R. H. Boyd, Publisher.
P. Taylor, Real Estate.
Newark, N. J.
H. J. Brown, Undertaker.
G. Bowles, Mover & Storage.
New Orleans, La.
R. H. V. DeJoie, Insurance.
Wm. Robinson, Merchant.
Newport News, Va.
Miss Lelia Brown, Theatre.
S. A. Howell, Banker.
New York City, N. Y.
J. E. Nail, Real Estate.
J. C. Thomas, Undertaker.
Norfolk, Va.
P. B. Young, Financier.
Oakland, Cal.
Wiley Hines, Real Estate.
Nebraska, Omaha.
J. H. Broomfield, Real Estate.
Phila., Pa.
E. C. Brown, Banker.
W. W. H. Casselle, Undertaker.
Beresford Gale, Financier.
Augustine and Baptiste, Caterers.
W. A. Davis, Druggist.
J. T. Gibson, Theater Owner.
Phoebus, Va.
J. I. Fountain, Barber.
Phoenix, Ariz.
M. H. Shelton, Real Estate.
Pine Bluff, Ark.
R. Y. Longly, Barber.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
C. W. Posey, Coal Operator.
J. H. Phillips, Banker.
Portland, Oregon.
Rutherford Bros., Merchants.
Portland, Maine.
M. S. Green, Real Estate.
Portsmouth, Va.
L. C. Brown, Banker.
Princeton, N. J.
Mrs. Wm. Moore, Real Estate.
E. S. Johnson, (Rtd.) Merchant.
Raleigh, N. C.
B. O. Kelly, Merchant.
C. W. Matthews, Real Estate.
Richmond, Va.
John Mitchell, Banker-Editor.
A. D. Price, Undertaker.
Roanoke, Va.
A. F. Brooks, Real Estate.
Sacramento, Cal.
T. D. Walker, Barber.
San Antonio, Texas.
J. A. Grumbles, Real Estate.
San Francisco, Cal.
W. A. Butler, Real Estate.
Savannah, Ga.
L. E. Williams, Banker.
F. F. Jones, Butcher.
Seattle, Wash.
E. R. James, Real Estate.
Shreveport, La.
C. Jackson, Real Estate.
I. S. Stokes, Planter.
J. S. Williams, Undertaker.
St. Louis, Mo.
Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Malone, Mfgs.
W. C. Gordon, Undertaker.
St. Paul, Minn.
W. T. Frances, Lawyer.
Terre Haute, Ind.
R. C. Simpson, Real Estate.
Washington, D.C.
J. W. Lewis, Banker.
R. H. Rutherford, Insurance.
Wichita, Kan.
Mrs. H. G. Bradford, Cafe Owner.
Wilmington, Del.
Dr. S. G. Elbert, Real Estate.
Wilmington, N. C.
J. H. Shaw, Undertaker.
[Illustration]
IN INSURANCE
POVERTY IN OLD AGE
While now you have both youth and health,
Endow your life for old aged wealth,
Or loved ones, (if death first you claim),
So WANT will not bow them in shame.
--_Harrison._
One of the chief living conditions surrounding the American Colored
people that always stood as a puzzled question to the masses of
American white people was; how did Negroes (considering the low
cheating wages, until the World War, they had always received for
their work and the usually double prices they were made to pay in
buying clothes, furniture, homes, etc.) manage to keep up decent living
expenses, save money and at the same time nourishingly care for their
sick and properly bury their dead? It has never been understood why so
few Colored people have been seen as beggars, and paupers holding up
every other street corner or silently filling the potter fields; while
these same places have always been over-crowded with dependent white
people, who in their prosperous life times had received the highest
paid wages and given the lowest bargain sales. When it is remembered
that there is over ninety million Caucasians in the United States
against twelve million Negroes, even then the percentage of whites in
such places is much larger than that of the blacks. And from the fact
that in nearly every large city in America there are to be found white
men and women who own homes and thousands of dollars and still beg on
street corners proves that begging is easier and comes more natural to
white than to Colored people, because no instance has ever been heard
of a Negro street begging when owning a home or money in a bank.
Now the facts that answer the puzzled question, as to how Negroes have
always been able to “get along” generally under all circumstances, are
the insurance companies, fraternal orders and beneficial societies
founded and operated by Colored people in America. There is nothing
in the world (including death) that the average Colored people dread
more than to face downright poverty, need and beggary, and to prevent
such misfortunes they become full members in these organizations even
from childhood. For this reason insurance enterprises have proven to
be one of the most congenial occupations, quickest, surest and best
paying business into which Negro business men have so far ventured. On
the other hand the founders and managers of these companies have taken
full advantage of their opportunities to give to the masses of people
in their companies a timely, practical and material helpfulness that is
surpassed by no other group of Colored business leaders.
