The American Citizen (Topeka, Kan.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
836 issues from 1888 to 1907, published in Kansas City, Kansas, digitised for Chronicling America.
The American Citizen was started on February 23, 1888, in Topeka, KS, by John L. Waller (also known as J. L. Waller) and R.K. Morton. They formed the Waller & Morton Publishing Company. It would become one of the state’s longest-running African American newspapers. Born enslaved in Missouri, Waller migrated to Kansas to practice law during the “Exoduster” movement in the late 1870s. Waller first attempted journalism when he started and edited the Western Recorder from 1883-1884 in Lawrence, KS. Once he moved to Topeka, he capitalized on the city’s access to the state government and its large population of African American voters. Under his direction, the American Citizen was a Republican four-page weekly. It criticized Democratic policies and advocated for African American unification behind the Republican party. It protested African American inequality, such as segregation and mob violence in Kansas and the nation. The paper also published legal and publication notices, as well as local and state business advertisements. It contained local, regional, and national news exchanges and correspondence. The paper also reported about African American religious, educational, and political activities in the state and country.
The paper aided Waller’s rise in politics. Waller left the American Citizen as an editor to pursue his political career full-time in late 1888. Working under the American Citizen Publishing Company, Morton would publish the paper under the motto, “A Free…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Kansas City, Kansas, 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