The Weekly Loyal Georgian (Augusta, Ga.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
3 issues from 1867 to 1868, published in Augusta, Georgia, digitised for Chronicling America.
Founded by African American John T. Shuften in Augusta in October 1865, the Colored American was Georgia’s first African American newspaper. By January 1866, the paper experienced financial hardships and was bought by the Georgia Equal Rights Association (GERA), which was created at the Freedmen’s Convention in Augusta, GA. Delegates chose John E. Bryant to be GERA’s first president. Bryant was a former Union soldier from Maine, a Freedmen’s Bureau agent, and the only White man in attendance at the convention. GERA renamed the paper the Loyal Georgian and published its first issue on January 20, 1866. Bryant was selected as editor and Thomas P. Beard, an African American grocer and leader, as agent to promote and collect subscriptions for the paper.
The Loyal Georgian retained much of the Colored American‘s structure and content. It was a four-page, five-columned weekly paper that advocated for racial harmony and African American equality. Specifically, the paper stood for “the cause of impartial justice for every citizen without regard to race, descent or color” under the motto “Peace and Good Will to all” as noted in the first issue. The paper claimed to be nonpartisan although it focused on local, state, and national Republican Party news. It published news about social activities, poetry and literature columns, children and family columns, convention proceedings, and advertisements. Bryant’s editorials protested racial violence and promoted African American educational…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Augusta, Georgia, 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