Talk:Gary Crusader

History
I think this article is ready to go, but the history section was unclear. I pulled it over here and it can get re-added when it's sorted. Jessamyn (talk) 21:34, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

"The founding dates vary from 1940 to 1960 on the premise that the information may of been for their "Big Sister" paper named "Chicago Crusader". The confusion of when publication began, may of been an issue with information during the merger in the 1960's. While multiple sources will validate both dates, the information that is gathered from the company suggests that the correct date is 1960. Leading some to believe that that is the date of accrued ownership rather than the actual day of start publications."

The 1940 date seems like it must have been accidentally carried over from the Chicago Crusader. Interestingly, this 1975 directory gives 1959 as the start date, but I can't find other support for that. Meanwhile, this 2017 encyclopedia entry gives 1961 as the start date and names the founder as Brian Leavell, not Balm L. Leavell. I cannot find any other references to any such Brian Leavell in connection with either the Crusader newspapers or Gary, but that is not entirely surprising given how poorly documented Gary's Black history is in general. Notably, in the 2006 edition of the same entry, Balm was credited as the founder, so I think the author must have had some specific reason for changing "Balm Leavell" to "Brian Leavell." In any event, Linda M. Carter's article shows a much higher level of attention than is apparent in the available sources for other dates (1940, 1959, 1960), so I think 1961 is the best-supported start date. Would be nice to have some better documentation on this, however. -- Visviva (talk) 19:59, 7 December 2019 (UTC)