Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Ben Holman, 1971.Biographical NoteBenjamin Holman (1930-2007) was born in Columbia, South Carolina. He attended Lincoln University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Chicago. Beginning his career with the Chicago Daily News in 1952, Holman was later a reporter for Chicago's WBBM-TV and a correspondent and editor for CBS News in New York. Holman served as the Director of the Community Relations Service and Assistant to the Attorney General during the Nixon and Ford administrations, advising the presidents on race relations and minority affairs. From 1978 to 2004, Holman worked at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism as a Professor, Dean, and mentor.
Scope and ContentsIn his 1971 interview with Henry La Brie, Holman describes the success of the Chicago Defender in spite of the industry's decline and the proliferation of radio and television media. Holman discusses the resurgence of black consciousness and his hopes for the future of the black press and historically black colleges and universities. He proceeds to detail the economic barriers experienced by black newspapers from white funders and advertisers and the impact black newspapers could have on their communities. Holman discusses the exclusion experienced by African-Americans, the lack of assimilation, and the perspectives of black youths. He goes on to describe the negligible political weight of black newspapers at the time of the interview and compares the experience of African-Americans to that of Jews and immigrants. The interview concludes with a discussion of the term "objectivity" in journalism and a summary of Holman's job at the Community Relations Service.
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