Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)

• 1899–1900
• Newspaper

Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.

615 issues from 1899 to 1900, published in Norfolk, Virginia, digitised for Chronicling America.

First published in March 1898, the Virginian-Pilot was formed by the consolidation of two rival newspapers–the Norfolk Virginian, the first local, independent newspaper to be established in Norfolk after the Civil War, and the newer, and ambitious, Daily Pilot. By 1898 the two vigorously competitive newspapers were deeply in debt. The consolidation brought about a new company and daily paper, based in Norfolk and serving the Hampton Roads area as well as communities on the Eastern Shore.

The Virginian-Pilot fostered the careers of several prominent journalists. Louis Jaffe served as editor from 1919 until his death in 1950. A key force behind Virginia’s anti-lynching legislation, Jaffe, brought national attention to the issue in his editorials, particularly in one titled “An Unspeakable Act of Savagery” which followed a lynching in Texas prior to the 1928 Democratic National Convention. Jaffe’s work earned the paper Virginia’s first Pulitzer Prize. Jaffe also formed an informal partnership with Plummer Bernard Young who headed the African-American newspaper, the Norfolk Journal and Guide. Through personal and journalistic support, the two men worked together to improve the lives of African-Americans in Hampton Roads and to advance racial understanding.

Following Jaffe’s death, the Virginian-Pilot appointed Lenoir Chambers as editor. When Virginia’s political leaders closed the state’s public schools in 1958 to avoid federally mandated school integration, Chambers in a…

Genres

News

Published in

Norfolk, Virginia, 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