The volume of work created in Broadside’s first decade was never duplicated, but the press remained in existence, with varying amounts of involvement from Randall. As the years passed, the press, and Randall himself, received acknowledgement for their contributions to African American literature and American print culture.
In 1977, facing financial pressure, Randall sells Broadside to the Alexander Crummell Memorial Church. Randall takes a position as a consultant to the new owners, but the owners publish no new work, focusing instead on selling the back catalog of already printed books. This time coincides with a silent period in Randall’s life. He steps away from the literary world and writes no poetry during this time.
In 1981, Dudley Randall is named Detroit’s first Poet Laureate. He begins writing poetry again and in 1982 he resumes ownership of Broadside. This term of ownership is brief. He retires in 1985 and sells Broadside Press to Hilda and Donald Vest of Detroit. The following year, Randall receives the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Broadside continues publishing during this time and celebrates its 30th anniversary in 1995.
Randall reading his poetry after being named Detroit’s Poet Laureate.
“He put poetry in the hands of people who would not have seen it otherwise. He gave expression to the voice, a communal voice of a group of poets that would otherwise have been less noticed. He gave them a point on which to focus. Broadside Press had an identity”
“I felt since he was helping people who were not accepted by the likes of Harcourt and Harper and Row and others, I felt I should not stay safely in the harbor. So I left to join him and I’ve always been glad that I did.”
On August 5, 2000, Dudley Randall dies.
In 2015, Broadside Press merged with Detroit’s Lotus Press, one of the many independent, Black-owned publishers founded in the years following Broadside’s creation. It was owned by Randall’s friend, the poet Naomi Long Madgett. The new entity is known as Broadside Lotus Press and continues to publish books of new poetry.
Broadside Press sprung up from necessity. At first, it was the simple necessity of securing a copyright by printing 500 copies of a poem, but a larger purpose presented itself to Dudley Randall as he gathered contributions for his series of “Poems of the Negro Revolt.” There were voices that were going unheard and books that were going unpublished. If a Black space was to be made in the White world of books, Broadside Press would have to carve it out. Spurred on by a new generation of Black poets and the revolutionary energy of the late 1960s, Randall endeavored to create something that spoke to and for the African American community that was solely driven by that community. This did not bring him financial success, but that was never Broadside’s mission. By producing books and broadsides in his own way, Randall was able to cement a generation’s legacy in print and carry a self-determined spirit forward through the decades.