St. Landry Democrat (Opelousas, La.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
828 issues from 1878 to 1894, published in Opelousas, Louisiana, digitised for Chronicling America.
The St. Landry Democrat, published in the small farming community of Opelousas, Louisiana, was established on January 19, 1878, as the successor to the Opelousas Journal. Its editors and publishers included M. D. Kavanagh, J. W. Jackson, and E. P. Goodwin. Publisher Austin D. Williams later edited newspapers in the state capital, Baton Rouge.
Published weekly in four to eight pages, the Democrat was a typical Southern “country” paper that carried miscellaneous local, national, and international news, including brief reports and letters to the editor from towns throughout St. Landry Parish. Editorials often discussed politics and internal improvements, such as the construction of roads, railroads, and levees, as well as how to attract immigrants and workers to the region. Readers also would have found general-interest articles, largely copied from other sources; agricultural and domestic-advice columns; a “religious reading” section; fiction and poetry; an abundance of advertisements for local businesses; announcements of public sales; obituaries, marriage notices, and other personal notes; and the minutes of the St. Landry Parish police jury, the governing body of the parish (similar to county councils in other states).
Publication of the St. Landry Democrat ceased in 1894.
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Opelousas, Louisiana, 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