The Crisis Magazine

The Crisis magazine is the official publication of the NAACP. It is a quarterly journal that focuses on politics, culture, civil rights and history and seeks to educate readers about the issues facing African Americans and men and other communities of color. The Crisis was founded by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Miller, William Stanley Braithwaite, and Mary Dunlop Maclean. As the founding editor, Du Bois proclaimed his intentions in his first editorial:  

“The object of this publication is to set forth those facts and arguments which show the danger of race prejudice, particularly as manifested today toward colored people. It takes its name from the fact that the editors believe that this is a critical time in the history of the advancement of men. …Finally, its editorial page will stand for the rights of men, irrespective of color or race, for the highest ideals of American democracy, and for reasonable but earnest and persistent attempts to gain these rights and realize these ideals."

Established in 1910, it is the oldest black oriented magazine.    

While the magazine was originally intended to be a political news publication than a literary publication, it still greatly impacted the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s. Much of this is accredited to Jessie Redmon Fauset who served as the Literary Editor from 1918 to 1926. She featured poetry, prose, short stories, essays, and plays in the magazine. Some of the best-known writers of the Harlem Renaissance were first published or became well known from their publications in The Crisis. However, the magazine was still heavily impacted politically. Common concerns in many of the articles published in The Crisis included promoting a positive and progressive image of African American peoples, calling for action, social justice, and an end to violence again Black people, and promoting good international relations.