Littleton native considered ‘Dean of the Negro Press’

By Maurice Emery
Editor Emeritus

In celebration of black history month the Littleton Observer highlights the Dean of the Negro Press. 

If you live in the area you have probably passed it so many times that you no longer realize it’s there. If you’re new to the area you may have seen it, scanned it into your mental hard drive, and may not realize you have seen it. 

Even several of the most highly recognized people in town are not familiar with who the marker represents. 

We are talking about the historical marker on the east end of Littleton on Route 158 for Plummer Bernard Young Sr. The notation on the marker reads - Journalist. Publisher of Norfolk Journal & Guide, 1910-1962, leading black-owned newspaper in the South, Birthplace nearby. Those 17 words do not say enough about a man that has done so much for so many black people in the country. 

Nationally known as the Dean of the Negro Press Plummer Bernard, better known as P. B. Young was born in Littleton on July 27, 1884.

P. B. was the son of Sally and Winfield Young. Winfield was the postmaster in Littleton from 1875 to 1885. He was a leader of the True Reformers, a black self-help organization that published a newspaper in Littleton called, The True Reformer. The paper was published around 1899.  In addition to being the owner and publisher of The True Reformer, Winfield owned a dry goods store and was a Republican county commissioner. 

P.B. attended Reedy Creek Academy in Littleton and worked for his dad at the family newspaper. P.B. left Littleton in 1903 to become an instructor and student at St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, N.C. He was an instructor in printing while studying at the college. 

In 1907 P.B. left the area with his bride, Eleanor White Young, and headed to Norfolk, Va., where he started down a road that was not common for black people during those times, he would become an entrepreneur. It all started when he went to work for a fraternal order publication called the Lodge Journal and Guide. 

In 1910 he purchased the 500-subscriber newspaper for $3,050 and called it the Norfolk Journal and Guide. In 1919 the circulation was up to 4,500, by 1934 it was up to 26,015 and after World War II it was up to 100,000 with a national audience.   

Almost from the time of his arrival in Norfolk P.B. was active in helping blacks get ahead. He was called a crusader for his people. He was a conservative Republican who believed in a calm approach to improving the black mans life in American life. His own philosophy of negotiation, compromise, and conciliation mirrored the social developments and rapid technological advances in American life after Booker T. Washington’s death.

Young was writing to Washington when he still lived in Littleton. 

In 1916 Young formed and was the first president of the Norfolk branch of the NAACP. History shows that both the local and national powers of the NAACP did not like his conservative approach, but he had the largest black press in the area and was liked by the white establishment. The white powers considered him as “an able and safe negro leader”.

When World War I came P.B. believed that blacks should set their differences aside and fight for their country. He had hoped that by the end of the war blacks would be more widely accepted in American Society.

Continuing to fight for the black people P.B. worked hard to improve their lives. He believed they should not wait for help from others. During the Depression he wrote an editorial titled, “After Commencement What” on May 28, 1932, he challenged [black] college graduates “to accept any job.” 

According to the writing of Henry Lewis Suggs, Young interpreted the Great Depression as an opportunity to teach blacks an “incalculable lesson” which was not internalized during the era of Reconstruction. “A proscribed people,” he often noted, who expect other people to rescue them will always be disappointed. 

His paper continued to grow and become more of a national voice for blacks. When World War II came P.B. continued to keep the black community informed. When the Army formed the first black fighter squadron that would later be known as the Tuskegee Airmen, P.B.’s son, Thomas, was imbedded with them as a reporter. He accompanied the 99th to Sicily and reported on their exploits on a regular basis.  

Thomas, along with other black reporters, were known as “Soldiers of the Press.”

Over the years P. B. received many honors and awards for his work and leadership in the black community and for his influence as a black publisher. Just a few of the honors were:  

• Being appointed to the President’s Commission on Fair Employment Practices,

• He served on the executive committee of the Negro Newspaper Publishers Assn.,

• He joined a group of other black newspaper leaders in the annual recognition at the White House under the Truman administration in 1946;

• “Editor of the Year” award from the National Negro Publishers Association in 1960,

• The P. B. Young Sr. Elementary School was named after him in Norfolk

• In 2002 he was recognized in the Black Press USA 2002 Gallery of Greats Honorees.

When P.B. Young Sr., died in Oct of 1962 of pneumonia he left a legacy that few men of any color can equal. He may have had humble beginnings in Littleton, but he went on to become one of the greatest success stories of our area.

The Norfolk Journal and Guide that P. B. purchased in 1910 was considered by many to be the best-edited black newspaper in the country. Today it is called the New Journal and Guide. You can visit their web site at: http://www.njournalg.com/

Editor’s note: Almost all the information on P. B. Young comes from the writings of Henry Lewis Suggs  His book on Young is titled P. B. Young, Newspaperman: Race, Politics, and Journalism in the New South, 1910-62; by Henry Lewis Suggs, 1988, University Press of Virginia. 

Additional information comes from Looking Back on Littleton, N.C., by Rebecca Leach Dozier.