Jessie Vann

Jessie Vann
Born	Jessie E. Matthews February 23, 1885 Floradale, Pennsylvania
Died	June 7, 1967(1967-06-07) (aged 82) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American newspaper

Jessie Vann (née Matthews, February 23, 1885; died June 7, 1967) was an African-American teacher and newspaper publisher. From 1940 to 1963 she was owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier, a leading weekly African-American newspaper.

Early life and family

Vann was born Jessie[a] Ellen Matthews in Floradale, Pennsylvania on February 23, 1885.[1][2] After moving to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, she was a top student at Harrisburg's Central High School and was the only African-American graduate in 1904. Following this, she became a prominent school teacher.[3] In 1908 she met Robert Lee Vann, when he was a law student and she a kindergarten teacher.[4] They married in 1910,[2] and shortly thereafter he went into journalism, launching the Pittsburgh Courier.[4]

Career

When Robert died in 1940, Jessie Vann inherited the Courier and served as publisher for the next 23 years.[2] Her success at the paper made her one of the wealthiest African-American women of the World War II era, with the paper grossing about $2 million a year by 1945.[4] Under Vann's direction, the Courier circulated information about the economic opportunities newly available to African-Americans during the war; later, the paper advocated for the work of the civil rights movement.[4]

Vann also served on a large number of civic boards, including the Pittsburgh chapters of the NAACP and the Urban League,[5] the Newspaper Publishers Association, and the Pennsylvania governor's Committee on Industrial Race Relations, and President Dwight Eisenhower’s International Development Advisory Board.[6] In 1956 and 1960, she was an alternate delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention.[5] The Haitian government awarded her the Haitian Legion of Merit and Honor, accompanied by medal and scroll.[5]

As the wartime economic boom ebbed, the paper also declined financially and board members blamed Vann's management.[4] She retired in 1963, though improving on her leadership proved difficult and the board sold the paper to the Chicago Defender in 1965.[4]

Death

Vann died June 7, 1967, in West Penn Hospital. She was 82.[7] She was survived by foster daughter Mabel Johnson.[5]

Notes

1. Some sources give her first name as Jesse.

References

1. "New York, New York Passen...ew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957". FamilySearch. 1909.
2. "Vann, Jesse Matthews (c. 1890–1967)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages, edited by Anne Commire and Deborah Klezmer, vol. 2, Yorkin Publications, 2007, p. 1918. Gale eBooks. Accessed 23 Sept. 2021.
3. Jackson, Jr., Calobe; McArdle, Katie Wingert; Pettegrew, David, eds. (2020). One Hundred Voices: Harrisburg's Historic African American Community, 1850-1920. Grand Forks, ND: The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota. ISBN 978-1-7345068-5-3.
4. Winters, Kelly (1999). "Vann, Jesse Matthews (C. 1890–1967)". In Commire, Anne (ed.). Women in world history : a biographical encyclopedia. United States: Gale Group. ISBN 0-7876-4080-8.
5. "Mrs. Jessie Vann, 82, Ex-Courier Publisher". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1967-06-08. p. 21. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
6. "Jesse Vann a quiet giant in Black newspaper history". New Pittsburgh Courier. 2015-03-22. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
7. "MRS. JESSIE VANN, PUBLISHER, WAS 82; Former Owner of the Weekly Pittsburgh Courier Dies". The New York Times. 8 June 1967. Retrieved 23 September 2021.