The Neshoba Democrat (Philadelphia, Miss.) 1881-Current
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
440 issues from 1908 to 1922, published in Philadelphia, Mississippi, digitised for Chronicling America.
Located in east-central Mississippi, Neshoba County was created from the third Choctaw cession of 1830 and was one of 16 counties established on the same day in 1833. Meaning “wolf” in Choctaw, Neshoba was supposedly so named because of large numbers of the animal found in the area. The headwaters of the Pearl River form in the county’s hilly terrain, and its fertile soil has always been suitable for farming. Similar to other parts of Mississippi, farmers in Neshoba County began to diversify their crops in the 1880s and 1890s and, in addition to cotton, produced corn, oats, wheat, sweet and Irish potatoes, and sorghum. Livestock included cattle and hogs. With the arrival of railroads and lumber industries during the late 19th and early 20th century, Philadelphia, the county seat originally incorporated in 1837, thrived.
Founded by Charlton A. Brand, Philadelphia’s long-running newspaper, the Neshoba Democrat, frequently changed ownership. The first issue of the four-page weekly was published on August 6, 1881. In 1883 a school master, Lafayette Stainton, bought the newspaper and was editor for the next eight years. An issue dated August 8, 1888, indicates that Stainton coined the Democrat’s motto “Truth, Justice, and Progress.” Stainton sold the paper to Adam Monroe Byrd and Jefferson Davis King in 1891. Byrd, a renowned attorney and staunch Democrat, later served in the United States House of Representatives (1903-11). As editor, Byrd changed the paper’s motto to…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Philadelphia, 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