It’s been 60-plus years since the first edition of The Washington Informer was published on October 16, 1964. Much like John B. Russwurm, a journalist, and Samuel E. Cornish, a minister, wrote in the nation’s first Black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, published on March 16, 1827, Informer founder Dr. Calvin W. Rolark believed that no one else could or should speak for us about the issues of civil rights, human rights, and self-determination for the District of Columbia.
D.C. was a sleepy, predominately Black, yet segregated town when he arrived here in 1952. Like many Black people who migrated to the District from the South during the Great Migration, Dr. Rolark arrived with a vision of a life that would fulfill the promise of freedom, liberty, and opportunity for all.
He received an honorable discharge from the military, where he served in the Korean War. He immediately came to the District rather than returning to his hometown of Texarkana, Texas.
Soon after his arrival, he saw a different D.C. He often spoke of being one of the first Black employees at the Pentagon who worked on the third floor. Black people, allegedly, were usually relegated to jobs performed on one of the two basement levels of the five-side, five-floor above-ground building in Virginia.
He later became a traveling insurance salesman for the Black-owned North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, mostly peddling $.10 insurance policies to Black families in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. In fact, he first met a young man named Marion S. Barry, as well as the former preacher, lawyer, and civil rights activist and NAACP President Benjamin L. Hooks, while selling insurance in Memphis, Tennessee.
Dr. Rolark also became ensconced in the community of Black business owners and professionals who worked along the U Street and Florida Avenue corridors in Northwest.
He then accepted the managing editor’s job at the Black-owned Washington Observer Newspaper at 9th and Florida Avenue, N.W. He used the opportunity to cover and report on the civic and social activities of D.C.’s growing Black influencers.
While working with members of the U Street Business and Professional Association, he met his first wife, Vera McGlassom, who had come to D.C. from Detroit, Michigan, to work for the federal government. They had one child, me.
He also met a lawyer, who later became his second wife, M. Wilhelmina Jackson, originally from Truxton, Virginia, a planned community built for Black people who worked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. She came to D.C. to attend Howard University.
In the meantime, Black leaders in D.C. were getting anxious. Congress prohibited D.C. residents from voting, including in U.S. president elections. And the District Commissioners, appointed by the president, were all white, yet overseeing a growing Black population that no longer was willing to settle for the discriminatory policies that controlled their lives and livelihood.
It was the growing fight for self-determination that Dr. Rolark joined–and at times, led–that birthed his decision to launch The Washington Informer.
Black folks, he strongly believed, needed to be informed of what was taking place politically and economically. Further, white folks needed to be informed about the emerging Black leadership, the changes they were demanding, and how Black people were contributing to improving the quality of life for all D.C. residents.
That became the mission and foundation upon which The Washington Informer was established 60 years ago. And it continues to be our mission today.
Taking Up the Mantle
Dr. Rolark never believed his newspaper would survive his death.
He often referred to his weekly newspaper, which hit the streets every Thursday, as a “weakly” publication.
Several Black-owned businesses advertised, including Industrial Bank and Independence Federal Savings & Loan, along with Safeway, Giant, Washington Gas Light Company, Horton’s Funeral Home, and others. But the revenue was never enough to sustain the publication or his family.
Meanwhile, the leaders of a movement that emerged out of the “rebellion” following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led to the idea of the creation of a Black fund, a non-profit philanthropic organization that would provide legal and financial support for mostly Black and Brown-led community organizations. Hence, the United Black Fund was established in 1974. That is a story within itself, but in short, it became Dr. Rolark’s passion which he led until he died in 1994.
I, on the other hand, grew up in the journalism business. I received my bachelor’s degree in journalism, and later a law degree, from HU, “You know!” and returned to The Informer to continue the mission and storytelling that had begun over a decade earlier.
No one can be more grateful than me for what my father left behind. It’s called legacy, and as a second-generation publisher, I can fully relate to the value and benefit to our community that the institutions The Washington Informer and Washington Informer Charities will recognize at our gala on Friday, March 28 at the Martin Luther King Memorial Library.
Ben’s Chili Bowl, Lee’s Flowers and Cards, Industrial Bank, Cheryl A. Lofton Tailoring, Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center and Stefan Lockridge are institutions and individuals that symbolize legacy and the hard work it takes to maintain and sustain a thriving business in D.C.
It would be difficult to also name the “soldiers with swords” that have helped to sustain The Washington Informer over the past 60, and thankfully, there have been many, from the staff to the advertisers, contractors, and especially the readers, for whom I am sincerely grateful.
But this team we have today is amazing, including my two sons. Hallelujah!
I hope and dream that The Washington Informer will continue beyond the next 60 years. Our voices, your voices, must continue to be heard and amplified for generations to come. We must continue to be the fearless storytellers who will ensure that our history — Black History — will never be erased.
That is our legacy.