Philadelphia, Pa., has the honor of having been the home of the first
Negro insurance company, in the United States, which was the American
Insurance Company founded in 1810.
The following named are a few of the many Colored insurance companies
throughout the country that together have policies in force valued at
about sixty million dollars and annually write up insurance amounting
to about forty million dollars.
Afro-American Industrial Ins. Co., Jacksonville, Fla.; American Mutual
Benefit Association, Houston, Tex.; Georgia Mutual Ins. Co., Augusta,
Ga.; Keystone Aid Society, Phila., Pa.; Liberty Life Ins. Co., Ill.
and Ind.; Liberty Mutual Life & Health Ins. Co., Savannah, Ga.;
Mammouth Life and Accident Ins. Co., Louisville, Ky.; Mutual Relief
and Benevolent Ass’n, Columbia, S. C.; National Benefit Life Ins. Co.,
Washington, D.C.; North Carolina Mutual and Provident Ass’n, Durham,
N. C.; Fireside Mutual Ins. Co., Atlanta, Ga.; Provident Ins. Co.,
Chicago, Ill.; Southern Life Ins. Co., Baltimore, Md.; Standard Life
Ins. Co., Atlanta, Ga.; Superior Mutual Ins. Co., The Lincoln Life Ins.
Co., New Orleans, La.; Underwriters’ Mutual Ins. Co., Chicago, Ill.;
Union Central Relief Ass’n, Birmingham, Ala.; Union Mutual Ins. Co.,
Jacksonville, Fla.; Unity Ind. and Life Ins. Co., New Orleans, La.;
Unity Mutual Ins. Co., Chicago, Ill.; Union Guarantee and Ins. Co., of
Miss., Jackson, Miss.; Richmond Beneficial Ins. Co., Richmond, Va.;
Southern Aid Society of Virginia, Richmond, Va.; Virginia Beneficial
and Ins. Co., Norfolk, Va. (Extracts from Works’ Negro Year Book,
1918-1919 edition, pgs. 359-60).
Some of the foremost leaders who have built up in the past or are today
building up Colored insurance business in America are as follows: J.
C. Asbury, Philadelphia, Pa., Geo. W. Blount, Portsmouth, Va., Chas.
H. Brooks, Philadelphia, Pa., Edw. Bowen, E. H. Carry, Wm. Carter,
Chicago, Ill., D.C. Chandler, Columbus and C. R. Davis, Cincinnati,
O., P. H. V. Dejoie, C. C. Dejoie, Chicago, Ill., T. K. Gibson,
Atlanta, Ga., F. L. Gillespie, Geo. W. Green, Chicago, Ill., H. E.
Hall, Louisville, Ky., B. L. Jordan, Richmond, Va., Wm. H. King, W.
J. Latham, Chicago, Ill., the late John Merrick, Durham, N. C., J. E.
Mitchell, A. J. Pullen, Chicago, Ill., H. E. Perry, Atlanta, Ga., H.
E. Pace, A. D. Price, and J. T. Carter, Richmond, Va., J. A. Robinson,
Atlanta, Ga., Wm. Roland, Chicago, Ill., R. H. Rutherford, S. W.
Rutherford, Washington, D.C., Wm. Roland, H. B. Streeter, C. S. Smith,
Chicago, Ill., C. C. Spaulding and F. Winslow, Durham, N. C.
[Illustration]
SECRET AND FRATERNAL ORGANS
HELPFUL BOOSTS.
In time of need they give full aid
To those whose fees are fully paid:
They also loan with gleeful pride
Tame goats a child could easily ride.
--_Harrison._
In 1784 a Boston Negro, Prince Hall, was granted a warrant from England
to establish the African Lodge, No. 459 of the Masons; and in 1843
Peter Ogden, a Colored organizer in New York, secured a charter from
England to set up the Philomathean Lodge No. 646 of the Odd Fellows.
Since then the Knights of Pythias, the True Reformers, The Elks, the
Grand United Order of Galilean Fishermen, the National Order of Mosaic
Templars, the Independent Order of St. Luke and the Grand United Order
of Tents (which last named order is one of the best managed and most
progressive societies organized and run entirely by women) have been
established and become nationally known. The following is quoted from
Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, page 457:
“There are over sixty secret and fraternal organizations among
Negroes in the United States of a more or less national scope. It
is estimated that they have a total membership of about 2,000,000.
