Remarkable Reporters
There were many notable reporters who worked for the Courier throughout its production in the 20th century, but two stand out among the rest as truly remarkable.
Frank E. Bolden
Frank E. Bolden was a bright pre-med student at University of Pittsburgh when he began writing as a stringer, or freelance reporter, for the Courier. Barred from med school because of his race, and unwilling to find a teaching position in the deep South, Bolden took on a full-time position at the paper when he graduated in 1934. His beat was on Wylie Avenue, right in the heart of the Hill. He wrote about the nightlife there, reporting from clubs where future jazz legends like Billy Eckstine, Mary Lou Williams, and Art Blakey would play every night. He also wrote about the prostitution and gambling that was common on the street.
When World War II broke out, Bolden made history as one of the two African American war correspondents in the nation. As he traveled overseas, he took the Courier’s mission to fight for the representation and rights of Black people with him. In a time when military desegregation was fiercely contested, it was a widely held belief that Black soldiers would prove to be cowardly and untrustworthy on the battlefield. Bolden’s reporting in the Pacific theater and in Italy combated this notion; one division he covered earned 12,000 citations of valor during their invasion of Italy. In Asia, he gave voice to the stories of the Black soldiers and engineers working on the infamous Burma Road. His work in the Pacific Theater led him to interview both Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, two leaders in the Indian campaign for independence from Britain, who both expressed support for the American Black civil rights movement.
After returning to the States, Bolden received numerous offers from major news publications as a result of his prominent reporting during the war. He turned them all down, however, to take up his old beat on the Hill again. His reporting for the Courier in the post-war era often focused on the lack of Black police officers in Pittsburgh, and his campaign for this cause resulted in the promotion of the first Black lieutenant on the force.
Bolden died in 2003 in Squirrel Hill, just a few miles away from where he did his reporting on Wylie Ave. His work has proved to be an invaluable resource to researchers of the area over the years, and he was not the only Courier writer who has served in some way as an amateur historian.
Joel Augustus Rogers
Joel Augustus Rogers, according to the African American Registry, “probably did more popularize African history than any writer of the 20th century.” Originally from Jamaica, the writer, journalist, and amateur historian’s books and Courier articles became a powerful force in American race relations. In 1927, Robert Vann sent Rogers on an international tour of Europe and Africa for the paper. There he would experience the differences between European, African, and American approaches to race, as well as visit culturally important cities like Rome, Berlin, Casablanca, Paris, Cairo, and more. He recorded his travels in Europe and the knowledge he gained there for his audience back in Pittsburgh, many of whom would have never been able to experience such things for themselves.
It was these international tours that allowed him to continue his research in the history of the African diaspora as well. When he returned to America, he would partner with cartoonist George L. Lee to create a Courier column to share his discoveries in African history with its readers. The result was titled “Your History” and ran from 1934 to 1966. The column’s mantra, “Your history dates back beyond the cotton fields; back thousands of years before the time of Christ”, ran at the top of every new installment and preceded the charming illustrations and captions which detailed the role of Black men and women throughout world history. The column was praised for its accessibility to the average person as well as its pioneering spirit in a time when Black history was not widely studied or taught. Lee’s bold, compelling designs confronted the racial stereotyping common in cartoons then and made “Your History” a perfect example of the kind of representation the Courier fought for.
