The ''Michigan Chronicle'' is a weekly

African-American newspaper 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. ...

based in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, Michigan. It was founded in 1936 by John H. Sengstacke, editor of the ''

Chicago Defender ''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against Jim ...

''. Together with the ''Defender'' and a handful of other African-American newspapers, it is owned by Detroit-based Real Times Inc. Its headquarters are in the Real Times offices in Midtown Detroit.

Early history

The ''Chronicle'' first editor was Louis E. Martin, whom Sengstacke sent to Detroit on June 6, giving him a $5.00 raise above his $15-per-week salary at the ''Chicago Defender'', $10 in cash and a one-way bus ticket. The ''Chronicles first issue had a circulation of 5,000 copies. In 1944, long-time publisher Longworth Quinn joined Martin at the ''Chronicle''. Quinn became a leader in Detroit's African-American business and church groups, and those groups supported the ''Chronicle''. The ''Chronicle'' garnered national attention in its early years for its "radical" approach to politics -- advocacy of

organized labor The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

and the Democratic Party. Albert Dunmore, who edited the Detroit edition of the ''

Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acquired in 1965 by ...

'' in the 1940s, remarked in 2010 that most African-American newspapers of the time took the opposite stance, because of "the anti-Black attitude prevalent in the organized labor ranks and the heavily southern influence in the Democratic Party". James Ingram of the ''Michigan Chronicle'' was one of several negotiators involved in the Attica Prison Riots in September 1971. In 2001, Detroit City Council member Kay Everett credited the ''Michigan Chronicle'' with having played a key role in local civil rights struggles of the 20th century, such as supporting the election of Mayor Coleman A. Young and, especially, reporting on violence against African Americans: "It was a lone voice in the wilderness when police brutality against African Americans was commonplace", Everett wrote. "Its coverage of STRESS, the Detroit Police Department's controversial undercover unit, should have won the paper a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

. During STRESS's four-year run, White STRESS officers shot and killed 23 young Black men. Most shot in the back. The ''Michigan Chronicle'' was the only newspaper in the city that told the truth about the killings." Originally located at 1727 St. Antoine Street, the ''Michigan Chronicle'' is now located at 1452 Randolph St #400,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, 48226 U.S.

New owners

Sengstacke Enterprises Inc., publisher of the ''Chronicle'' and the daily ''Defender'', would later also include the ''

New Pittsburgh Courier The ''New Pittsburgh Courier'' is a weekly African-American newspaper based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by Real Times. History The newspaper is named after the original ''Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Cou ...

'' and the ''

Tri-State Defender The ''Tri-State Defender'' is a weekly newspaper, weekly African-American newspaper serving Memphis, Tennessee, and the nearby areas of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. It bills itself as "The Mid-South's Best Alternative Newspaper". The ''D ...

'' in Tennessee. When Sengstacke died in 1997, the ''Chronicle'' was described as his most profitable newspaper, "fat with local and national advertising", with a weekly circulation of 43,582. Inheritance tax bills and provisions in Sengstacke's will made it likely that the chain would be sold, but it was administered by a trust in the interim. Amid the uncertainty over the ''Chronicle'' ownership, longtime publisher Sam Logan left the paper in 2000 and in May of that year formed a competing weekly, '' The Michigan FrontPage'', which he envisioned as "a weekend read", published on Fridays. The ''Chronicle'' and its sister papers were finally sold in 2003, to Real Times Inc., a group of African-American business leaders from Chicago and Detroit. Logan returned as publisher of both the ''Chronicle'' and the ''FrontPage'', which became part of the group. Logan died in late December 2011. Hiram Jackson, president of Real Times Inc., was appointed interim publisher in his place. In June 2024, Real Times and Michigan Chronicle co-owner William Pickard died. Pickard was known for being influential businessman in Detroit, where Real Times Media and the Michigan Chronicle are headquartered.

References

External links

''Michigan Chronicle'' Website
{{African American press African-American history in Detroit African-American newspapers Newspapers published in Detroit Newspapers established in 1936 1936 establishments in Michigan

Early history

New owners

See also

References

External links