Large sums of money have come into the treasuries of the various
secret organizations. The Knights of Pythias have collected over
$1,000,000 for endowment. There is over $50,000 in the Grand Lodge
treasury. A considerable part of the money collected by the orders
has been permanently invested. It is estimated that the Masons have
about $1,000,000 worth of property; the Odd Fellows $2,000,000; and
the Pythians $2,500,000. It is probable that altogether the Negro
secret societies in the United States own $20,000,000 worth of
property. The Odd Fellows have in New Orleans, a building that cost
$36,000, and in Atlanta and Philadelphia, buildings that have cost
$100,000 each. In Indianapolis, New Orleans and Chicago, Knights
of Pythias own buildings each worth from $30,000 to $100,000.
The Negro secret societies are paying attention to the improving
of the health of their members. The Supreme Lodge of the Knights
of Pythias has erected a sanitarium at Hot Springs, Arkansas;
the Mosaic Templars and other societies have established health
bureaus.”
Some of the leaders in the most prominent and best known of these
organs are as follows:
MASONS
Imperial Potentate, C. R. Blake, Charlotte, N. C.
Imperial Chief Rabban, R. E. Monroe, Chicago, Ill.
Imperial High Priest and Prophet, R. F. Husley, Wheeling, W. Va.
Imperial Treasurer, C. A. Freeman, Washington, D.C.
Imperial Recorder, Levi Williams, Jersey City, N. J.
National Grand Commander, Bishop J. W. Alstork, Montgomery, Ala.
National Deputy Grand Commander, Dr. A. R. Robinson, Phila., Pa.
National Grand Secretary, R. J. Simmons, Atlanta, Ga.
ODD FELLOWS
Grand Master, E. H. Morris, Chicago, Ill.
Grand Master, J. S. Noel, Charleston, W. V.
Deputy Grand Master, I. L. Roberts, Boston, Mass.
Deputy Grand Master, W. T. Francis, St. Paul, Minn.
Grand Secretary, Jas. F. Needham, Phila., Pa.
Grand Secretary, R. J. Nelson, Harrisburg, Pa.
Grand Treasurer, C. Colbourne, Wilmington, Del.
PYTHIANS
Supreme Chancellor, S. W. Green, New Orleans, La.
Supreme Chancellor, W. Ashbie Hawkins, Baltimore, Md.
Supreme Vice Chancellor, E. C. Tidrington, Indianapolis, Ind.
Supreme Vice Chancellor, W. H. Willis, New York City, N. Y.
Supreme Master of Exchequer, J. H. Young, Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Supreme Master of Exchequer, J. C. Anderson, Crewe, Va.
Supreme Keeper of Records and Seals, Dr. E. E. Underwood, Frankfort, Ky.
Supreme Keeper of Records and Seals, G. E. Gordan, Chelsea, Mass.
MOSAIC TEMPLARS
National Grand Master, S. J. Elliot, Little Rock, Arkansas.
National Grand Secretary, C. E. Bush, Little Rock, Arkansas.
National Grand Treasurer, J. A. Davis, Little Rock, Arkansas.
ORDER OF ELKS
Grand Exalted Ruler, G. W. F. McMechen, Baltimore, Md.
Grand Esteemed Leading Knight, W. C. Trueheart, Atlantic City, N. J.
Grand Secretary, G. E. Bates, Jersey City, N. J.
Grand Treasurer, J. T. Carter, Richmond, Va.
ORDER OF ST. LUKE
Right Worthy Grand Chief, Mrs. Minnie L. Banks, Macon, Ga.
Right Worthy Vice Chief, Dr. H. L. Harris, Richmond, Va.
R. W. G. Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. Maggie L. Walker, Richmond, Va.
TRUE REFORMERS
Grand Worthy Master, S. S. Morris, Richmond, Va.
Grand Worthy Secretary, Maurice Rouselle, Richmond, Va.
Grand Worthy Treasurer, Dr. W. H. Smith, Richmond, Va.
GALILEAN FISHERMAN
National Grand Ruler, Joseph P. Evans, Baltimore, Md.
Vice Grand Ruler, G. W. V. Grey, Norfolk, Va.
Grand Treasurer, J. F. Henry, Cambridge, Md.
