The ''Negro Digest'', later renamed ''Black World'', was a magazine for the
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
market. Founded in November 1942 by publisher
John H. Johnson of
Johnson Publishing Company
Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. (JPC) was an American publishing company founded in November 1942 by African-American businessman John H. Johnson. It was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. JPC was privately held and run by Johnson until his de ...
, ''Negro Digest'' was first published locally in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. The magazine was similar to the ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'' but aimed to cover positive stories about the African-American community.
The ''Negro Digest'' ceased publication in 1951 but returned in 1961. In 1970, ''Negro Digest'' was renamed ''Black World'' and continued to appear until April 1976.
History
In 1942, when
John H. Johnson sought financial backing for his first magazine project, he was unable to find any backers—black or white. From white bank officers to the editor of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
's (NAACP) nonprofit publication, all agreed that a magazine aimed at a black audience had no chance for any kind of success. Johnson at the time worked at the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company and had the idea of funding the ''Negro Digest'' by writing everyone on their mailing list and soliciting a two-dollar, prepaid subscription, calculating that even a 15 percent response would give him the amount needed to publish the first issue.
To obtain the 500 dollars needed for postage to mail his letters, he had to use his mother's furniture as a security on a loan. Johnson called the magazine the ''Negro Digest'' after the ''Reader's Digest'' and reprinted articles by and about