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Newspaper The New Age (Portland, Or.) 1896-1905

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About The New Age (Portland, Or.) 1896-1905

Adolphus D. Griffin published a weekly African American newspaper, theNew Age from 1896 to 1905, and later, the Portland New Age from 1905 to 1907. Griffin began his newspaper career in California and shortly after moved to Washington to edit the Northwest Echo, before founding the New Age in Portland, Oregon. According to Jason Stone, author of the University of Oregon Libraries’ essay on the history of the New Age, the newspaper improved communication among African American Oregon residents by keeping them updated on crucial issues of the time. Darrell Millner, author of “Black People in Oregon” in the Oregon Encyclopedia, notes that migration to the Pacific Northwest led to a steady increase in the African American population, despite emerging exclusion laws enacted from the 1840s to the 1920s. Though Miller states these laws made Oregon a hostile and dangerous place for newly arriving African Americans, Stone claims that Griffin’s New Age made the region seem quite welcoming.

The New Age served the African American community of Portland and surrounding areas by reporting and commenting on various issues of interest, including political activities, racial struggles, and other assorted news. The newspaper regularly printed a lengthy editorial from Griffin that focused on current events related to African Americans in Portland and the broader United States. In the January 5, 1907 issue, Griffin published “THE MISSISSIPPI RACE WAR” that commented on the Christmas race riots of Kemper County, Mississippi that led to the murder of several African Americans. Griffin also used this editorial to take political stances and speak out against certain political figures. The January 6, 1906 editorial, titled “SOME REMARKS ABOUT GOVERNOR VARDAMAN, OF MISSISSIPPI,” criticized the governor for his belief that public money should not be used for the education of African Americans, stating: “Education is as good for the Negro as for anybody. Booker Washington and others have demonstrated that. The Negro people are human beings, and citizens; this long-haired Negro-phobist would have them considered and treated as lower than cattle or dogs.”

The newspaper entertained readers with regular and semi-regular columns. The regular “Topics of the Times” column offered single-sentence commentary on issues like sports, entertainment, religion, and politics. Semi-regular columns, “Literary Littlebits” and “The Weekly Historian,” kept readers updated on literature and notable historical events. Readers interested in local news could learn about the activities from Portland residents in the “Portland Locals” column.

Every issue of the New Age contained advertisements for businesses in many states. Banking ads were printed on the front page of nearly every issue, and readers could find advertisements for several other types of businesses organized by location, such as Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Utah, North Dakota, and Montana.

In 1904, the New Age was circulated to 3,500 readers and by 1906, circulation had increased to 4,000. The newspaper ceased publication in 1907 when Griffin suddenly left Oregon for unknown reasons. He resumed his newspaper career as the editor of the Kansas Elevator. Stone speculates that the small and decentralized nature of the African American community in the Pacific Northwest might have made it difficult for Griffin to publish the New Age for profit, thus spurring his decision to leave.

Note: The issues digitized for this newspaper were microfilmed for and sponsored by the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies and Bell & Howell, a microfilming company, by the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service in 1947, compiling African American newspapers published in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. 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 many 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: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The New Age (Portland, Or.) 1896-1905

Dates of Publication

  • 1896-1905

Created / Published

  • Portland, Or. : A.D. Griffin

Headings

  • -  African Americans--Oregon--Newspapers
  • -  African American newspapers--Oregon
  • -  Portland (Or.)--Newspapers
  • -  Oregon--Portland
  • -  African American newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  Oregon
  • -  United States--Oregon--Multnomah--Portland

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1896; ceased in 1905.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from Harvard University, and University of Oregon.
  • -  Microfilmed for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies by the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Historic Oregon Newspaper online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 4, no. 34 (Nov. 25, 1899).
  • -  Portland new age 2834-815X (DLC)sn 83025137 (OCoLC)9272279

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83025107

OCLC Number

  • 9272181

ISSN Number

  • 2996-6493

Succeeding Titles

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.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

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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 New Age Portland, Or. -1905. (Portland, OR), Jan. 1 1896. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025107/.

APA citation style:

(1896, January 1) The New Age Portland, Or. -1905. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025107/.

MLA citation style:

The New Age Portland, Or. -1905. (Portland, OR) 1 Jan. 1896. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83025107/.