ORDER OF TENTS
Supreme Matron, Mrs. C. A. Gilpin, Richmond, Va.
Deputy Matron, Mrs. A. J. Valentine, Chester, Pa.
Grand Secretary, Miss Adeline M. Ward, Norfolk, Va.
(Extracts from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, pgs.
457-8-9-60).
AMONG THE LAWYERS
A LAWYER IN TIME SAVES MANY A DIME.
A timely “Eagle” ’tis better to pay
To “Blackstone’s” grads, who know the say
About strange deals you plan to pave,
And also your cash you want to save.
--_Harrison._
A. B. Macon was the first Negro in the United States to be admitted
before the bar to practice law, which occured in Massachusetts in 1845.
Since he thus blazed such a path through the law fields of America,
Colored men and women have continued to follow that pathway until today
there are about one thousand Colored lawyers practicing in different
parts of the United States. And they are making splendid records
before judge benches and jury boxes by legally understanding, plainly
interpreting, and loyally defending the laws of this land.
When Miss Charlotte Ray, as the first Colored woman lawyer in America,
graduated from Howard University in 1872, she was fully justified in
lightly and nimbly stepping off the campus of her Alma Mata with her
heart excitedly beating in her eagerness to at once secure a case and
descend upon some court room where she could try out her logical,
convincing and persuasive pleadings.
Since Miss Ray’s graduation as a lawyer, it is found that while many,
say twenty-five or thirty Colored women in the United States have up
to the present time secured their degree of LL. B., few of them are
today engaged in active law practice. Among this number the writer has
only been able to locate the following who are today practicing law in
this country: Attorneys Violette N. Anderson, Chicago, Ill., Carolyn
Hall Mason and Marie Nadras, Washington, D.C. and Mrs. Jessica Morris,
wife of Edward H. Morris, the foremost practicing Colored attorney in
Chicago, is a graduate of the 1920 law class of Northwestern University
and during the month of July 1921 successfully passed her State Bar
Examination. At this writing she had not taken up active practice.
Attorney Violette N. Anderson, 145 No. Clark Street, Chicago, Ill.,
is very anxious and has for quite a while been trying to locate and
get into communication with every Colored woman lawyer in the United
States, in order to form a National Association.
One of the many up-lifting acts performed for Colored people by Charles
Sumner, that fearless Abolitionist and loyal friend to the Negro race,
was to make it possible in 1865 for John Rock to be admitted as the
first Negro to practice law before the United States Supreme Court.
The first Negro to hold a city judgeship in the United States was M.
Wistar Gibbs, who in 1873 was elected to that responsible and dignified
position in Little Rock, Ark. This learned lawyer also at different
times filled such national positions as Register of the U. S. Land
Office in Arkansas and United States Consul to the Island of Madagascar.
(Ref. Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition pgs. 171-283.)
Without doubt the best known and most popular Colored lawyer in the
United States today is Judge Robt. H. Terrell, who as Municipal Judge
for many years repeatedly appointed in Washington, D.C., by both
Republican and Democratic Presidents, has won and held the good-will
and respect of his white associates because of his all-round judical
wisdom and logical decisions in the court room. By his pleasant and
friendly manners as well as loyalty and pride in his Race, Judge
Terrell has also endeared himself in the hearts of the great masses of
Colored people in all parts of the country where he has traveled and
spoken.
Many Negro lawyers in different parts of the country have won national
recognitions and reputations by their legal fights before city or state
legislative bodies for equal citizenship rights and protection of
Colored citizens in the United States. The following are among those
whose names come to the writer’s mind at this moment:
Hon. Harry C. Smith, while a member of the Ohio Legislature, drew up
an Anti-lynching Bill and introduced it into that body in 1894 and
re-introduced it in 1896 when it was enacted into a law, which has
been upheld on several occasions by the Supreme Court of Ohio. This
law is one of the best pieces of legislature of such nature enacted by
any state in the Union, and other States that have formed such laws
have modeled them after the Ohio measure. Attorney Smith was also the
sponsor of the present Ohio Civil Rights Law.
Hon. Robt. R. Jackson is the father of the Illinois Civil Rights Bill
that went through the Illinois General Assembly while he was a member
of it. It has been through his wisdom and untiring efforts that several
other city and state bills have been drawn up and passed as laws for
the benefit of the Colored people in Illinois.
