Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities
BETA

Newspaper The Rock Hill Messenger (Rock Hill, S.C.) 1896-1921

View All Front Pages

About The Rock Hill Messenger (Rock Hill, S.C.) 1896-1921

The weekly Rock Hill Messenger provided a voice for African Americans in the Piedmont region of South Carolina for over twenty years. Along the way, the Messenger survived libel accusations, an office fire, and competition from other black newspapers. Captain Philip Thomas White established the Rock Hill Messenger on January 10, 1896. A native of Chester County, South Carolina, White was actively involved in civic affairs, from local Baptist churches to Masonic organizations. For a time, the Messenger was even designated the official organ of black Freemasons in South Carolina. White also served as principal of the Fort Mill Graded School and as professor and financial agent for the Friendship Institute, a religious school supported by black Baptist churches in Chester and York Counties.

The sole extant issue of the Rock Hill Messenger, dated January 26, 1900, suggests that the paper was as civic-minded as its proprietor. The issue contains information about the Friendship Institute, the Lancaster Normal and Industrial School, and plans to install electric wiring in black churches in Rock Hill. A piece titled “Genteel Negro” offers a window into class consciousness in African American communities rarely seen in other black newspapers. Reacting to a proposed plan by the legislature of Virginia to segregate railroad cars, the author opines that “compel[ling] refined Negro men and women to ride in cars with the lower and baser classes would forever destroy and block the noble work they are doing.”

An interesting chapter in the history of the Rock Hill Messenger, the libel suit, can only be documented by its white counterpart, the Yorkville Enquirer . In 1906, J. Henry Toole, an African American barber held in high esteem by Rock Hill’s white community, recommended that the Reverend Philip G. Drayton, a professor at Biddle University in Charlotte, North Carolina, be appointed the president of South Carolina State College, an institution serving blacks. In response, Captain White warned that “the Negroes of this state will rise en masse and boycott any institution managed by a member of the race appointed on the recommendation of a Negro Democrat, a Ku Klux.” White’s quarrel was not with Drayton, whom he described as a “special friend of the editor of this paper and a good man,” but with Toole (in 1876, Toole had supported former Confederate Army General Wade Hampton in his campaign to restore white Democratic rule to South Carolina). Toole protested the charge that he was a Klansman and sued White for $5,000. The case was settled out of court.

The Rock Hill Messenger ceased sometime in 1921, for reasons unknown.

 

 

Provided By: University of South Carolina; Columbia, SC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Rock Hill Messenger (Rock Hill, S.C.) 1896-1921

Names

  • White, C. P. T., editor

Dates of Publication

  • 1896-1921

Created / Published

  • Rock Hill, S.C. : C.P.T. White

Headings

  • -  African Americans--South Carolina--Newspapers
  • -  Rock Hill (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  York County (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  South Carolina
  • -  South Carolina--Rock Hill
  • -  South Carolina--York County
  • -  United States--South Carolina--York--Rock Hill

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1896; ceased in 1921? Cf. South Carolina newspapers.
  • -  Editor: C. P. T. White, .
  • -  Microfilmed by the Library of Congress for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 5, no. 3 (Jan. 26, 1900).

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83025796

OCLC Number

  • 9804719

ISSN Number

  • 2166-1723

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.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

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

Chicago citation style:

The Rock Hill Messenger Rock Hill, S.C. 1896 to 1921. (Rock Hill, SC), Jan. 1 1896. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025796/.

APA citation style:

(1896, January 1) The Rock Hill Messenger Rock Hill, S.C. 1896 to 1921. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025796/.

MLA citation style:

The Rock Hill Messenger Rock Hill, S.C. 1896 to 1921. (Rock Hill, SC) 1 Jan. 1896. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83025796/.