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Sat, 07.14.1888

The Indianapolis Freeman Newspaper is Published

*The Indianapolis Freeman, first published on this date in 1888.  It was the first illustrated Black newspaper in the United States.   

Founded by Edward Elder Cooper in Indianapolis, Indiana, he sold the paper to George L. Knox in 1892; Knox shifted the paper's political allegiance from Democratic to Republican. The paper frequently featured the writings of Richard W. Thompson, who was managing editor from 1888 to 1893.  However, the paper would shift toward the Democratic Party again in its final days due to the power of the Ku Klux Klan over the Indiana Republican Party.

It was circulated nationally and considered by many the leading Black newspaper in America. Hurt by the Depression and competition from the Indianapolis Recorder, the paper ceased publication in 1926.  

New Poem Each Day

Poetry Corner

When you lie again in the street of forgetfulness smashed beyond recognition courting the dark avenue, when you wake to the alien walls that do not touch your... TO A WOMAN POET THAT I KNOW by Pinkie Gordon Lane.
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