Begun in Norfolk in 1900 by the Supreme Lodge Knights of Gideon, a Black fraternal order, it was originally called the
Gideon Safe Guide and served as a newsletter for the order. The name later was changed to the
Lodge Norfolk and Guide.
P. B. Young Sr., an associate editor at the paper, borrowed $3,000 to buy it and renamed it to the
Norfolk Journal and Guide. The
Norfolk Journal and Guide was considered to be a moderate or conservative newspaper, primarily because it had to be more cautious in its speech against racial injustices compared to black newspapers published in the North. It often did not call for activism as clearly as other black newspapers did. This difference made it easier for the
Journal and Guide to obtain advertisements from white-owned businesses, including large ones like Ford, Goodrich, and Pillsbury. The paper's moderate leanings did not stop the
Journal and Guide from staging many crusades for various causes throughout its history, but some of its campaigns directly opposed the positions taken by other black papers. By the time
World War II began, the
Journal and Guide was the largest Black employer in the South, and the only black paper in the South to carry a national edition. The paper pushed for the integration of the military and its industries during the war. Wartime correspondents for the
Journal and Guide reported on black soldiers who rarely received commensurate representation in the non-black press. The paper sent photographers and writers to report on units during battle, including one of the only two U.S. Navy ships with a black crew, the
USS Mason. It won four consecutive Wendell Willkie awards for outstanding journalism. Along with the
Chicago Defender, the
Baltimore Afro-American and the
Pittsburgh Courier, the
Journal and Guide took the lead in informing the Black community on events as they related to such issues as housing and job discrimination among Black soldiers. At that time, the
Guide ranked fourth in circulation among Black newspapers in the United States. In 1946, Young's sons took over the paper, running it until the 1960s. For several decades, it then passed through various private owners. Brenda Andrews bought the paper in 1991 and continued publishing it until at least 2015. She had worked at the paper since 1982, when she joined as assistant to the paper's publisher. From 1910 to 1991, it was called both the
Norfolk Journal and Guide and the
Journal and Guide. Since 1991, it has been called the
New Journal and Guide. == Notable contributors ==