Pioneers From an Overview Perspective
Documentation of the contributions and advancements made by UREP professionals practicing and teaching public relations is few and far between. Specialty organizations, divisions of professional associations, and university centers house historical artifacts, personal papers, and other archives highlighting significant milestones in public relations history, but many mass-produced publications, such as textbooks, have limited information about non-white individuals and groups.
A discussion of early applications of public relations must include defining the practice. In the early eras of U.S. history, undoubtedly, public relations was practiced, but individuals were not deemed as employing public relations strategies until the 1920s when Ivy Lee, Edward Bernays, and Arthur Page were credited for creating the concept of practicing in the field (Myers 2020)—thus moving from a practice to professional orientation. In the 18th century, news releases were used to bring attention to newly established institutions, and special events, such as demonstrations, were executed to protest government policies. Both are actions that are now described as public relations tactics. The strategic planning and counseling functions were introduced at the close of the century and were popularized in the early 1900s by the first public relations firm, Publicity Bureau (Cutlip 1994).
The Universal Accreditation Board, governing body for the Accreditation in Public Relations, borrows from the widely circulated textbook Effective Public Relations, defining public relations as the “management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics on whom its success or failure depends” (Broom and Sha 2013, as cited by Universal Review Board, 16). This definition punctuates the necessity of communication between groups, whether internally or externally, where the organization or brand advocates on behalf of its mission, to its constituencies. Coombs and Holladay’s (2012) discussion of public relations history defines the practice as actions that must “involve sustained strategic attempts to influence relationships with constituents” (Coombs and Holladay 2012, 348), again emphasizing the persuasiveness of the practice.
This chapter will explore those individuals and groups whose strategic attempts included influencing public opinion through activism, media relations, special events, and alliances.
Early Practices
U.S. history cites evidence of early public relations practices when colonizers crafted favorable images of their new settlements in advertisements and pamphlets (Sloan 2008). As Europeans began to settle and expand their territory in North America, they forced the dislocation of indigenous people. These disruptions steered native people to respond through negotiation and resistance. In his book, Public Relations History from the 17th to the 20th Century, Scott Cutlip (1995) notes public relations equivalents, “propaganda, publicity, and public information” were used as survival methods among tribes (Cutlip 1995, x).
Joseph Brant
In the 1770s, Thayendanegea, also known as Joseph Brant, served as the leader and spokesperson for the Mohawk native tribe. An ally to the British, Brant served as an interpreter for missionaries in exchange for formal education and perfecting his English. The time he spent immersed in white culture influenced him to adopt many of its educational and religious traditions (Graymont 2003; Stone 1851). He attended the Moor’s Indian Charity School for Indians, now Dartmouth College, where he learned several customs in the Christian religion, and became a Freemason under the influence of Sir Walter Johnson, British superintendent of the Northern Indians of America. Brant translated religious material to the Mohawk language and was instrumental in the building of an Episcopal church in Canada.
As native land became scarcer, Brant urged solidarity among the diverse tribal groups. He believed the collective voice of the natives could prove much more persuasive than individual pleas. After resigning that idea, Brant sought to leverage his work with the British military during the French and Indian War, and with his assimilation into the mainstream culture as an asset, he traveled to England in 1775 to persuade the monarchy to aid in the recovery of Mohawk land. Unsuccessful, he later traveled throughout now West Coast America promoting an “all-Native confederacy to resist land cessions” (Access Heritage n.d.). Although he did not reach his goal of the American land settlement, he successfully moved his tribe to Canada.
While in America, Brant used his formal training and charisma to influence both tribal leaders and a 200-plus group of natives to follow his cause. His persuasive techniques led to him being one of the few Indians at that time to be revered by the British. His innate oratory abilities have been found to be mirrored by several other leaders who advocated for their respective organizations.
Movements
The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement describes a series of campaigns held across the United States, mainly in the South, to protest the treatment of Black citizens and demand systemic change. Movement organizers heavily utilized public relations tactics such as media engagement, special events, and strategic planning to persuade government officials to pass legislation in their favor.
The genesis of the Civil Rights Movement was arguably the murder of Emmett Till (Hudson-Weems 1998). In 1955, the 14-year-old Black boy was kidnapped, brutally tortured, and killed by two white men for whistling at a white woman in Money, Mississippi. After his mutilated body was discovered and retrieved from the Tallahatchie River, Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, courageously held an open casket funeral so that the world could view her son’s disfigured corpse. Black-owned publications immediately covered the story and pictures of Till’s unrecognizable body garnered attention throughout the nation. Till-Mobley had the keen foresight to welcome the press to her son’s services to broadcast the evils of racism and white supremacy. Emmett Till’s death gave pause to a nation that seemingly enabled heinous crimes and injustice toward its Black citizens and commenced public discourse on the inferior treatment of an entire community, solely based on skin color.
