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.

Black History Month Magazines: YSB

YSB was published from 1991-96 by BET. In the words of its editor, YSB was “the first national lifestyle magazine geared to the interests and concerns of African American teenagers and young adults.” YSB regularly featured hip hop artists like Salt ‘n’ Pepa, TLC, the Fugees, and L.L. Cool J on its covers, as well as R&B singers and film stars. The first creative director of YSB was Fo Wilson, followed by Lance Pettiford.

Thanks to Lance Pettiford for collecting and scanning these covers.

Black History Month Magazines: Sepia, Hep, Jive, Bronze Thrills

Sepia, Hep, Jive, and Bronze Thrills were all magazines published for the African American community by Good Publishing, based in Fort Worth, Texas. Good Publishing was owned by George Levitan, who was white. Sepia was founded in 1947 as Negro Achievements, but later changed its named and modeled itself as a black version of Life magazine. It continued publishing until 1983. There is an extensive archive of Sepia photographs that has been collected in the African American Museum in Dallas,.

In addition to Sepia, Good Publishing had a batch of sensational-style magazines, including Bronze Thirlls (“My Husband Was a Transvestite”), Jive (“Lust in My Eyes”), and Hep.

Thanks to Dull Tool Dim Bulb for many of these covers.

See more Jive and Bronze Thrills covers at 16 Stone Vintage.

Black History Month Magazines: Sepia, Hep, Jive, Bronze Thrills

Sepia, Hep, Jive, and Bronze Thrills were all magazines published for the African American community by Good Publishing, based in Fort Worth, Texas. Good Publishing was owned by George Levitan, who was white. Sepia was founded in 1947 as Negro Achievements, but later changed its named and modeled itself as a black version of Life magazine. It continued publishing until 1983. There is an extensive archive of Sepia photographs that has been collected in the African American Museum in Dallas,.

In addition to Sepia, Good Publishing had a batch of sensational-style magazines, including Bronze Thirlls (“My Husband Was a Transvestite”), Jive (“Lust in My Eyes”), and Hep.

Thanks to Dull Tool Dim Bulb for many of these covers.

See more Jive and Bronze Thrills covers at 16 Stone Vintage.

burnedshoes:

© 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)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH MAGAZINES: EBONY JR!

Ebony Jr! was founded in 1973 by the publishers of Ebony and Jet as a magazine for kids. The executive art director was Herbert Temple; art directors were Cecil L. Ferguson and Norman L. Hunter. At its peak Ebony Jr! had a circulation of 100,000. It folded in 1985, although it was resurrected online in 2007. Ebony Jr! The Rise, Fall and Return of a Black Children’s Magazine, by Laretta Henderson, chronicles the history of the magazine. You can read two chapters of the book here.