Hon. H. J. Copehart with the assistance of Hon. T. G. Nutter, both
members of the W. Va. Legislature, has succeeded in putting through the
House and Senate of that state one of the severest anti-lynching bills
so far passed by any state legislative body. Representative Nutter,
among the numerous measures he has had passed, is producer of the bills
that were passed and enacted into laws to establish an industrial
school for Colored boys and an industrial home for Colored girls in W.
Va.
Hon. F. M. Roberts is the first and only Negro serving as a State
Assemblyman in the California Legislature. Since he was first elected
in 1918 and re-elected in 1920, he has been the means of having put
through several bills that have been enacted into laws for the welfare
of Negroes in California.
Hon. J. C. Asbury, a Pennsylvania Representative, is father of the
Equal Civil Rights Bill that was recently killed in the Pennsylvania
State Senate after having passed through the House. Legislator Asbury
made such a well prepared legal fight for the passage of his bill
that even those who fought against it were compelled to admire the
flawlessness of the measure and the intelligent and manly contest by
its sponsor.
Many other notable Negro lawyers too numerous to mention here have
taken courageous and successful stands in using their legal abilities
along the above lines as well as defending riot victims of their race
in different parts of the country. The following names are of other
prominent Colored attorneys about whom the writer learned during his
research work in the following named cities:
Atlanta, Ga.
P. Allen, A. T. Walden.
Atlantic City, N. J.
J. A. Lightfoot, I. N. Nutter.
Augusta, Ga.
J. Lyons, A. Shadd.
Baltimore, Md.
J. T. Davis, R. F. Bond, G. F. McMeeken,
J. H. Payne, G. L. Pendleton, A. W. Hawkins.
Birmingham, Ala.
E. A. Brown.
Boley, Okla.
M. H. Martin, W. S. Peters.
Boston, Mass.
E. P. Benjamin, L. S. Hicks, W. H. Lewis,
W. B. Matthews, C. Morgan, B. R. Wilson.
Brooklyn, N. Y.
F. Giles, R. A. Lattimore, S. Pease, G. E. Wibercan.
Camden, N. J.
John Martin.
Charleston, S. C.
W. A. Dart, E. F. Smith.
Charleston, W. Va.
C. E. Kimbrough, T. G. Nutter.
Charlotte, N. C.
J. T. Saunders.
Chattanooga, Tenn.
J. G. Burger, W. H. Hixon.
Chester, Pa.
W. H. Ridley.
Chicago, Ill.
Violette Anderson, Jessica Morris, G. W. Ellis, E. H. Morris,
Judge W. H. Harrison, H. M. Porter, J. A. Scott, S. A. Watkins,
S. L. Williams, E. H. Wright.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
A. L. Beaty, W. B. Bush.
Cleveland, Ohio.
T. W. Flemming, A. H. Martin, H. E. Murrell, A. Hamilton, H. C. Smith.
Columbia, S. C.
N. J. Frederick.
Columbus, Ohio.
C. R. Doll, J. S. Farrison, W. King.
Danville, Va.
J. C. Carter.
Dayton, Ohio.
W. J. Buyden, T. Norris.
Denver, Col.
E. P. Blackmore, G. G. Ross.
Des Moines, Iowa.
S. J. Brown, J. B. Morris, J. L. Thompson.
Detroit, Mich.
Attorneys Mahoney, Johnson and Roxborough.
Durham. N. C.
R. M. Andrews, E. W. Cannady.
Evansville, Ind.
J. Holt, E. J. Tildrinton.
Fort Worth, Texas.
W. H. Griggs, H. W. Hatton.
Gary, Ind.
P. F. Bouldt, L. A. Caldwell.
Hampton, Va.
A. W. E. Bassette, Sr. and Jr., G. W. Fields.
Harrisburg, Pa.
W. J. Carter, J. W. Parks.
Helena, Ark.
W. L. Scott.
Hopkinsville, Ky.
C. W. Merriweather.
Houston, Texas.
L. V. Allen, M. H. Broyles.
Indianapolis, Ind.
R. L. Brokenburr, W. K. Brown.
Jackson, Miss.
P. W. Howard, S. D. Redmond.
Jacksonville, Fla.
S. D. McGill, I. L. Purcell.
Jersey City, N. J.
R. Hartgson, R. S. Rice.
Kansas City, Kan.
I. F. Bradely, D. Green, L. W. Johnson.
Kansas City, Mo.
C. H. Calloway, W. C. Houston, A. L. Knox.
Leavenworth, Kan.
T. W. Bell, D. Jones.
Little Rock, Ark.
S. A. Jones, T. J. Price.
Los Angeles, Cal.