Less than three months after an all-white jury acquitted Till’s murderers of the crime, the first widely recognized event of the Civil Rights Movement was executed. In December 1955, the year-long Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott began after seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to vacate her bus seat for a white passenger (Montgomery Improvement Association n.d.). A group of local Black leaders used Parks’ defiance as the impetus for spearheading a day-long boycott of the city’s segregated buses. Hon (1997) notes that from a public relations perspective, support of Parks should be highlighted because Claudette Colvin, a Black teen, was arrested for committing the same bold act months prior (Adler 2009). Colvin speculated the rally behind Parks instead of her was due to Parks’ dignified appearance, “Her skin texture was the kind that people associate with the middle class” (Colvin quoted in Adler 2009, ¶ 19). The leaders possibly felt that the face of their movement would be more accepted as a hardworking, middle-aged woman rather than a youthful teen.
The December 5th boycott energized the group so much that they created an organization, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), to formally organize future activities and chose a newly PhD-conferred Martin Luther King, Jr. as its president and spokesperson. The Montgomery boycott sparked more organized protests of inequality and segregation in other cities across the south. College students staged sit-ins at lunch counters, libraries, and other public places in the fight against segregation. Broadcast by local and national media, the demonstrations were gaining attention, as was its vicious, often violent opposition.
After a little more than a year of small victories, many of the groups met in 1957 to form a regional body, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Although the SCLC has received much credit for the Movement’s visibility and success, other established and newly minted activist groups were highly engaged and contributed to its effectiveness. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced “Snick”) was made up of college students and younger, more radical activists, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s oldest organization dedicated to civil rights, along with others, developed public relations strategies for equal treatment and opportunities for Blacks in America.
King, whose name is synonymous with civil rights activism, reported the overarching goal of SCLC’s campaign was “to use a creative method to achieve full citizenship rights for the Negro people of the United States” (King 1960, para. 4). And as King noted, each organization had its own unique method for accomplishing a shared goal.
Emphasis on Public Relations
The three organizations understood the value of public relations early in their formation. The NAACP, at its founding in 1909, named famed sociologist Dr. W.E.B. DuBois its director of publicity and research. DuBois quickly created the organization’s official monthly magazine The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races (The Crisis n.d.) to detail NAACP programming and provide commentary for social reform and racial equality. By 1960, the NAACP had established a public relations department led by a director. The duties of the office included compiling annual reports, special topic reports, and drafting and disseminating news releases.
The SCLC’s public relations director position was largely responsible for creating and disseminating organizational publications, forging political allies, and coordinating media appearances. The director reported to the executive director but did not serve as a consultant to King, who was the president. The SCLC did, however, have a research committee who served King as strategists. Though they were not housed in the public relations department, the research and counseling they provided were in fact part of the public relations process. The group conducted surveys, complied media clippings, and analyzed voter registration data to help inform the SCLC strategy (Hon 1997).
Ella Jo Baker, SCLC’s former executive director, left the group and became the organizing founder of SNCC (Ella Baker Center for Human Rights n.d.; Hon 1997). Baker’s previous participation with the NAACP, coupled with her duties at SCLC, informed her communications and public relations acumen. At its first conference, the group formed a communications committee whose responsibilities were “the publication of a newsletter and pamphlets, the distribution of press releases and the creation of a flash news to alert the nation of emergencies and serious developments” (Murphree 2013, 12).
Strategies and Tactics
SNCC and the SCLC initially shared the organization-defining strategy of direct nonviolence. The preference was primarily due to Christian philosophy and the influence of civil rights activist Mahatma Gandhi. King studied and admired Gandhi’s resilience during his campaign for India’s independence from Britain. However, toward the end of the Movement and after SNCC’s heavily and violently contested presence in Mississippi, many of the groups’ younger members opted for a more radical, sometimes hot tempered approach.
The NAACP’s strategy was grounded in confronting policy with law. It’s legal defense fund, headed by Thurgood Marshall (who later became the first African American Supreme Court Justice), challenged segregation laws, and won the 1954 landmark case, Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka, in which the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. They did, however, utilize public relations tactics to not only promote the Movement, but to rebrand itself as the preeminent civil rights organization, an identifier that had been threatened due to the many newly formed groups with similar missions (Straughan 2004).
