Publisher Janis L. Ware’s Vision Fuels Legacy of Black Community Advocacy
As The Atlanta Voice marks its 60th anniversary, the newspaper’s legacy of championing Atlanta’s Black community is firmly anchored in the leadership of Janis L. Ware, an award-winning publisher whose dedication to service and advocacy has left an indelible mark. Ware’s stewardship has ensured that the paper not only reports the news but also actively contributes to the community’s growth, progress, and empowerment. Through her innovative efforts, The Atlanta Voice has become a vital resource, offering more than just headlines—it’s a platform for voices often unheard. Whether through initiatives that support education, economic development, or social justice, Ware has used the newspaper as a powerful tool for change.
As the paper celebrates six decades of excellence, Janis L. Ware’s vision and commitment continue to propel The Atlanta Voice toward a future as impactful as its past.
AcknowledgeMINT: After nearly 50 years of working at The Atlanta Voice, the National Newspaper Publishers Association recently presented you with the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of your leadership in journalism and commitment to uplifting the voices in the African American community. How does it feel to be acknowledged that way by your peers?
Janis L. Ware: It’s special, and I truly wasn’t expecting it. I think some people do things for notoriety, others do things because there’s a need, there’s a purpose, and there’s a calling. So I will go from there to tell you that I finished the University of Georgia in 1977, and I was the only African-American, and the only female in most of my major classes, which meant if I wasn’t there, everybody knew I wasn’t there. If I wasn’t there, there was nobody for me to really get notes from or to collaborate with because 90% of the students had no real purpose for African-Americans at the time.
You were also a trailblazer then. You left UGA to go work at the family business. Being that the Atlanta Daily World was a groundbreaking Black newspaper which was founded in 1928, why do you think your dad felt the need to start the Atlanta Voice newspaper in the 60s?
When we started in 1966, that was in the height of the Civil Rights movement. He covered it all. This is not disparaging against people, but the Atlanta Daily World had a political stance of being a Republican. And we can’t use that as a negative, because at one point, the majority of African Americans were Republican. But anything that had to do with Dr. Martin Luther King or the movement, his name or his photo was really never put in that publication. So I’ve been around long enough to realize that. Hence why it is another publication to be able to tell, as we often say, the other side of the story. There were a lot of other different things for that, to let people have a voice, to let people understand that we’ve created a space to cover the stories like never before.
“Because we do have a huge amount of money and there’s a lot of money that our people are spending, what we have to do is decide are we spending it the right way.”
Properly covering the civil rights movement was the top priority when the Atlanta Voice was founded in the 60s. What messaging should the Black press primarily be focusing on pushing these days?
Our people really need to focus on financial literacy; that’s the equalizer. Because we do have a huge amount of money and there’s a lot of money that our people are spending, what we have to do is decide are we spending it the right way. So my mother is 94-years-old at this point, and they did an interview with her recently and she asked, what would be the message she would tell people, and she said that you always need to save something out of every dollar that you earn. Now, growing up, our process was you save 10% and you invest 10%, but today this is not being taught at home, and it’s not being taught at school. That’s not to criticize anybody, it’s just a fact. If we don’t focus on how we are deploying our resources and where we are deploying our resources, it will be more difficult for us to obtain the levels of financial success that’s going to be needed in the future. I think education is important, and she talked about that. And if you know that you’re good with your hands and you have the talent to be able to repair things, plumbers, and contractors make a great deal of money. So let’s promote technical colleges and universities, and let that money turn over in our community two to three times before it leaves the community.
