Forty years ago, Allen Neuharth and Gannett launched USA Today, but a year before its publication, the newspaper sent out prototypes to media figures, politicians, and selected readers whose collective responses provide a window into the status of the print media of 1981 and its future over the next four decades.
Forty years ago, Patricia Roberts Harris went down in defeat to Marion Barry in the 1982 mayoral election in the District of Columbia, yet, her campaign correspondence with legal scholar, feminist, civil rights activist, and unofficial political advisor Pauli Murray reveals the impact of gender on the outcome, the role of intersectionality in the lives of Black women, and the way defeats can lead to future victories.