Although most strategies were used to meet awareness objectives, the organizations executed tactics that were two-way in nature. SCLC’s “Operation Dialogue” included a conference, which further extended “a greater understanding of the civil rights movement to the white community through group discussion” (Hon 1997, 189), and the SNCC sponsored a seminar, “Understanding the Nature of Social Change” to educate attendees about nonviolence and the centralized communication activities of SNCC and the overall civil rights movement (Murphree 2013, 23).
While strategic in planning, the groups did not want to be seen as staging “publicity stunts” and manipulating media for coverage but were conscious that the Movement’s purpose and message needed to be broadcast, particularly outside of the South, to enact any type of positive, long-standing change (Hon 1997, 64). Publicity for the cash-strapped organizations was also cost effective and far reaching. Public relations staffers spent much of their time crafting and disseminating press releases, coordinating press conferences, scheduling television and radio interviews, and drafting letters to editors of local and national papers.
Media training was also key to controlling and maintaining the media narrative. The NAACP created a publicity handbook detailing how “to secure media coverage, including writing and distributing news releases, making direct contact with reporters, organizing news conferences, providing photographs to the media, and writing letters to the editor” (Straughan 2004, 56), and the SCLC distributed a hypothetical script that prepared members for interviews with outlets.
Special Events.
Also known as “symbolic public assemblies” (Murphree 2013, 15), the Movement is most recognizable due to its countless demonstrations, marches, sit-ins, and voter-registration drives. The purpose of the events was to create awareness locally, but also to hold a strategic function of generating national media coverage. Leaders knew that their carefully planned, peaceful assemblies would incite angry mobs, and lead to violence that media gatekeepers could not ignore. Undoubtedly, the three most popular events of the Movement were the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, and the March from Selma to Montgomery.
Originally sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and supported by the SNCC, the Freedom Rides were meant to assess Federal law banning segregation in interstate bus terminal facilities. Volunteers traveled by bus from Washington, DC, due south, through Atlanta, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Jackson. The response from segregationists was vicious and reprehensible. A bus was firebombed, members were beaten, and some jailed. The backlash was more than CORE opted to withstand, leaving the SNCC to continue the campaign as the sole sponsor. Members detailed their experiences to local chapters who sent constant briefings to national news outlets. Those, along with graphic photographs of the bloodied riders, were broadcast to the world.
On August 28, 1963, The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held in the nation’s capital to again protest treatment of Black Americans, and to lobby Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act, which had recently been introduced in the House. Organized by a coalition of groups, including the SNCC, NAACP, SCLC, CORE, and others, the March program was a full day of prolific speakers, entertainers, and featured performances from an array of musical artists. The diverse agenda, and more than 250,000 attendees landed at the top of the media agenda, and King’s most heralded speech, “I Have a Dream,” was performed.
The most visually horrifying event of the Movement was captured on national television. “Bloody Sunday” was one in a series of three marches where activists attempted to walk from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on March 7, 1965, to protest voter suppression. As participants began to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were met with the teargas, night sticks, clubs, and police dogs of Alabama state highway patrolmen and angry mobs of spectators. Media again, like in previous cases of violent acts, broadcasted bigotry rearing its ugly head. Days later, a march led by King did not materialize for fear of repeat assaults. Then, on March 21, after federal government action, and the protection of Federal troops, marchers completed the journey to Montgomery, Alabama’s capital city.
Audio and visual elements were used to appeal to media. Special events were accented by themes and key messages. Campaigns were distinct and were assigned names to describe their purpose. The resounding mantra “We Shall Overcome,” sang by civil rights activists and displayed on posters by marchers, became the rallying cry of the Movement. Participants’ wardrobe choice was strategic imagery for newspaper photos and television. Marchers, freedom riders, and sit-in participants dressed in suits, ties, skirts, and other attire appropriate for office work or church to add to the horror of brutality inflicted upon them. “The juxtaposition of violence and elegance was very intentional and very powerful” (Davis as quoted in Donaldson 2021, ¶ 11).
While the demonstrations and other special events received media attention, Movement leaders also understood that sending their messages directly to change agents was as important. The SNCC wrote an open letter to all members of Congress demanding that they enforce existing anti-racist policies. The NAACP’s main strategy of legal redress emphasized the lasting effects of policy change and enactment. The organization engaged community members in letter writing campaigns provoking legislative support on key issues. They also wrote position papers that cited the negative effects current laws have on the Black community. To ensure their message was controlled, advertisements were purchased and placed in national dailies, as well as the Black press (Straughan 2004).