E. B. Ceruti, W. O. Tyler, A. G. Wickliffe, Charles Darden.
Louisville, Ky.
W. C. Brown, W. H. Wright.
Memphis, Tenn.
B. T. Booth, W. H. Foote.
Bemidji, Minn.
C. W. Scrutchins.
Duluth, Minn.
Elisha Scott.
Mound Bayou, Miss.
B. A. Green.
Muskogee, Okla.
T. R. Price.
Nashville, Tenn.
J. W. Grant, W. H. Hodgkins, J. C. Napier.
Newark, N. J.
Attorneys Douglass & Standard.
New Orleans, La.
F. B. Smith, R. C. Metoyer, J. Thornton.
Newport News, Va.
J. T. Newsome, W. E. Parker, R. H. Pree, J. L. Raney, P. S. Scott.
New York, N. Y.
J. D. Carr, C. G. French, E. A. Johnson, W. H. Smith,
J. C. Thomas, J. D. Wetmore, J. F. Wheaton.
Norfolk, Va.
J. D. Diggs, J. M. Harrison.
Oakland, Cal.
E. A. Carter, J. D. Drake, A. O. Neal, Y. L. Richardson, L. Sledge.
Omaha, Neb.
H. J. Pinkett, A. P. Scruggs.
Phila. Pa.
J. C. Asbury, G. L. Dickinson, M. L. Lewis, J. A. Sparks, W. H. Thompson.
Pine Bluff, Ark.
J. F. Jones, W. W. Shelton.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
W. M. Randolph, W. H. Stanton, F. R. Stewart, R. L. Vann.
Portland, Oregon.
Eugene Minor.
Portsmouth, Va.
W. M. Reid.
Providence, R. I.
J. B. Edwards, J. LeCount.
Raleigh, N. C.
W. P. Ancrum, D. P. Love.
Richmond, Va.
J. T. Carter, J. T. Hewin.
Roanoke, Va.
A. J. Oliver, J. L. Reid.
San Antonio, Texas.
R. A. Campbell, L. W. Grenely, J. G. Wimberly.
San Francisco, Cal.
O. Audson, J. D. Drake.
Savannah, Ga.
J. H. Kinckle, J. G. Lemon.
Seattle, Wash.
C. R. Anderson.
Shreveport, La.
C. M. Roberson.
St. Louis, Mo.
C. E. Clark, H. G. Phillips, G. L. Vaughan.
St. Paul, Minn.
J. L. Ervin, W. T. Frances, H. Turner.
Tampa, Fla.
Z. D. Greene.
Terre Haute, Ind.
J. W. Henry.
Washington, D.C., H. E. Davis,
J. A. Cobb, R. A. Hughes, Judge R. H.
Terrell. W. C. Martin, Carolyn H. Mason, Marie Nadras.
Wichita, Kan.
F. L. Martin.
IN NEWSPAPER WORK
NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES.
From corners of, the world’s four climes
Fresh news they bring of latest times.
Of all the readings, left at our doors
News journals bring most varied lores.
--_Harrison._
Starting out in 1827, when the first Colored newspaper in the United
States, The Freedmen’s Journal was published in New York City by John
B. Russwurm, the number of Negro journals have so increased until today
there are between two and three hundred secular weekly and two daily
newspapers published in the United States by Colored people. (Ref.;
Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, pgs. 170-461).
The honor of being acclaimed dean of today in Negro newspaper editorial
work falls upon the venerable shoulders of the “Grand Old Scribe,” T.
Thomas Fortune, once editor of the famous New York Age and still a
widely read contributor to some of the leading newspapers and magazines
in the country. This pioneer journalist (who was at one time “right
hand man” to the great white journalist, Chas. A. Dana, who bought
and revived the moribund New York Sun into one of the greatest papers
in America) was doing newspaper work as far back as 1879 on the New
York Globe, a leading white paper. Around that time Fortune was also
the trusted friend and valuable current informer and adviser of such
capable and fearless leaders as H. P. Brooks, J. W. Cromwell, C. N.
Otey and Frederick Douglass, who was termed by Mr. Fortune as “The lion
of them all.”
The younger Colored newspaper men of today are all well acquainted with
the history of Fred Douglass’ fighting abolition paper, “The North
Star” that he first published at Rochester, N. Y., in 1847 and later
renamed it “Fred Douglass’ Paper”, which in 1860 he absorbed into
“Douglass Monthly” a magazine he first began to publish in 1858.