Elinor Tatum and her staff are not only writing history, but securing their own places in the history books, as well.  

Tatum and her team of reporters are part of the storied legacy of the New York Amsterdam News, one of the oldest Black newspapers in the country. Tatum, who grew up in the East Village, is the weekly paper’s publisher.

“There've been many a time where I'm the only woman in the room and I'm the only person of color in the room," Tatum said.

Founded in his apartment in 1909 by James Henry Anderson, the paper was purchased many years later by Tatum’s father Wilbert. She followed in her father’s footsteps, joining the Amsterdam News as a reporter before taking over as editor-in-chief in 1997.  

“My father, when I was a very small child, was in politics. And at one point in time when he started working with the Amsterdam News, I asked him why he didn't run for mayor, and he said, ‘Because I can do more good where I am.' And that left a lasting impression on me, but it really wasn't until I started working at the paper that I really understood what he meant by that,” Tatum said.  

Tatum is behind the paper’s success during an evolving — and challenging — media landscape.  

Tatum said digital transformation has been key. She's been able to triple her staff in the last few years.  

“The only way that this is sustainable is to increase our revenues in other ways. Again, that's going to be advertising and philanthropy, but our digital offerings have expanded. We have a newsletter now that went from 900 email addresses two-and-a-half years ago to over 25,000 weekly now, and that's a daily newsletter," Tatum said.

In addition to expanding online, Tatum has launched a handful of initiatives including “Word in Black,” a collaboration with other Black publishers and “Blacklight,” an investigative unit. She is committed to sticking to the original founder’s mission: telling the stories of the Black community in ways, she said, that other media outlets may not.

"I think about Women's History Month, I think about Black History Month. We shouldn't be relegated to a certain time of year. We've been so overlooked in so many different places. And that's one of the reasons the Amsterdam News is so important because we've been telling the stories that other people have never told about us, and we continue to tell those stories. We are the history keepers of our community," Tatum said.