Evaluation
The Movement’s vast public relations efforts led to the passages of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. These laws prohibited employment, housing, and voting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin. The original goal of creating “full citizenship rights” for Black Americans was seemingly met.
Modern Farm Worker Movement
In the early 1900s, Filipinos migrated to the United States to work as field laborers in the California Central Valley. The workers were subject to long hours and deplorable living conditions in exchange for low wages, no basic health care or retirement benefits. Without a labor union to protect and advocate for the workers’ rights, the mostly men were continuously mistreated until experienced labor contractor Larry Itliong, president of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), an American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)-affiliated organization, proposed a strike against farm owners. Itliong had successfully orchestrated a strike for higher pay in Coachella Valley, California, and earlier strikes against lettuce and asparagus growers.
Led by Itliong, the Delano grape strike began on September 8, 1965. More than 1,000 Filipino workers sacrificed their wages to demand better treatment by remaining in their barracks and refusing to report to the fields. Farm owners responded by replacing the strikers with Mexican workers, also known as “braceros,” who were brought in temporarily from Mexico. At the time of the strike, the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), a group of mostly Latino workers led by Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta, was also protesting subpar work conditions and soon joined the Filipino workers. The collaboration later birthed the United Farm Workers (UFW), a powerful organization that mobilized collective resources and also served as an effective visual and persuasive tool. From 1965 to 1970, the UFW emboldened thousands of farm workers to reject exploitative labor conditions through the use of public relations components.
Public Relations Emphasis
There is no record of any named positions dedicated to public relations duties during the 1965 strike, but the importance of garnering support and communicating the movement’s mission to the public was underscored early with the establishment of the newspaper, El Malcriado (Adair 2009). Began by Chavez and NFWA members in 1964, the paper was published independent of the organization for fear that it would generate lawsuits and bankrupt the union. El Malcriado initially was printed in Spanish to communicate directly to Spanish-speaking farmworkers, but later introduced editions in English to accommodate non-Spanish-speaking farmworkers and union supporters.
As the UFW became more recognized, specific public relations roles were added. Marc Grossman was hired as its first press secretary in the early 1970s and served as a surrogate spokesperson, scheduled Chavez’s tours and visits, and prepared the “President’s Newsletter” (Marc Grossman, personal interview, May 18, 2021).
Strategies and Tactics
Originally, the protest served as the primary communicative tool. UFW leaders relied heavily on one-way communication tactics to create awareness of the farm workers’ plight. Soon after, other strategically crafted efforts were employed.
The alliance of AWOC and NFWA quickly grew the existing strike to more than 3,000 workers, covering greater ground than ever before. The UFW, like civil rights advocates, practiced nonviolence, and too, were subject to brutal taunting, arrests, and violent behavior. Farm growers and their supporters sprayed protestors with pesticides, intimidated them by brandishing guns and even beat those who came too close to property (Mooney and Majka 1995). Each vile reaction committed by the growers was reported by media outlets. To gain more coverage and maintain a constant presence on the media agenda, strikers were present at events sponsored by politicians and other opinion leaders. Strikers capitalized on appearances of opinion leaders who were already on the media agenda by interrupting their speeches with bullhorns and chants (Street 1996).
The strike did work to bring great awareness among growers, media outlets, and politicians; however, it did not bring the two parties closer to negotiations. UFW leaders knew that financial effects would be more successful in getting the growers’ attention and understood that “boycotts were more prominent and effective in the civil rights era” (Garcia 2012, 51). Capitalizing on this momentum, a boycott of table grapes was planned.
The boycott was elaborately organized and displayed. Initially, there were demonstrations blocking grocery stores and targeting distributors, or middlemen, from providing grapes or its byproducts to consumers or suppliers. Volunteers launched letter writing campaigns to appeal to longshoremen, store owners, and politicians, some even mailing squashed grapes to then president-elect Nixon (Street 1996). The International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Unions in San Francisco supported the boycott by temporarily ceasing to load grapes onto ships, and hotels and restaurants were convinced to discontinue serving the boycotted items. Then, in 1968, research found that it would be more efficient to concentrate efforts in the 10 cities with the largest grape shipments. Besides California locations, those areas included Montreal, Vancouver Canada, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Cleveland. Volunteers were deployed around the nation and beyond and were not held to uniform strategies. With informal environmental scanning, which included tracking trends, as covered in local papers and televised news stories, and audience input, volunteers enacted tactics that would be most effective in that city. “He [Chavez] encouraged boycotters to come up with whatever strategies and tactics worked for them in their cities. As a result, people generated ideas that succeeded because Cesar gave them the support they needed” (Grossman 2017, xvi).
