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Newspaper The Langston City Herald (Langston City, O.T. [Okla.]) 1891-1902

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About The Langston City Herald (Langston City, O.T. [Okla.]) 1891-1902

The Langston City Herald debuted on May 2, 1891, as the first weekly African American newspaper in Oklahoma Territory. A paramount promoter of Black homesteading in the territory, it circulated throughout the South and Southeast. Its widespread readership was vital to the settlement of African Americans in Oklahoma.

Edward (Edwin) McCabe established the Langston City Herald in Logan County. McCabe was born in Troy, New York, on October 10, 1850. By his late twenties, he had joined the “Exoduster” movement to the West, landing in Topeka, Kansas. As a trained lawyer, he broke racial barriers and was elected twice to the position of state auditor. However, McCabe had higher ambitions. In 1890, he left Kansas to organize an All-Black town in Oklahoma Territory.

McCabe and White land developer Charles Robbins purchased 320 acres of land east of Guthrie, and on April 22, 1890, the town of Langston City was born. The two men named it after John Mercer Langston, a U.S. Congressman from Virginia and an advocate of equal rights for Blacks. One year later, McCabe began publishing the Langston City Herald. He employed the Herald to promote Langston City as a haven for African Americans fleeing from persecution in the South.

McCabe made his intentions clear in his newspaper. Plat maps were published with headlines reading, “Freedom, Peace, Happiness and Prosperity, Do you want all of these? Then cast your lot with us and make your home in Langston City.” McCabe claimed that the prairie was ideal for growing wheat, cotton, and tobacco. He invited, in particular, Black individuals who had the resources to support themselves in the rugged environment. Settlers were urged to bring with them a rifle, cookware, and enough money to file for a title to their newly claimed plot of land. Thousands responded to the call.

McCabe’s friend, Topeka newspaper man William Eagleson, handled most of the daily management of the Herald. McCabe edited the paper and occasionally wrote columns, but his personal ambitions soon outgrew the publication. He had turned his focus back to politics, supporting the effort to make Oklahoma an All-Black state. McCabe was appointed the first treasurer of Logan County and made an unsuccessful bid for governor of the territory. He also aided in the establishment in 1897 of the Colored Agricultural and Normal University of Oklahoma, now Langston University.

McCabe’s editorials in the Herald gradually ceased, and in 1902, the paper folded. McCabe’s dreams of an All-Black state and a higher government position were never realized. He left Oklahoma in 1908, dying in Chicago on March 12, 1920. However, McCabe’s legacy in Oklahoma continues in the thirteen surviving All-Black towns and in the thousands of graduates from the state’s only historically Black university.

Note: A portion of the issues digitized for this newspaper were microfilmed as part of the Miscellaneous Negro newspapers microfilm collection, a 12 reel collection containing issues of African American newspapers published in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Creation of the microfilm project was sponsored by the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1947. For more information on the microfilm collection, see: Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a Selected List (Library of Congress), published in 1953. While this collection contains selections from more than 150 U.S. newspapers titles, for further coverage, view a complete list of all digitized African American titles available in the Chronicling America collection.

Provided By: Oklahoma Historical Society

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Langston City Herald (Langston City, O.T. [Okla.]) 1891-1902

Dates of Publication

  • 1891-1902

Created / Published

  • Langston City, O.T. [Okla.] : Herald Pub. Co.

Headings

  • -  African American newspapers--Oklahoma
  • -  African Americans--Oklahoma--Langston--Newspapers
  • -  African Americans--Oklahoma--Guthrie--Newspapers
  • -  Langston (Okla.)--Newspapers
  • -  Guthrie (Okla.)--Newspapers
  • -  Logan County (Okla.)--Newspapers
  • -  Indian Territory--Newspapers
  • -  African American newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  Oklahoma
  • -  Oklahoma--Guthrie
  • -  Oklahoma--Indian Territory
  • -  Oklahoma--Langston
  • -  Oklahoma--Logan County
  • -  United States--Oklahoma--Logan--Langston
  • -  United States--Oklahoma--Logan--Guthrie

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in May 1891; ceased in 1902.
  • -  Published in Guthrie, Okla., Apr. 30-July 30, 1892.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 29 (Nov. 14, 1891).

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper 7001

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83025050

OCLC Number

  • 9227089

ISSN Number

  • 2158-8929

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

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. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Langston City Herald Langston City, O.T. Okla. -1902. (Langston, OK), Jan. 1 1891. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025050/.

APA citation style:

(1891, January 1) The Langston City Herald Langston City, O.T. Okla. -1902. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025050/.

MLA citation style:

The Langston City Herald Langston City, O.T. Okla. -1902. (Langston, OK) 1 Jan. 1891. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83025050/.