Black History Month Magazines
We’ve been running a month-long series of collections of vintage African American magazine covers to celebrate Black History Month. Here’s a selection of some of our favorites, and links to many more.
Black History Month Magazines: Drum
Drum was a South African weekly magazine founded in 1951. In the 1950s and 60s it was an important chronicler of black political and social life, and Drum’s reporters covered many of the major anti-apartheid protests and events. They later branched out to publish East and West African editions. The longtime art director during this period was Jurgen Schadeberg, a German immigrant who was also the magazine’s main photographer.
Schadeberg produced and directed a documentary about Drum, called Have You Seen Drum Lately? You can see a 10-minute excerpt here.
Africa Media Online has a wonderful archive of Drum covers.
An exhibit of Drum photographs was on display last year at the ICP in New York City. The New York Times has a slideshow with some amazing images from that show.
There’s a good history of the early days of Drum here.
Drum is still published, although it’s a very different magazine these days. There’s a great book with covers and pages from Drum 1976-80 that features powerful photographs from the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.
Thanks to Burned Shoes and 16 Stone Vintage for inspiring this post.
© James Barnor / Autograph ABP, 1960s, Photography for Drum magazine
Back in the 1960s, when fashion shoots featuring black models were rare, the Ghanaian photographer James Barnor bucked the trend with his fashion shoots for Drum magazine, an influential anti-apartheid magazine based in Johannesburg, and Africa’s first black lifestyle magazine.
Although Barnor says he wasn’t consciously attempting to chronicle ‘black culture’ in England, and was simply taking photographs of things that interested him and the readers of Drum, the effect was, none the less, an optimistic suggestion that these cosmopolitan young African women were part of the exciting new, multicultural society in London that people were talking about.
Barnor was asked in an interview if he ever had curious looks from passers-by - a black photographer taking pictures of a black model. He shrugs and says, “I didn’t think of what people thought of me. I just thought about what shot I could get.” (read more)
Read more about Drum magazine here and here.
Find Barnor’s photos taken in Accra, Ghana, in a previous post.
(Source: burnedshoes)
Drum, July 1956 (African magazine)
My 10 favorite vintage magazine covers collected this year. Their publication dates range from 1916-1997, but all are just as fresh and timely as the day they were first printed.
Miriam Makeba, from a cover photo session for Drum magazine, 1955
The New York Times Magazine has an amazing slideshow of Drum covers and photographs from 1950s apartheid South Africa that originally ran in the magazine.
Drum, “Africa’s Leading Magazine,” July 1956
The New York Times Magazine has a slideshow of Drum covers and documentary photographs from 1950s apartheid South Africa that originally ran in the magazine.
Drum, Africa’s Leading Magazine, June 1957
On the cover: Miriam Makeba
Source: 16 Stone Vintage
Drum magazine (Africa), July 1956
Source: 16 Stone Vintage