In 1966, the AWOC and NFWA marched from Delano to the state capital of Sacramento. The more than 250-mile pilgrimage served to protest abuse of the strikers, publicize the movement, and inform farm workers outside of the originating valley of its mission and garner support (Mooney and Majka 1995). The march began with 70 strikers, ministers, and union leaders who sought food and shelter in the farm towns along the route. Their presence could not be ignored as they held rallies, candlelight parades, and other activities at each stop. Inspired by the movement, theater group El Teatro Campesino produced music and plays reenacting events that took place during the strikes.
March participants, who carried crucifixes and other Catholic symbols, swelled from the original 70 to more than 7,000 by the time they reached the state Capitol steps 25 days later at a culminating rally (Street 1996). The religious imagery coupled with the group’s size was successful in galvanizing attention and support from media and legislators.
Another event that was advantageous to the movement’s cause was Cesar Chavez’s hunger strike. The president of the UFW, Chavez, was a charismatic, dedicated, and tireless leader who swiftly became the face of the movement (Street 1996). In February 1968, Chavez began a 25-day fast to recommit his allegiance to nonviolence and reaffirm his commitment to the cause. Chavez’s sacrifice generated media coverage nationwide, and was publicly acknowledged by lawmakers, including U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was present when Chavez ended the fast.
Alliances
Many established organizations stood in multiracial solidarity with the UFW and its mission, “multiracial coalition building as a practical strategy in the pursuit of social change” (Araiza 2014, 8). The largely African American civil rights organizations, SNCC and the Black Panther Party, assisted with the grape boycott nationwide.
LaCausa, which the movement was often referred as, benefitted from the relationships formed through and tactics employed by the Civil Rights Movement. Although taking place in different regions of the country, the actions of both represented a shift in resilience and ideology among UREP groups. The direct nonviolent strategy used by the SCLC and SNCC primed the U.S. ruling class for citizens who were willing to risk their health and livelihood for their beliefs and forced outsiders to witness the atrocities of racism and discrimination. The Black Panther Party’s readiness to form coalitions with diverse allies provided an example of strength in numbers through greater exposure of the mission.
Both groups coverage of UFW’s activities in their publications, SNCC’s The Movement and the BPP’s Black Panther, kept members informed and updated on the boycott’s latest news. The groups were also active participants in UFW-sponsored events. SNCC sponsored one of its members as a “paid representative for the student organization within UFW” (Garcia 2012, 54), and the BPP organized supermarket boycotts and participated in protests in Chicago, Cleveland, and Oakland (Araiza 2009).
Other groups offered financial assistance as well as presence. The United Automobile Workers (UAW) president Walter Reuther marched alongside Chavez and Itliong in Delano and pledged $5,000 monthly for boycott expenses and striking workers (Mooney and Majka 1995). College students from the University of California at Berkeley, San Francisco State, and Mills College paid to attend rallies featuring Chavez on their respective campuses, amassing more than $6,000 (Mooney and Majka 1995). Students across the country were eager and emboldened to volunteer for La Causa.
Clergy proved to be a source of consistent assistance for the movement. Religious leaders issued public statements of support, and when they did not do so readily, they were contacted directly. A devout Catholic, Chavez twice petitioned the Catholic Church for support, and eventually received it in the form of mediation (Prouty 2008). The Church was instrumental in the contract negotiations, which ended the grape strike by creating an ad-hoc committee to “investigate the conflict” (Prouty 2008, 4).
The Delano Grape Boycott and its related activities met the goal of securing better working conditions and pay for farm workers, and from a public relations standpoint, created broad awareness for the cause, “by August 1970, the United Farm Workers claimed 12,000 grape pickers in its membership and garnered considerable number of donations and positive publicity from the success of the grape boycott” (Garcia 2012, 116–117).
The marriage of one- and two-way communication tactics proved to reach audiences, resulting in tangible improvements such as contracts from more than 20 California grape growers guaranteeing rest periods, toilets, clean drinking water, and hand-washing facilities. More commitment was made to protect the health and wellness of workers by growers and the U.S. government. Harmful pesticides were prohibited, and the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act was passed in 1975, ensuring farm workers’ safe working conditions and the right to form unions.
The American Indian Movement
Unlike civil rights leaders, Native American activists sought sovereignty as opposed to integration. The American Indian Movement’s (AIM’s) broad goal was not to assimilate into American society, but to promote self-reliance and self-determination.
