The first issue of The Crisis released on November 1, 1910
The Crisis
Founded by W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary Dunlop Maclean, J. Max Barber, Oswald Garrison Villard, W. S. Braithwaite, Kelly Miller and Charles Edward Russell, the first issue of The Crisis came out on November 1, 1910. Still in circulation, The Crisis is the oldest black publication in the world.
The name of the magazine was coined out from an 1844 poem written by Russell Lowell titled The Present Crisis.
August 1920 cover of The Crisis
Explaining the purpose of the magazine, Du Bois, who was founding editor wrote: “The object of this publication is to set forth those facts and arguments which show the danger of race prejudice, particularly as manifested today toward colored people. It takes its name from the fact that the editors believe that this is a critical time in the history of the advancement of men. …Finally, its editorial page will stand for the rights of men, irrespective of color or race, for the highest ideals of American democracy, and for reasonable but earnest and persistent attempts to gain these rights and realize these ideals.”
