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Politics of the Press: Newspapers and the Representation of Art by African Americans in the Nation’s Capital

This essay focuses on the role of the newspapers in extending the reach and impact of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History’s (ASNLH) Exhibition of Works by Negro Artists (1933), which the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art hosted. I analyze how the press advanced the show’s politics of representation through accounts produced by critics writing in the black and white newspapers. By covering certain aspects of the exhibition, reporters highlighted black Americans’ achievements in the visual arts. This emphasis on the aesthetic abilities of the African American artists in the show aligned with the goals of progressive politicians and civil rights activists at the time, including Carter G. Woodson, the founder and head of the ASNLH.