Iowa State Bystander (Des Moines, Iowa)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,105 issues from 1894 to 1916, published in Des Moines, Iowa, digitised for Chronicling America.
The Iowa State Bystander was established in Des Moines in 1894 as a four-page weekly to serve as the voice of Iowa’s African American community. Ten prominent African Americans established the Bystander Publishing Company under the motto: “Fear God, Tell the Truth, and Make Money.” The Iowa State Bystander was the fifth black newspaper established in Iowa, following short-lived publications in Corning, Des Moines, and Oskaloosa. The first issue was published on June 15, 1894, with a press run of one thousand copies. Editor Charles S. Ruff named the paper after a syndicated newspaper column called “The Bystander’s Notes” written by civil rights advocate Albion W. Tourgee for the black Chicago newspaper, the Daily Inter Ocean.
Two years later, Ruff and his brother, Associate Editor Thaddeus Ruff, handed editorial responsibilities to John Lay Thompson, a graduate of the Iowa Business College and student at the Drake University Law School. During his years as editor, Thompson worked as a lawyer and held positions in local, county, and state governments. In 1900, the paper was enlarged to an eight-page weekly. When the Bystander Publishing Company was dissolved in 1911, Thompson became the paper’s sole owner. His rising status and editorial skill were reflected in the growing circulation numbers for the Iowa State Bystander, which reached 3,400 by 1912. In January 1916, Thompson changed the paper’s name to the Bystander in an effort to appeal to a larger national audience.
In…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Des Moines, Iowa, 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