Jesse Max Barber (July 5, 1878 – September 20, 1949) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

journalist, teacher and dentist.

Biography

Born in Blackstock, South Carolina, to former slave parents, Jesse Max Barber was educated at Benedict College and

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Richmond, Virginia. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Rich ...

, where he was student editor of the university journal and president of the literary society. After graduation in 1903 he began working for the '' Voice of the Negro'', a monthly literary magazine founded in 1904 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, eventually becoming its editor-in-chief. Barber, one of the founders of the

Niagara Movement The Niagara Movement (NM) was a civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of activists—many of whom were among the vanguard of African-American lawyers in the United States—led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. The Ni ...

in 1905, sought out younger and more radical black writers for the ''Voice''. By 1906 the ''Voice'' was the leading black magazine in the United States, with a circulation of 15,000.Blue, Christopher T.
Barber, J. Max (1878-1949)
at blackpast.org After the Atlanta Riots in 1906, Barber faced threats from white vigilantes and was forced to flee to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. There he was unable to secure financial backing for his magazine, and ''Voice of the Negro'' folded in 1907. Barber's radicalism had made an enemy of Booker T. Washington, whose interventions caused Barber to lose jobs as a newspaper editor in Chicago and as a teacher in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. To escape Washington's influence, in 1909 Barber retrained at the Philadelphia Dental School and on graduation in 1912 he set up a Philadelphia dental practice. In 1923, Barber attended and spoke what was hoped to be an annual "pilgrimage" of Blacks from "all parts of the Union" at John Brown's grave, in North Elba, New York.

Biography

References

Further reading