Langston City Herald
The Langston City Herald was an
Background
After its land was opened to settlement in 1889, a significant number of African Americans – many of them from Kansas – moved into the Oklahoma Territory.[2] Among those advocating for black settlement in the territory was W. L. Eagleson, a journalist by trade, who supported movement into the Oklahoma Territory with his settlement company.[2] Another was Edward P. McCabe, who initially desired for the territory to become a state for African Americans, though by 1890, his desire waned and he mostly helped in settlement efforts.[3] He especially worked to establish Langston as a thriving city exclusively for African American settlers – a town envisioned as a kind of "black mecca", according to one report.[1]
Publication and demise
The Langston City Herald debuted on May 2, 1891, as a weekly newspaper for Langston's African American community.[1] Eagleson served as its editor,[1] and McCabe was its founder (and, for a time, also edited).[4] The paper's primary purpose was to increasingly settle the Oklahoma Territory by African Americans.[5]
Following the Land Run of 1891 – spurred by the opening of Sac and Fox Nation lands – several black settlers entered the region, and the paper wrote that it was responsible.[5] It implored people to leave the Southern United States to the Cherokee Outlet, and a significant number settled there.[6] It was a strong proponent of Langston becoming a vibrant black city of opportunity.[7] It warned those living in the South that relocating to the territory "may be your last chance for a free home",[7] and it argued that the region's geography was superior in quality to others.[4] Though it sought black settlers entering the Oklahoma Territory and establishing communities, it was primarily concerned with the economy of the territory.[8] It was Republican in political orientation (though it warned Republicans that black voters may flee the party if it did not meet their needs),[9] and it advocated for black suffrage.[10] It denounced the violent race riot that occurred in Spring Valley, Illinois, in 1895, calling that city's Italian population "a band of lousy, dirty, despicable, low bred, treacherous dago miners".[11]
The paper was commercially successful, and it had around 4,000 subscriptions in its first year.[4] Lee J. Meriwether became the editor of the paper around 1893.[12] It dissolved in 1898.[13] One of the paper's mottos – "COME PREPARED OR NOT AT ALL" – is featured in Toni Morrison's 1993 novel Paradise.[14]
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d Littlefield & Underhill 1973, p. 345.
- ^ a b Littlefield & Underhill 1973, p. 342.
- ^ Littlefield & Underhill 1973, p. 343.
- ^ a b c Cronin 2000, p. 74.
- ^ a b Littlefield & Underhill 1973, p. 347.
- ^ Littlefield & Underhill 1973, p. 351.
- ^ a b Littlefield & Underhill 1973, p. 353.
- ^ Cronin 2000, p. 76.
- ^ Doolittle 2018, p. 408.
- ^ Cronin 2002, p. 52.
- ^ Waldron 2000, p. 65.
- ^ Littlefield & Underhill 1973, p. 352.
- ^ Cronin 2000, p. 72.
- ^ Jessee 2006, p. 93.
Bibliography
- Cronin, Mary M. (2000). "A chance to build for our selves: Black press boosterism in Oklahoma, 1891–1915". .
- Cronin, Mary M. (2002). "Mixing protest and accommodation: The response of Oklahoma's black town newspaper editors to race relations, 1891–1918". .
- Doolittle, Sara (August 2018). "Contingencies of place and time: The significance of Wilson v. Marion and Oklahoma Territory in the history of school segregation". .
- Jessee, Sharon (2006). "The contrapuntal historiography of Toni Morrison's Paradise: Unpacking the legacies of the Kansas and Oklahoma all-black towns". American Studies. 47 (1): 81–112.
- Littlefield, Daniel F.; Underhill, Lonnie E. (1973). "Black dreams and 'free' homes: The Oklahoma Territory, 1891–1894". Phylon. 34 (4): 342–357.
- Waldron, Carolina A. (Fall 2000). "'Lynch-law must go!': Race, citizenship, and the Other in an American coal mining town". Journal of American Ethnic History. 20 (1): 50–77.