This Day in History: 1932-03-13

Founded by William A. Scott II, the Atlanta Daily World, the first Black daily newspaper, begins publication. Scott was a Morehouse graduate who later worked as the only black clerk on the Jacksonville to Washington, D.C., rail line, then in 1927 published a Jacksonville business directory to help blacks find each other. A year later, Scott, who was only 26 at the time, began publishing a similar directory for Atlanta. The paper became a semi-weekly in May 1930, triweekly in April 1931, and became a daily and added “Daily” to its title on March 13, 1932. In 1931, Scott also began publishing the Chattanooga Tribune and Memphis World, and by doing so, founded the first chain of Black newspapers, a chain that would eventually grow, at its peak, to fifty publications. Learn more.