The Appeal(copy) 1892
On this date, we celebrate the founding of The Appeal, a Black newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1885.
Originally named the Western Appeal, this newspaper was founded by Samuel E. Hardy and John T. Burgett, two Black businessmen who saw the need for a journal to defend the Black race's interests while highlighting its achievements.
The Appeal went through tough financial times early on and was sold to J. K. Hilyard and Thomas Lyles in 1886. They recruited John Q. Adams, a Black journalist from Louisville, who eventually became managing editor. Under Adams’ editorship, The Appeal became one of the leading Afro-American newspapers in the nation. At its high point in the 1880s, it was published in Dallas, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Louisville, and Chicago.
By December 1888, the Chicago Appeal, under the editorship of Cyrus F. Adams (John’s brother), became the most-read black newspaper in that city. The heyday of The Appeal would decline to be over by 1901, and in 1923 it was merged with the Northwestern Bulletin.
