Februaryi2.20M_________ ®he Jlortlanòföbseruer
celebrates Black History Monili
Pagew
Elizabeth Duncan Koontz was
an educational leader who
devoted her life's work Io
building a better quality o f life
fo r children through schooling
and the support o f women.
Black History Month
Voices for African Americans
The Black Press Passionate
First newspapers call fo r abolition o f slavery and better treatment o f black citizens
Second part in a series
'While due attention will be paid
The "Provincial Freedom" paper to current events, congressional
was located a short distance from proceedings, general politics and
New York on the Canadian side of literature, the great aim of the paper
the border where many African w i II be a complete discussion of the
Americans fled to safety, due to the question of slavery, and an exhibi­
passage of the Fugitive Slave Law tion of the duties of the citizen in
Newspapers for African Ameri­ in the early 1850s.
relation to it.”
cans grew out of the passion of
Although the paper had a large
The National Association for the
people of color oppressed by rac­ circulation, it was seized in July of
Advancement of Colored People
ism.
1856 for outstanding debts and was started the publication “Crises” in
From 1854-1857, the "Provincial permanently closed a year later.
1910 with black intellectual and civil
Freedom " became a strong anti­
One of the longer running pa­ rights activist W.E. Du Bois as its
slavery newspaper, under one of pers of its time was "The Recorder,"
first editor.
America’s greatest African Ameri­ published from 1861 to 1902 by the
Du Bois became the most power-
can women. Mary Ann Shadd, who A frican M eth o d ist E p isco p al
ful black man in America and the
was bom on Oct 9,1823 to a promi­ Church.
NAACPgrew quickly. The organi­
nent black family in Wilmington,
Early success was partially due zation and the magazine both ben­
Del.
to a creative and very effective efited from their partnership, each
marketing tool, that of using black one relying upon the other. Al­
Union soldiers to distribute the though the original board members
paper to African American Slaves were mostly white, their mission
in the South. The four-page paper was clearly to help break down ra­
covered news on black regiments cial barriers, thus improving the
as well as departments on religious lives of non-whites.
intelligence, domestic news, gen­
An article in the 1910 issue of the
eral items and foreign news, obitu­
aries, marriages, notices and adver­
tisements, along with "the normal
compliment of prose and poetry
found in the newspapers of the
day.”
In describing his paper in the
early 1860’s, the editor wrote:
“Outrages from the South were
reported in purely factual terms of
M ary Ann S h a d d Cary founded
burning of churches and parson­
“Provincial F reedom " in 1 8 5 4 ,
ages and midnight visitations. O f
a n ew sp a p er d ed ica te d to
course sermons were reproduced,
transform ing black refu g ees
but there was excellent reportage
from th e S o u th into m o d el
from correspondents all over the
citizens. S h e w as th e first
South and West. In sum, the virtue
black fe m a le editor, publisher
of "The Recorder" lies not in its
a n d investigative reporter in
religious role but in the picture it In 1 9 1 0 , W.E. Du Bois b e c a m e
North America.
provides of the Negro situation th e first editor o f th e NAACP
throughout the country: "From the publication “C r ise s" a n d so o n
Shadd became the first black fe­ tepid friendliness of at least some th erea fter b e c a m e th e m o st
male editor in all of North America. whites in the West, whether in pow erful black m a n in America.
She also later became out nation’s Cheyenne or Santa Fe, to the cry to
' s
’ i f,
first black woman lawyers and freed Negroes, ‘Don’t come to Mis­
C ris e s stated the greatest issue
opened a school for black children sissippi.’”
facing African Americans was resi­
in Washington D C.
“The National Era,” out of Wash­ dential segregation:
Promoting self- reliance through­ ington, D.C., edited by Dr. Gamaliel
“This discriminatory practice
out her life, she wrote articles on Bailey was proudly issued from Jan
arose in three forms; attempts at
temperance, general literature and 7,1947 to March 22,1860 on what
residential segregation through
anti-slavery. Affiliated with no par­ the newspaper called "a mammoth
property holder’s covenants; ef­
ticular political party, Shadd, whose sheet o f the finest quality.” “The
forts towards that end through mob
married name was Cary, spoke freely National Era” was also the paper in
violence; and legislation designed
about her passion for abolition of which Uncle Tom ’s Cabin was se­
to force Negroes to live in restricted
slavery and better treatment of rialized. The paper’s prospectus areas.”
Am erica's black citizens.
read:
"The Crises" and Du Bois left no
1910 issue of “Crises”
stated the greatest issue
facing African
Americans was
residential segregation
stone unturned in reporting the
matter to their subscribers. The
NAACP board members and
magazine employees risked their
very lives publishing the bold
truth behind the white hoods of
the Kian, racist politicians and
large companies who continued
to fight to keep African Ameri­
cans from enjoying the freedom
this country was founded on.
For decades to come, "The
Crises" would be the nation’s
top black publication. Although
most copies were sold to blacks,
whites accounted for nearly 25
percent o f paid subscriptions to
the publication.
Memphis, Tenn. publisher Ida
B. Well-Bamett headed for New
York when her newspaper office
was burned to the ground and
her life was threatened.
In her paper, the “Free Speech
and Headlight, ” she criticized a
town that would “will neither
protect our lives and property,
nor give us a far trial in the courts
when accused by whites.”
The article was in response to
the hanging of three successful
black businessmen in that city.
Her anger over the matter also
prompted her to write a scathing
article against the tow n's white
women and their alleged purity,
claiming it would be easy for them
to be attracted to a black man.
While she was away from the
office that week, a mob of whites
burned her building down and
made it clear that if she ever came
back, she too would be lynched.
Taking her anti-lynching fight
to New York was a quick deci­
sion, however it reaped great re-
continued
WfuLLHAN P orter legacy
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A. jr
Respected as prime examples of Blac
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Haplessly shined black shoes. Thank yo
showing the world how self-discipline j
HI
Pr'de are what really pave tha
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Without these firsts,
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Court • Yvonne Clark, first woman to earn B.S. in chemical engineering at Harvard • Louis Armstrong, first to sing in ’scat-
ting" style • Otis Boykin, invented guided missile device • lane Wright, pioneered several advances in the field o f chemother­
apy • Frederick Mcklnley /ones, inventor o l portable X-ray machine • W illiam A. Hinton, developed first test for syphilis
Norbert Rillieux, developed the first system for refining sugar • S Boone, invented the first ironing board
Frank Grant,
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fou con f talk about Black history without talking about American history,
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