Title: Black World
Issue Title (supplied): Black World (March 1973)
Date: 1973 March
Volume/Issue: Vol. 27, No. 5
Publication Frequency: Monthly (at time of publication)
Creator: John H. Johnson
Publisher: Johnson Publishing Company Inc., Book Division 820 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60605
Language: English
Format: Illustrated journal; printed paper; staple binding
Physical Description:
100 pages
The cover of the March 1973 issue of Black World is vertically oriented and dominated by a high-contrast, graphic layout. Across the top, the magazine’s title, Black World, appears in large white serif lettering against a solid black background, with the publication information—March 1973, A Johnson Publication, and the price of 50¢—printed in smaller white type beneath it.
Below the masthead, a wide, inverted triangular field of bright turquoise-blue anchors the composition. Centered within this blue section is the issue’s main theme in bold black text: “Contemporary Afro-American Poetry as Folk Art.” The strong geometric shape visually pulls the eye downward and divides the cover into distinct zones.
Flanking the blue field are black-and-white photographic portraits arranged in circular frames. On the left, a larger circular image shows a seated man, cropped at mid-body, accompanied by the headline text “The Colonial Legacy: Uganda and the Asian Expulsion.” On the right, two smaller circular portraits are stacked vertically, the upper labeled “George Lamming Interviewed by George Kent.” The photographs are grainy and documentary in feel, consistent with the magazine’s journalistic and scholarly tone.
The overall palette—black, white, and vivid blue—creates a stark, modernist aesthetic. Visible creases, scuffs, and wear along the edges of the cover suggest frequent handling, reinforcing its material history as a working cultural journal rather than a glossy, disposable magazine.
Scope and Content:
Black World was a leading Black intellectual and cultural magazine that helped define political, artistic, and global consciousness in the post–Civil Rights era. Originally founded in 1942 as Negro Digest and later renamed Black World, the publication was edited by Hoyt W. Fuller and published by Johnson Publishing Company, the influential Black-owned media empire behind Ebony and Jet.
Hoyt W. Fuller was a writer, editor, and one of the most influential architects of the Black Arts Movement. As editor of Negro Digest and later Black World (1961–1976), Fuller transformed the magazine into a global forum for Black radical thought, literary criticism, and cultural debate. He championed African-centered aesthetics, international Black solidarity, and the belief that art must serve Black liberation. Under his leadership, Black World became essential reading for writers, artists, and activists across the African diaspora.
At its height, Black World served as a vital forum for Black writers, artists, scholars, and activists, foregrounding Pan-Africanism, Black internationalism, literature, and radical critique.
Source: View full issue here - https://books.google.com/books?id=xDkDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
