Trailblazers & Trendsetters: Dana James brings Black Iowa News to print. Here's why.
Rachelle Chase shines the spotlight on Iowans who are taking charge and making a difference in their own way in Trailblazers & Trendsetters, an occasional feature in the Des Moines Register. Know someone who should be featured in this series? Contact Rachelle at rchase@registermedia.com.
Dana James, publisher of Black Iowa News, is hard at work not only producing, writing and promoting, along with managing freelance journalists, for BlackIowaNews.com and the newsletter, but she’s also working on the second print edition of the Black Iowa News. The second edition will be out in late September with a focus on Black maternal health.
James released the first print edition — a 24-page, color, tabloid-sized paper on newsprint — in time for Juneteenth this year. She drove across Iowa, distributing more than 8,500 free copies. As of July 9, the website listed more than 60 businesses in 16 different cities, from Des Moines to Waterloo and Washington to Dubuque, that were carrying the paper.
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There have been other Black newspapers in Iowa, from Keokuk to Corning to Oskaloosa, with the largest one being the Iowa State Bystander, created in 1894 and ending in 2018, though by then it had gone digital-only. The 1900s coal mining town of Buxton, Iowa, which was predominantly Black for most of its existence, was believed to have had eight.
James, a former Des Moines Register reporter who covered education and minority affairs, thinks Black Iowa News is the only digital and print publication focusing on Black news in Iowa now. It may also be the first news publication started by a Black Iowa woman. Sue Brown, activist and wife of prominent attorney S. Joe Brown, is credited with creating and editing the "Iowa Colored Woman" beginning in 1907. But the monthly publication focused on news related to the Iowa State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.
Black Iowa News covers a broad range of topics, such as health, education, politics, commentary, arts and culture, justice and business. There’s also an Inside Black Iowa section, which includes snippets of news, along with in-depth pieces on leaders and notable people around the state, and a section on Empowering Our Youth. To generate revenue, there are advertisements. Like the online version, it’s all from a Black perspective.
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“I was very intentional in naming it Black Iowa News,” James said. “Because I wanted people to understand right away who it was for and what it was going to be about.”
While she loves the fact that her publications appeal to a lot of different people, she wasn’t prepared for the “vitriol” she’s received from some others. To them, writers like her who single out Black history, issues affecting Black communities or accomplishments by Black people are deemed racist.
All the more reason now is the time for the paper
In 2020, James created Black Iowa News because she felt a sense of urgency. It was the middle of the pandemic and she saw little news about how it was affecting Black Iowans. So she wrote a series called “Unprotected” for the National Association of Black Journalists. One story addressed how the pandemic was politicized. Another dealt with vaccination barriers. The last one detailed how Blacks had to fight health bias and healthcare while they were sick with COVID. “That was the culmination of why I started Black Iowa News,” James said.
The same sense of urgency drove her to create the newspaper. But the issues driving the urgency were different. Now, “it’s about book bans,” James said. “It's about things that have happened at the legislature. It's about this feeling I have that's like we're being erased in terms of our culture and we have to fight against that.”
James believes that the newspaper is a way to expand the fight and reach more people with her content. Whereas a news story viewed on a phone usually only touches the person reading it, James said. “A newspaper left around, it can touch everyone in the household.”
Inspiration and hands-on experience lead to the newspaper’s launch
Last year, James was pondering how she could help with voting when she discovered a program offered by the American Press Institute that provided assistance with the creation of a voting guide. So James applied and after she was accepted, despite not having laid out a newspaper since college, she did everything herself. She decided on a software program, learned it, got ideas from other guides and started working on the layout and content.
The completed guide had voting information and highlighted all the Black candidates. She initially printed 8,000 copies — plus around 600 more, paid for by the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement — that landed in residents’ mailboxes. Right up until the midterm elections, James was distributing the guide around the city. Additionally, she created a website/landing page for those who preferred viewing the information on their phones or tablets.
While the difference that Black publishers belonging to the national Black News Link were making in their communities inspired her, producing and distributing the voting guide convinced her: “People snatched it out of my arms, saying that they needed it,” James said. “That gave me the — I don't know if it's confidence, but it fueled my determination that I could, in fact, produce a newspaper. And if I had to do it somewhat single-handedly, I could.”
What’s next
James will continue working full time — or, as she puts it, "more than full time" — to expand BlackIowaNews.com, the newsletter and the new newspaper, hopefully growing the latter to monthly or bi-weekly, and to continue to include news beyond Des Moines.
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She will continue showcasing history that isn’t taught in schools. “We have so much Iowa history that's tied to Black history, but we don't talk about it enough,” James said. “And it's very inspiring history. It's something to be proud of. I feel like more Black children, Black young adults and adults need to know about these Black Iowa historical figures.”
James is passionate about making a difference — and making space — for kids. “A lot of what I'm doing with the newspaper, in an indirect way, is for Black children. It is for them to see themselves. It is for them to feel connected. It is for them to increase their literacy.”
Given the attempted erasure of Black culture, all of this is more important than ever.
For more information:
To subscribe to the newsletter, read the latest news, donate, or get a paid subscription to the newspaper: BlackIowaNews.com
To connect with Black Iowa News on social media: facebook.com/BlackIowaNews/
To subscribe to Dana James’ Substack column, which is part of the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative created by Julie Gammack: newblackiowa.substack.com/
To listen to the podcast she hosts with Lya Williams called "Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee and Conversations": iheart.com/podcast/269-being-heard-2-black-women-103929325/
To contact Dana regarding advertising, story ideas, or to write for Black Iowa News: Dana@Blackiowanews.com
Rachelle Chase is an author and an opinion columnist, who's also launched a new column, Trailblazers & Trendsetters, at the Des Moines Register. Follow Rachelle at facebook.com/rachelle.chase.author or email her at rchase@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Trailblazers & Trendsetters: Dana James launches Black Iowa News