In 1965, the Indian Relocation Act was passed by the U.S. Congress to persuade Native Americans to leave their reservations to integrate into urban areas. The Act provided moving expenses and job training programs; however, it discontinued funding for reservation schools and stopped recognizing many tribes. As more Indians began settling into metropolitan areas, they too experienced the substandard living conditions as did other racial minority groups. Like other underrepresented groups, Native Americans were subjected to discrimination based on their ethnicity. In protest, several Indian activists, individually and collectively, raised their concerns in what is known as the Red Power Movement. Beginning with the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969, and on heels of the Civil Rights Movement, Native American organizations began a series of demonstrations to create awareness among non-natives, media outlets, and the government.
AIM was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as a response to the government’s inequitable treatment of Indians. The organization’s main objective was to “solicit and broaden opportunities for the urban Indian in order that he may enjoy his full rights as a citizen of these United States” (Schuttler 1991, 21) and met it locally through establishing the AIM Patrol, Legal Rights Center, Indian Health Board, and the Heart of Earth Survival School (AIM n.d.). These initiatives assisted Minnesotans with police mediation, legal services, health care, and education, respectively.
After a string of state sanctioned and civilian crimes against Native Americans took place across the country in the early 1970s, AIM sought to broaden its scope and to voice its concerns of self-determination on a national level.
Public Relations Emphasis
At its founding, AIM leaders operated without formal titles or duties; however, in 1969, it recruited Russell Means and members of his family to join the movement. Means had an innate ability for press agentry and served as the movement’s unofficial spokesperson after speaking to media at a 1970 Thanksgiving demonstration, “Today you will see the Indian reclaim the Mayflower in a symbolic gesture to reclaim our rights in this country” (Mourning Indians 1970, 26). His declaration caused national media to name him as an organization leader and consequently spring boarded more organized efforts among the group. With the widespread attention given to this impromptu speech, AIM members recognized the news value of staged protest and began to plan events that would keep them on the media agenda, “AIM needed and wanted constant exposure. Its success in that area is due, in part, by shocking the press and public into listening.” (Schuttler 1991, 73) They used press releases to alert outlets of upcoming activities and to provide accurate information regarding the organization’s goals.
Strategies and Tactics
AIM did not share the nonviolent ideology as the Civil Rights and the Farmworkers’ movements, nor were they as conservative as earlier Native American protestors whose primary public protest were fish-ins, where tribal members ceremoniously protested state-ordered restrictions on fishing in off-reservation areas. Instead, “confrontation politics” was practiced. This strategy was becoming an activist standard at the time as the Black Panther Party, whose policies countered respectability politics, promoted “Black Power”; AIM members coined “Red Power.”
While more assertive in its approach, AIM did not advocate violence, but believed in methods of self-defense. The outspoken nature of its leaders was a reason media and nonmembers labeled the group as impulsive and revolutionary, when in fact, their tactics were carefully planned.
Media relations appeared to be AIM’s overall strategy for reaching its publics, “newspapers, radio, magazines and television [were used] to dramatize Indian problems and protests” (Johnson, Champagne, and Nagel 1997, 34).
Special Events.
AIM took direct action, which drew public interest and media attention. They planned staged demonstrations and challenged previous Acts granting Indians use of abandoned government facilities by occupying these spaces. AIM seized prominent American landmarks, brashly attended holiday events associated with America’s founding and directly confronted government entities.
Plymouth Rock Protest.
On the 350th anniversary of the pilgrims’ arrival on Plymouth Rock, AIM members interrupted a commemorative event organized by local nonnatives to hold a traditional ceremony of mourning, which quickly morphed into a rebellious demonstration. Before an audience of uncomfortable locals, more than 150 Indians denounced American society, covered Plymouth Rock with sand, and boarded a replica of the Mayflower. This November 26, 1970 event thrust AIM into the national spotlight and birthed the National Day of Mourning, which is recognized annually by Native Americans on the Thanksgiving holiday.
Modeling the demonstration led by the United Native Americans organization a year prior, AIM members occupied Mount Rushmore in 1971, building on momentum begun at the Plymouth Rock protest. At this event, however, the 20 members who stood atop the structure came with a demand that the 1868 Treaty be honored. The agreement, also known as the Fort Laramie Treaty, gave Sioux Indians exclusive ownership of the Black Hills of Dakota as part of the Sioux Reservation. When gold was discovered there later, the United States reneged on the contract and confiscated the land in 1877. National media outlets covered the event widely, even conducting interviews with participants and onlookers. The occupiers were arrested and individually recognized as emboldened activists, thus giving AIM more public recognition.
