Okolona Messenger (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-Current
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
974 issues from 1902 to 1922, published in Okolona, Mississippi, digitised for Chronicling America.
Lawyer and politician Frank Burkitt was the driving force in the early years of the Messenger run, a pro-agrarian paper based in Chickasaw County in north-central Mississippi. Known throughout his long career by fellow editors as proud, honest, and willing to stand by his convictions, Burkitt became editor of the Chickasaw Messenger (1872-76) soon after it was established in Houston, the county seat. In 1873 he became the owner. Three years later, when the operation moved to the county’s commercial center, Okolona, the title may have changed; but by 1880 it was once more the Chickasaw Messenger (1880-94?).
First declaring itself a conservative but Democratic newspaper, the Messenger became more political over time. As early as December 1880, its motto “Earnest, Faithful and Courageous, in Defense of the People’s Rights” presaged its future Populist sentiments. In 1885, Burkitt was elected to the Mississippi legislature as a Democrat, an office he held until 1896. Around 1888, articles in the Chickasaw Messenger began calling for a new state constitution, and Burkitt was a delegate to the 1890 constitutional convention, which largely restored white Democrats to power. In addition to political news and editorials, the Chickasaw Messenger also carried a horticultural column, news of Grange and Farmer’s Alliance chapters, advertisements, and lots of general and community news. It frequently reported on activities of the Agricultural and Mechanical College in Starkville, now…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Okolona, Mississippi, 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