Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life

The sixth 1923 post for our annual celebration of Black History Month.

One hundred years ago today …The second issue of Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life was on sale, featuring a cover picture by cartoonist Winifred Russell.

Note: see our posts about the little-known Russell for January 29, 1921; October 22, 1921; February 11, 1922; and October 1, 1922. 

Opportunity was a monthly scholarly journal, an organ of the National Urban League, headquartered at 127 East 23rd Street, Manhattan, and edited by influential sociologist Charles P. Johnson. 

The February, 1923 issue, in addition to myriad research and reports of Black life and culture, contains a section called "The Bulletin Board" that included two items of particular interest to NYC Black history: one about free courses at the "Manhattan YMCA"–presumably the Harlem branch (which we wrote about here), and, beneath that, one about a bust of W.E.B. Du Bois by August Savage, unveiled at the 135th St. Library, which we have highlighted in several posts. The bust's fate is apparently unknown.

– Jonathan Goldman, February 18, 2023

TAGS: Black history, African American media, journalism, academics, research, visual art