The ''Dallas Express'' was a weekly

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

published in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

from 1892 to 1970. It covered news of

blacks Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...

in Dallas and a large portion of

. It called itself "The South's Oldest and Largest Negro Newspaper." It was a member of the

Associated Negro Press The Associated Negro Press (ANP) was an American news service founded in 1919 in Chicago, Illinois by Claude Albert Barnett. The ANP had correspondents, writers, reporters in all major centers of the black population in the United States of Americ ...

. The ''Express'' publicized lynchings and incidents of violence against blacks that were not always reported in other newspapers, attacked

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

and voting restrictions, and in the 1930s urged establishment of "Negro day" and construction of the Hall of Negro Life at the

State Fair of Texas The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas at historic Fair Park. The fair has taken place every year since 1886 except for varying periods during World War I and World War II as well as 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ...

, held in Dallas. Even while under white ownership in the 1930s, the ''Express'' was an ardent supporter of and advocate for the black community. It became more vocal after its 1938 acquisition by black leaders and campaigned for federally funded public housing, improved quality of black education in public schools, elimination of pay discrimination between black and white teachers, and the hiring of black police officers in Dallas. It published photographs of black slum conditions with its campaign promoting

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

, a somewhat shocking use of graphics for the times. The ''Dallas Express'' title has been reused by an online publication established in 2021, which has no connection to the historical publication.

Ownership

W. E. King founded the ''Express'' and operated it until his murder by Hattie C. Burleson in late August 1919. In 1930, experiencing financial difficulties, it was acquired by Southwestern Negro Press, which was controlled by Travis Campbell, a white man who had been the printer for the ''Express'' and who purchased the paper to keep it in business. In February 1938 it was acquired by A. Maceo Smith, an insurance executive and secretary of the Negro Chamber of Commerce; Rev. Maynard Jackson, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church; Dr. E. E. Ward, a physician; Henry Strickland, president of Excelsior Life Insurance Co.; and C. F. Starkes, president of Peoples Undertaking.

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External links

* * * * {{authority control Defunct African-American newspapers Defunct newspapers of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Defunct weekly newspapers Weekly newspapers published in Texas Newspapers established in 1892 Publications disestablished in 1970 1892 establishments in Texas 1970 disestablishments in Texas

Ownership

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