We welcome healthy, respectful and thought-provoking conversations. The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s sparked a longing among African Americans to possess an identity and awareness lost at the hands of blatant racism and forced assimilation. The 1970s ushered in an era of black power and heritage, paving the path for Blackout, a print publication created by the Newspaper Association of the Le
gion of Black Collegians at the University of Missouri. Images of clenched fists and students sporting afros covered the first published pages of Blackout in 1970. The message was clear — students were tired of the formulaic marginalization of their experiences. With their fists held high and minds set on evoking change, the founding editors of the newspaper, including Sheila Rule, Gerald Boyd, Dorothy Gaiter and Tom Morgan, hit the pavement and declared their arrival. Unfortunately, after a successful two-year run, Blackout blacked out. For nearly 38 years, no campus or local publication dedicated its voice to black issues. However, in the spirit of the original founders, students tired of neglect decided it was time to revive the forgotten publication. In 2009, two students from Mizzou’s School of Journalism and the National Association of Black Journalists Alé Chapter at the University of Missouri, Victoria Uwumarogie and Veronica Wells, revitalized the publication as a multimedia website. In 2010, a new team, consisting of Deron Dalton and Gabriel C. Tyler, acting as Co-Managing Editors, and Brittany Dixon, acting as Public Relations Manager, emerged. The new team created a new direction for the publication, consisting of a new website, a new logo, new branding images, and new content. Today, The BLACKout continues the vision of its original founders and revivalists as an online publication produced by students campus-wide passionate about providing a platform of expression and an active voice for African American students. Like the original print publication, The BLACKout seeks to provide a diverse perspective on student life, local, national and international news, and culture. With our fists held high and our minds set on evoking change, we are once again hitting the pavement and declaring our arrival. Cicely Haire: Editor-in-Chief
Ashli Teil: Editor-at-Large
Zachary McGowan: Multimedia Editor
Louis Mahaffey: Promotions Manager
Danyelle Gray: Social Media Manager
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ #!/TheBLACKoutmag
