black Aesthetic, edited by Ad-
dison Gayle, 327–348. New York: Anchor Books,
1972.
Johnson, John H., with Lerone Bennett, Jr. Succeed-
ing against the Odds. New York: Warner Brothers,
1989.
Semmes, Clovis E., comp. Roots of Afrocentric Thought:
A Reference Guide to Negro Digest / Black World,58 Black World