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 Let's Talk
Denise Rolark Barnes
Columnist Page
Friday, October 15, 2004; Page 29
40 Years…and The Best Is Yet to Come!
This week, the staff of The Washington Informer worked feverishly to meet another deadline, but this one was particularly special because it marked the newspaper’s 40th anniversary. For me, it represented approximately 2,081 deadlines for a labor of love that has consumed the better half of my life.
It was on October 16, 1964, when my father, the late Dr. Calvin W. Rolark, published the first edition of The Washington Informer. It was made possible by a generous investment from his wife, Attorney M. Wilhelmina Jackson Rolark, and the help of a few close friends, including Al Hypps, an artist who designed the newspaper’s masthead which we still use today.
It was a dream my father held for a long time, to publish a weekly newspaper that would bring good news and disseminate accurate information to the Washington community and the surrounding areas for and about Black people.
From the beginning, the newspaper was filled with articles culled from press releases and photographs that featured Black people performing the few official duties allowed at a time still marked by segregated facilities and discriminatory employment practices, even within the District government. It was pre-Marion Barry, pre-Walter Washington, and pre-Home Rule but near the end of a presidential appointed three-commissioner form of government with one lone Black commissioner – John. B. Duncan, Esq.
Also, from the beginning, family played a vital role with the newspaper. My dad’s brother, Ross Rolark, Jr., wrote a weekly sports column; his mother-in-law, Margaret B. Jackson, wrote a popular Senior Citizens column; my cousin, Stan Rolark, covered sports and shot photographs; my brother, Calvin, wrote a religious column and managed distribution; my stepmother wrote a column during her tenure on the D.C. City Council called “Checks and Balances”; my mother pitched in to sell advertising and performed administrative duties; and my husband started a column once called “Man to Man.” And, as a ninth grader at Rabaut Junior High School, I launched my writing career with a column for youth called “Youth Scene.”
The staff was integrated back then, as it has been over the years, with our most controversial column, “Shooting from the Hip” written by Warren Morse, a government employee, and Congressman Wright Patman from Texarkana, Texas, my dad’s home town, who wrote a weekly column about Capitol Hill.
The national civil rights movement and the local movement for Home Rule provided abundant fodder to fill pages in Dr. Rolark’s own column entitled…you guessed it…Let’s Talk. Dr. Rolark used his column to call for everything from the appointment of Blacks to head the various local city departments including the chiefs of police and fire to more representation by Blacks on local television networks and on the staffs of the Daily News, The Washington Star and The Washington Post, to the need for local businesses to advertise in his own newspaper and to support Black-owned institutions that contributed to improving the quality of life for all D.C. area residents.
While I didn’t intend to grow up and become publisher of The Washington Informer, it is no mystery why things worked out the way that they did. I originally intended to become a lawyer, but it was my experiences at Howard University Law School as editor of the student newspaper, The Barrister, where I discovered what the years of observing my father had instilled in me. It was in my blood and he put it there. The mission, the values, the work ethic, the commitment to the community…my community, the dedication to Black-owned media and other Black-owned institutions, respect for our leaders and the love for myself, my Black-woman self, all were greatly influenced by my father, and of course, my mother, Vera Abbott and stepmother, Wilhelmina J. Rolark.
Like it is watching your children grow older overnight, it doesn’t seem like its been 40 years, 24 of them I have spent as reporter, managing editor, publisher, receptionist, photographer, chief bottle washer and cook. Each day has been spent with a wonderful staff that sometimes changes by the minute, but a few who have been with us for the long haul. I have cautioned and praised others who dreamed of publishing a “better” community newspaper, and I have mourned with those whose bold efforts failed.
But today, it is time to take a moment to celebrate all that we have been blessed to receive and more for what we believe we have given to our readers over the past 40 years. Like the poem, life at the Informer ain’t been no crystal stair, but it’s been real. And better, yet, with the gathering of a terrific staff who share a clear vision for the future, the recent launch of our website and the continued support of our readers and advertisers, new and old, the best is yet to come!
For Denise Rolark Barnes send email to drbarnes@washingtoninformer.com
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