People Who Make the World Go ‘Round: The Legacy of Sepia Magazine

Chronicling its nearly 40-year span, from 1947 to 1983, this exhibition highlights Sepia’s heyday as a national competitor to Ebony and Jet, while directing attention to its own distinct style and audience coming from the American South. People Who Make the World Go ‘Round charts the legacy of Sepia magazine, emphasizing the role of photo-based magazines, and the way the political landscape shaped Black-interest photojournalism.

Originally published in 1947 as Negro Achievements by African American entrepreneur Horace J. Blackwell, the magazine was subsequently purchased by Jewish American businessman George Levitan in 1951 and became the rival of the more popular Chicago-based Ebony magazine through the 1970s. Sepia was upbeat, motivational, feel good, and in the early years, quite sensational. While based in segregated Fort Worth, Texas, Sepia grew in popularity during the civil rights movement, offering a national and increasingly world view of Black people and issues as part of a global diaspora.

Leading with photography, and above all, portraits of notable African Americans—in business, arts and entertainment, science, politics and everyday life—Sepia had a style comparable to Life, Look, and later Ebony magazine, where photography and the role of the photojournalist was key. The lesser-known subjects of Sepia’s “human interest” stories alongside portraits of prominent African Americans in public life, such as Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Harry Belafonte, Diahann Carroll, Pam Grier, Sidney Poitier, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ali, transformed its large format pages with clever journalism and catchy advertising, drawing in loyal readers and fans.

With images of key figures in Black life from the mid-twentieth century as well as examples of the magazine’s content and stories, People Who Make the World Go ‘Round revisits the heyday of print photojournalism and provides historical context for the popularity of digital media representations today.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Cheryl Finley, who holds a PhD in African American Studies and History of Art from Yale University. An art historian, award-winning author, and curator, Finley is the director of the Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective and distinguished visiting professor of Art History at Spelman College.