George P Stewart, shown here, founded the Indianapolis Recorder newspaper in 1895 with Will Porter. / Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historic
Originally published in The Indianapolis Star in February 1990
Excluded from white society and suffering under the restraints of second-class citizenship, black Americans once lacked the voice whites enjoyed in the form of newspapers and magazines.
Black newspapers sought to fill that void beginning in the 1820s, reporting the events and opinions largely ignored by their general-market counterparts.
The black press in Indiana dates to The Indianapolis Leader, founded in 1879. In 1880, the Leader - which adopted the Republican philosophy embraced by many black Americans at the time - was one of 30 such newspapers in the United States.
The Leader was Indiana's only black newspaper until 1882, when The Colored World (later known as Indianapolis World) appeared.
Other black newspapers in Indiana included The Freeman, founded in 1884 and designed for a national audience, and The Indianapolis Recorder, which would outlast its predecessors.
The Recorder, America's third-oldest black newspaper of continuous publication, observed its 100th anniversary on June 1, 1995.
The Indiana Herald, founded by former Recorder managing editor Opal L. Tandy, first appeared on local newsstands in 1959, and in 1990 Bea Moten-Foster launched the Muncie Times.
The Indianapolis Recorder
Founded by George P. Stewart, a Vincennes High School graduate who studied printing in his brother Clarence's tiny shop, The Indianapolis Recorder grew from a small advertising publication, originally known as the Directory, to a full-sized newspaper.
The Recorder was a champion of equality, addressing issues such as public accommodations. It also spoke out against retailers who benefited from black patronage but wouldn't advertise in black newspapers.
Its alumni include William Raspberry, who began his career at The Recorder in the 1950s and later became a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post.