HillsSide was the by line for many of the articles penned by Herman E. Hill as Managing Editor of the West Coast Edition of the Pittsburgh Courier in the decade of the 1940’s. During that era  the circulation of the Courier reached up to 500,000 of each of the weekly issues and was the only African-American newspaper that had syndicated its reach to over 21 cities at its pinnacle! It was said that each copy of the Pittsburgh Courier was read by at least 6 people making its readership 3,000,000. The “White Press was not interested in the daily lives of Black folk, their contributions and achievements  but primarily wrote for the most part about the things that perpetuated the stereo types of Jim Crow.

African-Americans “spoke for themselves” through the vehicle of the Black Press. In the Black Press “ the  Race” could see their progress against racial discrimination, achievements in the fields of education, and social justice. Blacks could read about how they were striving to build a greater America that lived up to the founding fathers principles. Jazz was at its height and  although African-Americans  were the “Masters” of this genre, even here we were reminded of their greatness mainly through the pages of newspapers like the Pittsburgh Courier. Hollywood, however limited the opportunities that were ,  also displayed the prowess of stars like Paul Robeson, Lena Horne, and Ethel Waters. All of this “Black News” inspired our hopes and nurtured our dreams. It was the many stories from writers like Herman Hill that kept our hearts longing for the day of “true” emancipation where Black Americans were equal in fact!