Leadership

Under Vann’s leadership, the Courier became the essential, and the only, newspaper that reported news and provided a positive showcasing of Pittsburgh’s growing black community. The paper became a very active political and community vehicle, pushing for better employment of blacks in Pittsburgh as well as garnering the black vote for a myriad of political campaigns. The Courier grew tremendously under Vann, reaching a circulation level of 250,000 by 1938 as one of very few truly national black newspapers.