The Commonwealth (Greenwood, Miss.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,046 issues from 1896 to 1921, published in Greenwood, Mississippi, digitised for Chronicling America.
Originally known as Williams Landing, the Yazoo River port of Greenwood, Mississippi, was named after Choctaw chief and Mississippi state senator, Greenwood Leflore. Incorporated in April 1845, the town became the seat of newly created Leflore County in 1871. Greenwood was located at the eastern edge of the fertile Yazoo-Mississippi River flood plain known as the Delta, a prime cotton-growing region. Towards the end of the 19th century, the town witnessed commercial and industrial growth due to the establishment of railroads.
The Commonwealth (1896-1923) was a weekly newspaper established in Greenwood by attorney and Mississippi representative (1890-96) James Kimble Vardaman, a staunch Democrat, who had previously served as editor of the Winona Advance (1869-90) and the Greenwood Enterprise (1887-1919). In 1898, Vardaman served in the Spanish American War and entrusted the Commonwealth to his business manager, Henry Throne Crosby, Jr. The paper’s June 2, 1898 issue contains Crosby’s explanation of Vardaman’s absence: “…since our editor has turned soldier, it will be impossible for me to leave….” By the end of 1899, Vardaman was once again running the paper after his second unsuccessful bid for governor. In 1903, he left the Commonwealth to focus on his political campaign and was finally elected as Mississippi’s 36th governor (1904-08). Vardaman was known for his support of poor white farmers, government regulation of large corporations, and child labor laws; his opposition…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Greenwood, 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