''Louisville Defender'' is a weekly newspaper in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
.
History
It was founded in 1933 by Alvin H. Bowman of Louisville and
John Sengstacke of Chicago, as an affiliate 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 ...
''. It joined ''
The Louisville Leader'' and ''
Louisville News'' as
African-American newspapers
African-American newspapers (also known as the Black press or Black newspapers) are newspaper, news publications in the United States serving African-American communities. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-Americ ...
in the city.
Frank L. Stanley Sr.
Frank L. Stanley Sr. (1906 – October 19, 1974) was an American newspaper publisher and editor. Stanley co-founded and became sole publisher of '' The Louisville Defender'', the city's leading Black newspaper that he led for 38 years. ''The Lou ...
bought Sengstacke's share in 1936, and published the paper for the next 37 years.
By 1942, the newspaper had reached its target circulation of 15,000.
The paper became profitable after purchasing its own printing press in 1956.
Circulation dipped in 1953 when it became a tabloid, and dropped to 10,000 in the 1960s when other major newspapers started hiring African Americans to cover civil right issues in their papers.
Stanley's column, "Being Frank", became nationally syndicated in the 1940s.
During the 1950s the paper covered issues related to integrated public accommodation, and in the 1950s and 1960s it covered open housing, equal job opportunities, and desegregated schools.
After Stanley's death in 1974, his wife and sons became co-publishers. Circulation dropped to 2,600 weekly by 1985, and the family sold its ownership to Consumer Communications Industries Corporation headed by Clarence Leslie.
, weekly circulation was listed as 1,115.
Photography
Bud Dorsey was a full-time photographer for the ''Defender'' for more than 20 years when he retired in 2002''.''
References
External links
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African-American newspapers
Newspapers published in Louisville, Kentucky
Newspapers established in 1933
1933 establishments in Kentucky
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