News for all Americans - history of All-American News, a series of 45 newsreels about blacks made in the 1940s

American Visions, Feb-March, 1993 by Robyn E. Wheeler

"All-American News brings you our people's contribution to America and freedom," begins each of the 45 episodes of All-American News, a newsreel made in the 1940s by blacks for blacks.

Thirty-nine episodes of this priceless collection of film were recently discovered by Ephraim Horowitz in a garage in New York City. Horowitz, an antiquer, sniffs out treasures from what others consider junk. Responding to a call to look at some material in a leaky garage, he found the rolls of film, without casing or reels but simply held together by tape. After cleaning and rewinding, he viewed them. "I started to look at it on a little monitor that I have, and I saw that everybody in the movie seemed to be black. It never occurred to me that it would be anything of any importance," recalls Horowitz. It was only after contacting the American Museum of the Moving Image in Long Island City, N.Y., that he discovered the films' value and significance.

Here was, and is, a chance to see black men and women working, playing and at war during the 1940s. One episode showcases the 92nd Infantry, an all-black unit, in combat. "We don't see too many black faces in war footage, but here's proof that they were there, they were doing things, they were part of the effort. These pictures cement this fact in a way that writing in a book just can't do for you," says Doug McKinney, director of CBS News Archives, which bought the film collection from Horowitz.

All-American News, which also provides a painful glimpse of segregated troops, neighborhoods and schools, was viewed by black audiences in black theaters and was shown before feature movies in addition to, or sometimes in lieu of, Movietone newsreels. It was also seen in black churches in rural areas. "It was a matter of self-pride," says historian John Henrik Clarke. "We were happy to see and know that our own were doing something outstanding enough to warrant being put into a newsreel."

In the 1940s, film producers William D. Alexander and Claude A. Barnett employed the technical assistance of Emmanuel Glucksman, a Hollywood veteran, and together they brought All-American News to life. For the first time, newsreels reflected an African-American perspective on world and national events. Prior to All-American News, newsreels, such as Movietone, rarely featured blacks, and when blacks were included, they were portrayed as clowns. This combination of neglect and ridicule in mainstream newsreels painted a picture of a United States in which blacks played little or no part, especially during the war.

Thomas Cripps, professor of black film history at Morgan State University, says that Alexander and Barnett "wanted to say to blacks, |This war is serious business, and you all had a hand in it.' Whereas the white guys were thinking, |Hey, look at these black soldiers. Let's make a gag shot out of this.'"

Each newsreel lasts about six to eight minutes and contains a variety of stories. They usually begin with a couple of war stories, followed by a black celebrity or personality story. A sports story and a human interest piece wrap it up. This format is similar to white newsreels of that era, because All-American News was meant to replace white newsreels while maintaining the same authority. All-American News was broadcast briefly on television in the early 1950s.

CBS News Archives is providing a complete duplicate of the collection to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. The films may also be made available to schools and through home videotape, and there are plans to make a comprehensive documentary on the newsreels.

The history of African Americans is often told by people other than African Americans, leading to deletions and distortions. As we continue to uncover portions of our history left untold, All-American News provides a critical piece to the historical puzzle.

Robyn E. Wheeler, a freelance writer in New York City, is an assignment editor at CNN.