Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with W. Leonard Evans, Jr., 1971.Biographical NoteW. Leonard Evans (1914-2007) was educated at Fisk University and the University of Illinois. Having worked in advertising, in 1965 Evans began publishing the black magazine Tuesday, which was included as a supplement in nine general-circulation newspapers across the United States. Evans served as a member of the Board of Trustees at the University of Chicago.
Scope and ContentsHenry La Brie's 1971 interview with W. Leonard Evans begins with an overview of the narrator's early life, including his education, experience in business, and experiences working in advertising and black radio. Evans describes the media in the decades before the interview and his establishment of Tuesday magazine. He also discusses white readership of his magazine. Evans addresses black newspapers' lack of mass circulation; reasons for a black press; the differences and relationship between the white and black press; assimilation; the future of the black press; and reporting in the mainstream press reports follwing the Kerner Commission Report. The interview concludes with Evans discussing poverty among African Americans and the impact on advertising revenues.
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