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Newspaper The Southern Indicator (Columbia, S.C.) 1903-1925

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About The Southern Indicator (Columbia, S.C.) 1903-1925

The weekly Columbia Southern Indicator (1903-ca. 1925) reported on cultural, political, and religious affairs in African American communities throughout South Carolina for almost a quarter of a century. Its coverage extended from Greenville and Spartanburg, located in the Upstate region of South Carolina, to Newberry and Orangeburg in the Midlands. Its editors and reporters were community leaders with impressive credentials. Only a dozen or so issues, however, are known to have survived. The few known facts about the Southern Indicator are primarily gleaned from the paper itself.

According to the N.W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual and Directory, theSouthern Indicatorwas established in 1903. No issues, however, are known to exist prior to 1913. Taken on the whole, the Southern Indicator depicts South Carolina African American communities as sober, devout, and artistically and intellectually vibrant. The paper covered extensively the historically black schools Allen University, Benedict College, Claflin University, Morris College, and South Carolina State College (now South Carolina State University. The activities of the South Carolina State Baptist Convention are likewise well-represented. The May 2, 1914, issue of the Indicator features an enthusiastic review of a performance by the Jenkins Orphanage Band, the Charleston-based ensemble that launched a number of influential jazz musicians, including Freddie Green, Jabbo Smith, William Alonzo “Cat” Anderson, and Rufus “Speedy” Jones. The issue for February 19, 1921, provides a summary of a lecture given by Louis Gregory on the Bahá’í faith(by coincidence, Gregory had once edited the newspaper Afro-American Citizen).

A list of the contributors to the Southern Indicator reads like a roster of Columbia’s black community leaders. Editor Nathaniel Jerome Frederick worked as an attorney and as principal of Howard School (he later edited another newspaper, the Palmetto Leader). Richard Carroll, the founder of the Colored State Fair Association, contributed to columns variously titled “Looking over the field” and “Notes by the wayside.” Sometime editor Cornelius Chapman Scott held the distinction of having been a delegate to the World’s Sunday-School Convention held in London in 1899. David F. Thompson and Henry Morris Moore, pastors for First Cavalry and Second Baptist Churches, respectively, served as contributing reporters.

Sometime in 1925, the Southern Indicator merged with another African American newspaper, the People’s Recorder, and became the Recorder-indicator. The last known issue of the Southern Indicator is dated October 11, 1924.

Provided By: University of South Carolina; Columbia, SC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Southern Indicator (Columbia, S.C.) 1903-1925

Names

  • Frederick, Nathaniel Jerome, 1877-1938, editor
  • Scott, Cornelius Chapman, 1855-1922, editor

Dates of Publication

  • 1903-1925

Created / Published

  • Columbia, S.C. : Industrial Print. Co., [1903-1925]

Headings

  • -  African Americans--South Carolina--Newspapers
  • -  Columbia (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Richland County (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  South Carolina
  • -  South Carolina--Columbia
  • -  South Carolina--Richland County
  • -  United States--South Carolina--Richland--Columbia

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1903; ceased in 1925? Cf. South Carolina newspapers.
  • -  Editors: Nathaniel Jerome Frederick, <1913>; Cornelius Chapman Scott, <1914>; J.C. White, <1915>.
  • -  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. 8, no. 18 (Feb. 15, 1913); title from masthead.
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Vol. 24 (Aug. 12, 1922).
  • -  People's recorder 2166-1731 (DLC)sn 83025797 (OCoLC)9804805
  • -  Recorder-indicator (DLC)sn 92065692 (OCoLC)27040906

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83025803

OCLC Number

  • 9810255

ISSN Number

  • 2166-1758

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.

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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 Southern Indicator Columbia, S.C. 1903 to 1925. (Columbia, SC), Jan. 1 1903. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025803/.

APA citation style:

(1903, January 1) The Southern Indicator Columbia, S.C. 1903 to 1925. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025803/.

MLA citation style:

The Southern Indicator Columbia, S.C. 1903 to 1925. (Columbia, SC) 1 Jan. 1903. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83025803/.