Trail of Broken Treaties.
AIM, in partnership with seven other Indian organizations, planned a caravan leaving different parts of the country to convene at the White House the week prior to the 1972 Presidential Election. The intention of the timing, and visual presentation of more than 2,000 Indians presenting carefully crafted grievances to the incumbent candidate was meant to influence a swift and meaningful response from the government and garner national attention.
As they made their way to Washington, DC, members stopped at different tribal nations, welcomed more participants, and held meetings to draft a document detailing their concerns with the U.S. government and Indian relations. The 20-point program addressed treaty rights and sought to ensure political, economic, and health improvements among natives (Lurie n.d.).
The entire event was extensively planned and included advance notification to media and government officials. Information from a press release sent by the Denver chapter of AIM was published in the October 5th edition of the New York Times, and an article based on facts provided during a press conference was written by journalist William M. Blair (Indians to drive to Capital 1972). AIM was successful in controlling its narrative until it reached Washington, where officials defaulted on their promise to provide suitable accommodations for the travelers.
The planned, peaceful gathering soon became a siege as more than 300 members barricaded themselves in the Bureau of Indian Affairs offices, refusing to leave until the administration heard their demands. One week later, on November 9, 1972, AIM vacated the offices after receiving word that no participant would be arrested, and that a panel of 13 federal departments would address concerns of the 20-point plan (Timmerman 2012)
Evaluation
AIM’s efforts to gain publicity were successful. The protests at Plymouth Rock and Mount Rushmore, among others, painted the organization as passionate activists, outspoken, and fervently concerned for the rights of American Indians. However, AIM’s image was tainted following the Trail of Broken Treaties (Timmerman 2012). The cross-country caravan’s culmination into a standoff placed AIM on the international media agenda, with millions worldwide watching the story unfold like a drama, including the FBI. The group was placed under government surveillance and was littered with informants who infiltrated operations and testified against them later in legal proceedings. Ironically, one of AIM’s first hired public relations directors, Douglas Durham was a paid informant for the FBI (Schuttler 1991).
While AIM brought global attention to the plight of the American Indian, its later, more resistant tactics did not affect the changes it sought.
Agency Owners
In the 1920s, corporations began to recognize UREPs as a fast-growing segment with more than $1 billion dollars in buying power. The “Great Migration” enticed workers to relocate from the south, where farming dominated employment, to Northern cities where factory work promised better pay and quality of life. The population of nonwhites steadily increased in cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and Detroit, and metropolitan industries needed to capitalize on these growing demographics. Underrepresented public relations professionals were initially sought after to assist the transportation and food and beverage industries, and even politicians with communicating to a diverse audience.
The following profiles are of pioneers who found it was advantageous to open their own firms and assist many clients as opposed to being employed by and advocating on behalf of one corporation.
Joseph Vaudrey Baker
Joseph Vaudrey Baker, a Temple University-trained journalist, was the first Black columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and also regularly wrote for The Tribune, a Black-owned Philadelphia newspaper. He was hired by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as a public relations consultant, and soon after, in 1934, opened Joseph V. Baker Associates at 26 years old. This is the first known public relations firm owned by a UREP.
Baker amassed a vast network of contacts, and his clients included former employer Pennsylvania Railroad Company, American Tobacco, Procter and Gamble, and Sears Roebuck & Co. Baker encouraged his clients to hire Black people and to include them in publications promoting their products. Much of the information he crafted for companies targeted the African American audience as viable members of the workforce and loyal consumers.
He created a booklet, “The Flanged Wheel … A Pictorial of American Railroads” for the Association of American Railroads illustrating Black railroad workers in every phase of the railroad business and crafted the “Integration without Identification” initiative for NBC (Ratcliffe 1957; Foreman 2007). In 1950, NBC sought Baker’s services to revise its current standard and create transformative racial policies regarding hiring practices and portrayals of Black characters in stereotypical, subservient roles. Baker became a “gatekeeper at NBC, facilitating access to the network among the Black press while functioning as NBC’s eyes and ears within the Black community” (Foreman 2007, 125).
Also active in political and professional associations, Baker, a staunch Republican, was appointed as the assistant to then Vice-President Richard Nixon’s campaign and was an advisor on minority affairs to the Republican National Committee. He was a member of the now-disbanded National Public Relations Roundtable, a “group of legitimate practitioners specializing in work within the national Negro community” (“Methods of Communicating” 1959, 1), and was elected the first Black President of the Philadelphia chapter of PRSA.
