The
Amsterdam News was founded on December 4, 1909, by James Henry Anderson in the
San Juan Hill neighborhood of
Upper Manhattan. The newspaper takes its name from
Amsterdam Avenue, the location of Anderson's home where he first published the newspaper. An investment of US$10 in 1909 () turned the
Amsterdam News into one of New York's largest and most influential Black-owned-and-operated business institutions, and one of the nation's most prominent ethnic publications. Not soon after the death of Edward Warren, one of the early publishers, Anderson sold his stock in the paper. On October 9, 1935, the paper's editorial employees went on strike. It was the first time the staff of a black-owned newspaper had gone on strike and led to the
Amsterdam News becoming the first unionized black paper. The strike ended on December 24, 1935, when the paper's bankruptcy receiver Laurence H. Axman,
Newspaper Guild president
Carl Randau, and businessmen Dr.
C. B. Powell and Dr. Phillip M. H. Savory reached an agreement that saw the locked-out employees receive a 10% wage increase, a five-day, 40-hour work week, two weeks of annual vacation time, three-month dismissal notices for employees with more than 10 years of service, the establishment of a guild shop, and the removal of strike-breaking staff. The paper was taken over by Powell and Savory following bankruptcy proceedings by the paper's three largest creditors. Dr. Powell assumed the role of publisher. During Powell's stewardship, the
Amsterdam News not only took on local news, but national news as well. Much of the paper's strength was based on its shaping the advancement and realization of Black aspirations. As a consequence, the paper is one of the most frequently quoted black newspapers in the world. The
Amsterdam News was the second black newspaper, after the
Chicago Defender, to be admitted to the
Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) in October 1930. By 1961, the
New York Amsterdam News had become the largest weekly community newspaper in the nation. On May 1, 1971, Dr. C. B. Powell announced his retirement and sold the
Amsterdam News to the AmNews Corporation, its present owner. Over the years, many important figures in journalism have been editors of the paper, including
T. Thomas Fortune, George W. Harris, Obie McCollum, John Lewis Clarke, Earl Brown,
Dan Burley, Julius J. Adams, Thomas Watkins, S. W. Garlington, Stanley Ross,
T. J. Sellers, Dr. G. James Fleming,
James L. Hicks, Jesse H. Walker, and Bryant Rollins. From 1972 to 1979, the newspaper began an art review column written by Gylbert Coker to cover African American art exhibitions and the African American artists. In August 1982, Wilbert A. Tatum, chairman of the AmNews Corporation's board of directors and the paper's editor-in-chief, became publisher and chief executive officer. Under Tatum's leadership, the
Amsterdam News broadened its editorial perspective, particularly in international affairs. This expanded thrust has produced considerable interest and readership from all sectors of the local, national and international communities. In July 1996, Tatum bought out the last remaining investor, putting the future of the paper firmly in the hands of the Tatum family. In December 1997, Tatum stepped down as publisher and editor-in-chief and passed the torch to his daughter, Elinor Ruth Tatum, who at the age of 26 became one of the youngest newspaper publishers in the United States. The newspaper launched a companion web site and online edition, amsterdamnews.com, in 2009. ==Circulation==