Portland New Age
The New Age, later known as the Portland New Age, was the first African-American newspaper published in the U.S. state of Oregon. Publisher Adolphus D. Griffin, known as a "political leader of the colored people of the Willamette Valley,"[1] was in his mid-20s when he launched the weekly newspaper in 1896. Portland's black population, which numbered fewer than 800 on the paper's launch date,[2] were highly literate in comparison to southern blacks of the time, and to Oregon's white laboring class.[1] At the time, black people were legally prohibited from living in the state by a provision in the Oregon Constitution.[3] The New Age, which included national news items in addition to local coverage, cultivated a white readership in addition to its black audience.[3]
 | |
| Type | African American newspaper |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Adolphus D. Griffin |
| Founded | 1896 |
| City | Oregon |
| Country | United States |
| |
The Oregon Historical Society holds about 400 issues of the New Age,[1] and the University of Oregon and Harvard University have issues on microfilm.[4]
Prior to launching the New Age, Griffin had been editor of the Northwest Echo in Spokane, Washington. He left Portland for unknown reasons in 1907, and the newspaper did not survive his departure. He died nine years later; at the time he was editor of the Kansas Elevator.[5]
See also
References
- Hopkins Koglin, Oz (February 16, 1993). "New Age Weekly Gave Blacks in Portland a Perspective". The Oregonian.
- "Portland New Age « Historic Oregon Newspapers". Historic Oregon Newspaper. October 6, 2015. Archived from the original on October 6, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
- "Historic Oregon Newspapers: Preserving History While Shaping the Future". The Public Domain Review. October 7, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
- Library, University of Oregon, Knight. "Portland new age". Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - Mangun, Kimberley (January 22, 2007). "The New Age, Portland, OR (1896–1907)". blackpast.org. The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
Further reading
- Hopkins, Oznathylee A. (1974). Life in Oregon, 1899–1907: A Study of the Portland New Age (Thesis). Reed College.
- The Skanner, 2015