Lynne Choy Uyeda Gin
Lynne Choy Uyeda Gin founded the public relations and marketing firm Lynne Choy Uyeda & Associates in 1984, and later added “Vision Works” video production company in 1995. Outspoken and progressive, Gin cofounded the Asian Business Association as an outlet for support among Asian American business owners and was the founding president of the now defunct Asian American Advertising and Public Relations Alliance.
Gin credits her unstable childhood—spending time between a Chinese group home, her mother, and a foster family—for her fierce independence. Forced to enter the workforce after divorce, she was employed as a television producer and director of communications for a Los Angeles firm before beginning her agency (Wyman 2012).
Lynne Choy Uyeda & Associates counseled corporations as well as government agencies on ways to effectively target Asians in the United States. Her last client prior to retiring was the Los Angeles Regional Census Center, where she was spokesperson and media specialist during the 2000 census (Watanabe 2009).
Gin is the recipient of several awards that recognize her prowess in business and communication. She was appointed to the Public Procurement Advisory Committee in California State Assembly, served as a delegate for the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business, and was inducted into the 2012 Minority Business Hall of Fame and Museum.
Inez Kaiser
Founder of Inez Kaiser & Associates in the late 1950s, Inez Kaiser was the first Black woman to own a national public relations firm and was the first to become a member of the PRSA, The American Marketing Association (AMA), and the Advertising and Sales Executive Club (Kaiser 2006).
Kaiser’s first career was in education, working 22 years as a Kansas City, Kansas, junior high home economics teacher. While teaching, she wrote the syndicated column, “Fashionwise and Otherwise,” which was published in five Black-owned newspapers and later was a guest contributor to the “As I See it” column for the Kansas City Star. Kaiser enjoyed writing as a career and grew disinterested with teaching. She made the decision to pursue public relations full time after receiving a master’s degree from Columbia University.
Inez Kaiser & Associates primarily created promotional materials, organized programming, and conducted marketing surveys for its clients, “generally white firms aiming at the black consumer market” (Meyer 1972, 87). Kaiser often expressed disappointment with the local business community’s lack of support for her firm, resulting in her seeking national clients, including Lever Brothers, Seven-Up, and Pillsbury Co. (Meyer 1972). Kaiser voiced this frustration in Washington, DC, where she was the keynote speaker at the first National Conference of Business Opportunities for Women, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and was appointed as a National Coordinator of Business Opportunities for Minority Women.
Highly engaged in the political process, she was a candidate for Missouri House of Representatives (Goldstein and Miller 1986), and was a close confidant and supporter of Presidents Nixon and Ford.
Kaiser’s mark on public relations is indelible. The Public Relations Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the PRSA have awards named in her honor.
Joe Ortiz
Joe Ortiz, the first Mexican American in the United States to host an English-language talk show on commercial radio, seamlessly transitioned from a career in journalism to public relations.
Ortiz began his broadcasting career in 1971 at KABC, the second station in the United States to incorporate a 24-hour talk format (Johnson and Jones 1978). During his more than 45-year career, he worked in television and radio as a chief news reporter, for which he received a Golden Mike Award as a member of the best news team; cohost of the radio talk show, Mornings with Joe & Cris; and host of Prime Time with Joe Ortiz, for which he was honored with The Angel Award for best talk show host.
The relationships he created while working for media and as publicist for the Chicano Radio Network gave him great advantage in his second career as public relations consultant. He opened Joe Ortiz Associates in 1988, the same year Hispanic Business Magazine named him as one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S.”
The agency provided services for politicians, including California Senators Diane Watson and Art Torresk, and the first African American mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley, and beverage giants Miller Brewing Company and Johnny Walker Black. His list of clients also included Boy Scouts of America, Make-a-Wish Foundation, and several Californiabased community organizations.
A proponent of providing access and opportunities to younger generations, Ortiz was a founding member of California Chicano News Media Association, a nonprofit with a mission to “foster an accurate and fair portrayal of Latinos in the news and to promote the social, economic and professional advancement of Latino journalists” (CCNMA n.d., ¶ 1).
Summary
As presented in this chapter, UREP individuals and movements utilized public relations practices in response to societal discrimination and other prejudicial treatment. Their approaches prompted widespread awareness and resulted in systemic changes, and ushered confidence in their entrepreneurship and counseling abilities. The luminaires profiled in the next chapter stand on the shoulders of the movement leaders and other ground-breaking pioneers. They are examples of personal success who have graciously accepted the charge of advancing the practice and addressing issues of multiculturalism in society and the workforce.