The Monitor (Omaha, Neb.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
683 issues from 1915 to 1928, published in Omaha, Nebraska, digitised for Chronicling America.
The Monitor was published as a weekly newspaper from 1915-1928 and continued under the title Omaha Monitor until sometime in 1929. For most of its existence, it described itself as a “National weekly newspaper devoted to the interests of colored Americans.” In 1915, subscriptions were $1.00 per year, increasing to $2.00 per year in the 1920s. In addition to national news, it had columns such as “Events and People,” “General Race News,” and a column on Lincoln, Nebraska, carrying such opinions as whom to send to the NAACP national convention in Detroit. The paper also carried ads, such as “Nile Queen Preparations for Hair and Skin.”
The Monitor was published and edited by John Albert Williams, a nationally-known African American Episcopal priest who was also a civil rights activist. Following an anti-lynching lecture by Ida B. Wells in Omaha in 1894, Williams founded the Omaha Anti-Lynching League and served as its president—one of many activist roles he filled as he preached and wrote on behalf of African American issues. While at first the Monitor was a church paper, it quickly began reporting general news about African American issues. In late 1928, the newspaper changed its name to the Omaha Monitor, and it is believed to have folded in 1929.
In 1915, one issue noted that U.S. farm property values were around $1 billion and that statistics showed the success of African Americans in “securing rich tillable land.” Similarly, an article reported on Dr. Booker T.…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Omaha, Nebraska, United States
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Chronicling America
- Licence or status
- None stated by the archive
- Rights
- The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.
- Credit
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Who can read it
- Teens profiles and older (placed by Invisible Network from what the archive says; archives give no ratings)
- Archive
- Library of Congress