‘Larger than life’: celebrity journalism, gender and black politics in Fay M. Jackson’s Hollywood adventures, 1933–1935

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis historical article analyses the work of an under-recognised black female journalist, Fay M. Jackson, who wrote as the Associated Negro Press Hollywood correspondent during the 1930s. Drawing from the literature on celebrity studies, the black press and black feminist thought, this study reveals how Hollywood’s first black female correspondent brought visibility and personhood to black celebrities while employing conventional journalistic strategies. The analysis highlights two primary themes that emerged in Jackson’s celebrity news coverage: Jackson’s employment of gossip news and biographical profiles to bring personhood to black female celebrities; and Jackson’s coverage of the ‘browning’ of Hollywood to highlight the importance of racial representation within the entertainment industry. This study addresses how a black feminist approach to analysing race and gender politics in black media and Hollywood extends previous understandings about the history of celebrity studies.