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Newspaper The Free Man's Press (Austin, Tex.) 1868-1868 Weekly free man's press

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About The Free Man's Press (Austin, Tex.) 1868-1868

The Free Man’s Press, also published as the Freedman’s Press, was a Reconstruction-era newspaper thought to be the first African American paper in Texas. Proprietor James P. Newcomb and surgeon Dr. Melville Keith (also known as Dr. Melving Keith) published it from July 1868 to October 1868 and primarily reported on local and national Republican politics. Newcomb was a staunch Republican who had an extensive career in Texas and California newspapers prior to running the Free Man’s Press, and Dr. Keith was a surgeon who specialized in obstetrics and women’s health. The Free Man’s Press was an interracial Republican newspaper, with both African American and white staff, and it was the only newspaper in the state that employed African American typesetters. This weekly paper was first published on July 18, 1868, in Austin, Texas, and stated in its inaugural issue that it would be “mostly dedicated to politics, the kind of knowledge most needed by the Freed people, but we will also have well written articles upon moral and religious subjects, upon education, upon agriculture and upon home industry generally.”

In the newspaper’s July 1868 issues, it proclaimed: “It is unnecessary to state our political position to any great length, we are simply out and out Republican–Radical if you please.” This devotion to Republican politics is seen throughout the newspaper as it regularly updated readers on Republican issues and events at both the local and national level. On August 15, 1868, the newspaper published the article “PROCEEDINGS OF THE REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION,” which reported on the two days of proceedings and highlighted major themes of the convention.

Aside from politics, the newspaper also regularly published articles focused on education and religion. Local news stories are notably absent. The paper strongly stressed the importance of education for newly freed African Americans. On August 22, 1868, an article titled “Education” discussed the topic’s impact on African Americans and stated: “In Texas we hope to have common schools, free to the poorest child, and we hope to cultivate the love for books, in every house.”

Nearly every issue contained poetry or stories with religious themes, and the paper urged African Americans to be consistent in their devotion to Christianity. On August 22, 1868, the article “How to be Happy” instructed readers to regard Christ as their friend to live a happy life. In addition to education and political awareness, the Free Man’s Press saw Christianity as the way to live a proper, free life.

In order to support the education, political awareness, and religious instruction of newly freed African Americans, the Free Man’s Press offered free copies of the paper to African American educators and clergymen. The paper was sold cheaply to promote wider circulation among the African American community of Austin, but this was later harmful to the success of the paper. Sometime in September or October 1868, the newspaper moved from Austin to Galveston, Texas, before ceasing publication. According to historian James Smallwood in the book The Black Press in the South, 1865-1979, the Free Man’s Press became too expensive to publish and released its last issue on October 24, 1868, in Galveston. After the Free Man’s Press ceased publication, Dr. Melving Keith returned to his medical practice, and James P. Newcomb worked as a registrar of voters and secretary of state in Texas before returning to newspaper work as the owner and editor of the Daily State Journal and the Weekly State Journal.

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 Free Man's Press (Austin, Tex.) 1868-1868

Other Title

  • Weekly free man's press

Dates of Publication

  • 1868-1868

Created / Published

  • Austin, Tex. : Free Man's Press Pub. Co., 1868-

Headings

  • -  African American newspapers--Texas
  • -  African Americans--Texas--Newspapers
  • -  Austin (Tex.)--Newspapers
  • -  Galveston (Tex.)--Newspapers
  • -  African American newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  Texas
  • -  Texas--Austin
  • -  Texas--Galveston
  • -  United States--Texas--Travis--Austin
  • -  United States--Texas--Galveston--Galveston

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 2 (July 25, 1868)-
  • -  Ceased in 1868.
  • -  Published at Galveston, Tex., .
  • -  Microfilmed by the Library of Congress for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies.
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Vol. 1, no. 14 (Oct. 24, 1868).

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83025751

OCLC Number

  • 9791586

ISSN Number

  • 2835-852x

Preceding 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.

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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 Free Man's Press Austin, Tex. (Austin, TX), Jan. 1 1868. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025751/.

APA citation style:

(1868, January 1) The Free Man's Press Austin, Tex. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025751/.

MLA citation style:

The Free Man's Press Austin, Tex. (Austin, TX) 1 Jan. 1868. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83025751/.