Black History Magazines: Jet, 1960s
Jet magazine was founded in 1951 by John Johnson of the Johnson Publishing Company. Published in Chicago, its original tagline was “The Weekly Negro News Magazine.” It printed in a small, digest-sized format with covers that featured black and white photographs and a single spot color. Art director Herbert Temple made the most of the limited resources, combining dynamic crops and silos of photos with energetic color patterns and graphic shapes. In the 1960s Jet continued its cover format of celebrities and swimsuit models, but they also gave heavy coverage to the civil rights and black power movements. Temple’s graphic—often raw—cover treatments, combined with black and white portraits and news photos, created a powerful visual message.
(Above): James Meredith, June 23, 1966.
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, March 22, 1962.
Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy, May 2, 1963.
Shirley Chisholm, November 21, 1968.
Black students revolt, May 9, 1968.
Integration hot spots, June 8, 1961.
Jeanne Fleming, April 21, 1960.
Malcolm X and Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, March 26, 1964
Special report: Mississippi, July 23, 1964.
Rev. Ralph Abernathy, August 31, 1961.
