"Their Rising Voices": A Study of Civil Rights, Social Movements, and Advertising in the New York Times

In: Journalism & mass communication quarterly: JMCQ, Volume 75, Issue 3, p. 518-534

Abstract

This content analysis of the New York Times and review of NAACP records documents strategic use of advertising in the New York Times by the civil rights movement between 1955 and 1961. The advertisements are scrutinized in light of theories of social movements, communication, and sociology, and the history of the civil rights movement. The ads framed the civil rights movement to prime the audience to receive radical messages from marginalized speakers, to encourage media legitimization of the movement, to popularize movement goals, and to mobilize support and resources beyond the South.