We Want in: The African American Press's Negotiation for a White House Correspondent

Abstract

Almost sixty years ago, Harry S. McAlpin shook the hand of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and held a brief conversation with him after a White House press conference. It marked the first time an African American reporter had participated at a White House press conference as an official correspondent. Though African American editors and publishers had been pressuring the White House to allow a journalist to represent them since the beginning of Roosevelt's administration, the most concerted efforts did not occur until just before and during America's involvement in World War II. This study will focus on the efforts of African American journalists to gain permission to cover the White House. During the war, the African American press could not continue its militant rhetoric and the government could not continue to support discrimination if both sides hoped to reach their goals of full support for the war abroad and equality for all at home.