‘We need the African American newspaper to tell our stories’: The Atlanta Voice Marks 60 Years

The Atlanta Voice celebrated its 60th anniversary Monday evening, gathering journalists, community leaders, and longtime supporters to honor six decades of Black press publishing in one of America’s most storied cities.

The publication was founded in 1966 by J. Lowell Ware and Ed Clayton, driven by a mission that became the paper’s enduring motto: “A People Without A Voice Cannot Be Heard.” The two men launched the paper amid the Civil Rights Movement, born from the refusal of white-owned Atlanta media to give fair coverage to the movement unfolding in the city’s streets. Clayton died shortly after the first issue was produced, leaving Ware as the sole publisher.

The 1966 founding came at a moment when Black Americans were fighting for rights that should have already been guaranteed, and when the stories of that fight were being ignored or distorted by mainstream outlets. Six decades later, with voting rights under renewed pressure and the federal government’s posture toward civil rights protections shifting sharply, many at Monday’s celebration drew a quiet but unmistakable line between then and now.

The celebration took place in the publication’s longtime home on Pryor Street. The Atlanta Voice COO, Richard Dunn, Ware’s oldest grandson, noted that it carries its own history. “You’re currently standing in what used to be the printing press room,” Dunn told guests. “Once you own your own printing press, you can say what you want to say, say it how you want to, as often as possible.”

Dunn said the press once served not only The Atlanta Voice but also other Black publications, printing editions of The Final Call, Muhammad Speaks, Rolling Out, and others. “They were all printed in this room,” he said.

Among the evening’s honored guests was Xernona Clayton, a civil rights icon whose late husband, Ed Clayton, co-founded the paper alongside Ware. Clayton passed before the first issue reached stands, but his vision carried forward. Xernona Clayton reflected warmly on the paper’s longevity.

“I was glad to see you still here,” she said. “It makes you feel like, boy, this was good enough to last. And here it is.”

She credited her husband’s editorial instincts for building early readership. “If you didn’t get a paper right away when it came out, you were hard-pressed to get one. They were just flying off the stands because they knew there was something special in there.”

When asked what she hopes for the next 60 years, Clayton kept it simple. “That it keeps getting better and better. You’ve got to add newness. You’ve got to add freshness. You’ve got to be accurate.”

Since J. Lowell Ware’s death in 1991, his daughter Janis Ware has served as publisher, guiding the paper through decades of industry upheaval. Speaking to guests on Monday, she reflected on the weight and privilege of the role.

“This is now 49 years later,” she said to the attending audience. “I’m looking forward to transitioning out and being able to live my best life.”

Dunn credited Janis Ware not only with sustaining the publication but also with positioning it for a third generation. “She has run this operation longer than my grandfather did,” he said. “She has been dealt a lot of respect and gratitude for carrying on with this vision, and not only that, scaling it, and most importantly, putting this organization in a position to be delivered to the third generation.”

Stan Washington, a veteran journalist who has served as editor of The Atlanta Voice four times across five decades, traced his first connection to the paper to the summer of 1972, when he interned there as a freshman at Clark College. He knew J. Lowell Ware personally described him as “a no-nonsense, activist journalist,” one whose editorial fire feels particularly relevant now.

The parallels between the paper’s founding era and today are difficult to ignore. The Atlanta Voice was launched because Black Atlanta could not trust mainstream outlets to tell its story honestly. In 2026, with voting rights legislation stalled, civil rights enforcement weakened at the federal level, and misinformation spreading rapidly across digital platforms, that original distrust has found new reasons to persist.

Washington addressed the moment directly. “Let me warn the readers that we have been through worse times,” he said. “These are not the worst of times. It may be for some young people, but there were times that were much worse than this that The Atlanta Voice has survived, and its mission hasn’t changed.”

He framed the paper’s role not just as documentation, but as orientation for a community navigating uncertain ground. “The mission of the voice is to give people without a voice a chance to be heard, to give them the information they need in order to make an informed decision. The fight continues, and the voice is there.”

Also attending the celebration was Karen Duckett, founder of Duckett Design Group, one of Atlanta’s most respected architecture and design firms. Duckett served as a joint venture partner on the design of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a $1.3 billion project representing the largest contract awarded to an African American woman-owned design firm in the world. She spoke to the paper’s growing reach and responsibility in an era of shrinking local news.

“Since the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has stopped printing, you are now the storyteller for so many more people who don’t use the internet, but can’t afford the internet, but can afford the paper,” Duckett said. “We need it. It’s badly needed now.”

Tory Edwards, part of the Atlanta Influences Everything creative collective, said the paper’s legacy is inseparable from the broader story of Black Atlanta.

“The Atlanta Voice is one of the few legendary legacy entities that’s been able to preserve our stories and the way we storytell and carry on and pass them on to the next generation,” Edwards said.

Dr. Rhonda Ware, daughter of founder J. Lowell Ware and sister to publisher Janis Ware, reflected on what the paper has meant across generations, from its origins in the family’s basement during the Civil Rights Movement to its role in the current political moment.

“When my father started, it was in challenging times when we had no voice,” Ware said. “We need the African American newspaper to tell our stories.”

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