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Johnson Publishing Company’s Tan Confessions and Ebony: Reader Response through the Lens of Social Comparison Theory

Bryant, Malika S.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1618997653408659

Abstract Details

2021, Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, Journalism (Communication).
In November 1945, Johnson Publishing Company released its second publication titled Ebony, a magazine modeled after Life magazine, which featured photographic spreads and stories about various topics about the Black community. Five years later, the publishing company released Tan Confessions, an African American confessions magazine inspired by True Confessions, printed from November 1950 through October 1952. The magazine was renamed TAN and rebranded into a homemaker’s magazine. This research analyzes the content of these magazines and 619 letters to the editor— 350 letters from volumes one and two of Ebony and 269 letters from volumes one and two of Tan Confessions. The study looks at the magazine content and letters to the editor through the theoretical lenses of social comparison theory to examine how the editors of Ebony and Tan Confessions published and categorized letters to the editor, which serves as a representation how they presented reader reaction to their audience. This research is relevant and important to not only the history of Black magazine publication, but it is an essential piece of the rich and longstanding American magazine history. Johnson Publishing Company created an empire by printing a succession of high-circulating magazines that were unlike any before them because they published aspects of African American life that were not seen in mainstream media at the time.
Aimee Edmondson (Advisor)
Craig Davis (Committee Chair)
Bill Reader (Committee Chair)
201 p.
African American Studies; African Americans; History; Journalism; Mass Media
Black Magazines; Social Comparison Theory; Ebony Magazine; 1940s magazines; confession magazines; 1950s magazines; Tan Confessions Magazine; Johnson Publishing Company; Letters to the Editor; black press; magazine history; John H Johnson; Ben Burns

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bryant, M. S. (2021). Johnson Publishing Company’s Tan Confessions and Ebony: Reader Response through the Lens of Social Comparison Theory [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1618997653408659

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bryant, Malika. Johnson Publishing Company’s Tan Confessions and Ebony: Reader Response through the Lens of Social Comparison Theory. 2021. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1618997653408659.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bryant, Malika. "Johnson Publishing Company’s Tan Confessions and Ebony: Reader Response through the Lens of Social Comparison Theory." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1618997653408659

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1618997653408659
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© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.