Published by Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC), The Southern Frontier was a monthly newsletter, first issued in January, 1940. Aiming to share the stories overlooked by traditional newspapers, the newsletter published stories of social progress, as well as stories of racial injustices faced by African Americans across the American South.
As described by then President of the CIC Howard W. Odum, the name
The Southern Frontier alludes to the need for even greater pioneering and progress in the social and cultural frontiers, the American South being the most turbulent field in reference to race relations and progress at the time.
Vol. 2, No. 1 contains contributions by:
Jessie Daniel AmesSelected articles are:
"Negroes Make Progress--Many 'Firsts' in 1940"
“Hot Spots Develop In Three States” – An article about high racial tensions in Memphis, TN; Dallas, TX; and Georgetown, SC, and how the general public, city governments, and police departments are responding.
“What is a Lynching?” – An article describing a December 14, 1940 conference held at Tuskegee Institute in which a definition of lynching was accepted as needing “legal evidence that a person has been killed and that he met his death illegally at the hands of a group acting under the pretext of service to justice, race or tradition.”
"Lynching Map of the United States for the Past Decade"
"Why We Lynched--1940" notes the reasons for various lynchings in the South.
An article on page 4 notes the unequal salaries of black and white teachers and school administrators in Virginia. "In the City of Richmond, the salaries of Negro principals of Negro high schools and elementary schools are a little more than one-half of the salaries paid to white high school principals--while white principals of Negro schools are paid approximately one-third more than Negro principals."
"Negroes Refused Correspondence Courses" describes how the Texas Attorney General has rulled against black citizens who wished to take correspondence classes at whites-only schools.