Phoenix tribune., 1919-08-09
Great Opportunity
For Young Men And
Women Of The Race

DR.. R. R. Wright. Jr., editor OF the
Christian Recorder has issued an ap-
peal in recent number of his pub
licaton, asking for four or five young
men or women to join the staff of the
Recorder, to learn the newspaper
business This leads us to venture
the suggestion that there is very
wide and undeveloped field among
our people. not only for supporting
papers which are already established
and making them stronger, but also
opportunities for enterprising and
ambitious young men and women of
the race to get on the staffs of these
papers. begin humbly and learn the
business from the bottom up.
Certainly, a very permanent good
can come from such a move as has
been started by DR.. Wright, if it
should be extended TO other papers.
II would be privilege for any young
man or woman to work with Dr..
Wright or such men as DR.. Robert E.
Jones, Messrs. Abbott and Anderson,
Of the Defender: Mr.. b. ]. Davis of
the independent; Mr.. Young, of the
Journal and Guide; Messrs. Lester
Walton and James w. Johnson Of the
New York Age, and many other capa-
BILE and efficient editors of successful
Negro weeklies.
Unless there is some well directed
effort to replace the ranks of the pres
ent Negro editors with promising and
intelligent material. we shall have
very depressing outlook for the fu-
ture. Within the past few years
schools of journalism for young white
men and women have sprung up all
over the country They are turning
out each year an army of trained
young people who have prepared them
selves TO assume the responsibilities
leading up to the place of the present
editors as we'll MS helping the present
organizations extend their influence
and usefulness. Nothing definite,
however, is being done to prepare the
Negro boy for the same responsible
ties on his papers.
II is unfortunate, of course, that the
colored papers are unable to offer
very inviting salaries to such young
men and women. but to those who are
sincerely ambitious TO attain success
as newspaper writer's they should be
willing to secure other work and do
their studying and writing in the even
ings and at cff-hours. Certainly wher-
ever there is real ambition to
achieve success in this line, some way
will be found to seize whatever op-
poriunities may be given them to
work side by side with successful edi-
tors.
Another fact which would seem to
encourage this movement: It appears
to us that we, as race. are undoubt-
edly achieving more real progress
than is being recorded in the daily,
weekly and monthly papers. and the
loss which we sustain by not having
the individual achievements of the
race recorded can hardly be estimat-
ed. Something can be done in very
definite and positive way to preserve
these achievements of our race and
to give them to the world. This fact
alone should increase the number of
young men and women each year who
associate themselves with successful
Negro papers.
or course, we understand that ev-
cry individual is not blessed with an
"ear for news" but training, contact,
and careful observation of methods
employed by successful newspaper
men will certainly help many of our
young people to develop into writer's
OF promise. Dr. wrights offer i'm
presses us as being very valuable
and very worthwhile suggestion. We
hope that other successful newspapers
will follow his example.-Tuskegee
Student