---
title: Robert Lee Vann - Lawyer, Editor, Crusader
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-robert-lee-vann-lawyer-editor-crusader-1943/
description: A profile portrait of Robert Lee Vann sits among vignettes of a newspaper office, a Liberty ship under construction and a tower, each with a short caption.
section: Collection
---

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3. Robert Lee Vann - Lawyer, Editor, Crusader

[![Robert Lee Vann - Lawyer, Editor, Crusader, 1943 US cartoon: A profile portrait of Robert Lee Vann sits among vignettes](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/owi-alston-robert-lee-vann-lawyer-editor-crusader-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/owi-alston-robert-lee-vann-lawyer-editor-crusader-1943.jpg)

# Robert Lee Vann - Lawyer, Editor, Crusader

A profile portrait of Robert Lee Vann sits among vignettes of a newspaper office, a Liberty ship under construction and a tower, each with a short caption. The tell is transfer: the honour of a ship naming and a tower renaming is attached to a public figure in a biographical panel for the press.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
AS THE EDITOR OF THE PITTSBURG COURIER, ONE
OF THE LARGEST NEGRO NEWSPAPERS IN THE WORLD,
VANN WIELDED A DECISIVE INFLUENCE FOR THE
WELFARE AND PROGRESS OF AMERICAN NEGROES
AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

ROBERT
LEE
VANN
LAWYER, EDITOR, CRUSADER.

IN RECOGNITION OF
HIS CONTRIBUTIONS AS
JOURNALIST, PUBLIC SER-
VANT, AND JURIST, THE
MARITIME COMMISSION
IS NAMING A MERCHANT-
MAN OF ITS LIBERTY
FLEET IN HIS HONOR.

WHEN THE TOWER
OF THE BELGIAN
PAVILION AT THE WORLD'S
FAIR WAS PRESENTED
TO HIS ALMA MATER,
VIRGINIA UNION, IT WAS
RENAMED "THE ROBERT
LEE VANN TOWER," AS
A TRIBUTE TO HIS
ARDENT INTEREST
AND PHILANTHROPIES
IN THE FIELD OF
EDUCATION.

ROBERT LEE VANN
PITTSBURG
COURIER

Alston
OWI
```

[← "President Barclay meets the press."](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-president-barclay-meets-press-1943/) [Hon. Robert Smalls - Civil War hero, statesman →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-robert-smalls-civil-war-hero-statesman-1943/)

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- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial)
- [Estoire d'Eracles page with Bernard of Clairvaux preaching the Second Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 180v)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-bernard-preaching-second-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial)
- [Opening page of the Estoire d'Eracles (William of Tyre in French), with the Crucifixion and Pope Urban II preaching the First Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 1r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-urban-ii-preaching-first-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial, Transfer)