When Robert L. Vann took over the Pittsburgh Courier from Edward Harleston, not even he could have imagined what this paper was going to become.
Joined by Ira Lewis in 1914 and Bill Nunn in 1920, these three formed a trinity that created the greatest Black newspaper this country has ever known. Whereas most Black newspapers would have been happy with a 20,000 circulation, they grew it to more than 200,000 before Vann’s death in 1940.
Upon his death Vann hand-picked Lewis as his successor to manage the paper, naming him editor, while Nunn would handle the editorial side. Even though Mrs. Jesse Vann took over the ownership, and title of president and treasurer of the board, she had no prior experience having been a housewife before. However, she understood that in order for the paper to continue to function as the leading Black paper in the country she needed to rely on the two parts of the trinity left, Nunn and Lewis.
The two working smoothly with Jesse Vann built the paper to more than 480,000 and around 350 employees in the Pittsburgh shop and probably around 1,000 or more overall nationally during the 1940s.
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