The Colored Citizen published weekly in Helena, Montana, for a little over two months during the electoral campaign season, September to November 1894. The paper proclaimed its purpose to become “the mouthpiece . . . to educate the public to a full appreciation of our [African Americans in … Read MoreThe Colored Citizen, Helena, Montana (1894)
On March 16, 1906, Joseph B. Bass printed the first issue of The Montana Plaindealer in Helena, Montana, a community that included more than 400 African Americans, or about 3% of the city’s population. Bass came to Helena a veteran newspaperman, having worked on the Topeka Plaindealer in Kansas … Read MoreThe Montana Plaindealer, Helena, Montana (1906-1911)
MC, or Master of Ceremonies, is a term traditionally associated with someone who determines the forms to be observed on a public occasion, acts as host at a formal event, or is host for a program of entertainment. Since the 1970s the term MC (or … Read MoreMC/Master of Ceremonies (Emcee)
Image Ownership: Fair Use William Francis Yardley was a politician, businessman, lawyer, and civil rights advocate in post-Civil War Tennessee. Born free on January 8, 1844 to an Irish mother and a black father in Knoxville, Tennessee, he was abandoned at the doorstep of the … Read MoreWilliam Francis Yardley (1844-1924)
The New Orleans Tribune was the first African American daily newspaper in the United States. Started in 1864 by Charles Louise Roudanez the Tribune was notable in that it was bilingual. Articles were written in both French, for the majority of African Americans in Louisiana, … Read MoreLa Tribune de la Nouvelle-Orléans (1864-1868)
The Underground Railroad was established to aid enslaved people in their escape to freedom. The railroad was comprised of dozens of secret routes and safe houses originating in the slaveholding states and extending all the way to the Canadian border, the only area where fugitives … Read MoreThe Underground Railroad (1820-1861)
Rap Music, and the culture that surrounds rapping itself, hip-hop, is a genre of music and a lifestyle which originated in the housing projects of New York City, New York in the late 1970s but which now has global influence. While not without controversy and … Read MoreRap/Hip Hop
“With this issue The Advocate makes its initial bow to the Portland public as an independent, non-partisan, non-sectarian weekly newspaper for the intelligent discussion and authentic diffusion of matter appertaining to the colored people, especially of Portland and the State of Oregon.” These words heralded … Read MoreThe Advocate, Portland, Oregon (1903-1936)
Image Ownership: Public Domain Between 1860 and 1900, Portland, Oregon‘s African American population increased from sixteen to 775, still small, but large enough to support two churches, a few businesses, and The New Age, a black paper established in 1896 by Adolphus D. Griffin, former … Read MoreThe New Age, Portland, Oregon (1896-1907)
