The original Negro Digest, later renamed Black World, was a magazine founded in 1942 for the African-American market by publisher JOHN H. JOHNSON of Johnson Publishing Company. Negro Digest was first published locally in Chicago, Illinois. The magazine was similar to the Reader's Digest but aimed to cover positive stories about the African-American community.

The very first issue of the Negro Digest sold about 3,000 copies. Over the course of six months the magazine published close to 50,000 copies per month. One of the most interesting and well-known columns in the magazine was entitled "If I Were a Negro".

This column concentrated strongly on the unsolicited advice that the African-American race had received, by asking prominent citizens mainly of the white race for resolution to unsolved black problems. As a result of First Lady ELEANOR ROOSEVELT's contribution to the popular column "If I Were a Negro", the copies sold doubled overnight. Johnson went on to create other magazines aimed at an African-American readership, including Ebony (founded in 1945) and Jet (founded in 1951). As a result of the publication of these two magazines, the circulation of the Negro Digest declined. According to a New York Times article, it soon became unprofitable and ceased publication in 1951.

Source: Wikipedia