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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Savannah Tribune (Savannah [Ga.]; Savannah, Ga.) 1876-1960

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About The Savannah Tribune (Savannah [Ga.]; Savannah, Ga.) 1876-1960

John H. Deveaux, Louis B. Toomer, Sr., and Louis M. Pleasant, three prominent African American businesspeople and Republican officials, published the first issue of the Colored Tribune on December 4, 1875, in Savannah, Georgia. They renamed the weekly paper the Savannah Tribune in 1876, and that title persisted while it became one of the longest-running African American newspapers in the South. As the paper’s manager and editorial voice, Deveaux dedicated the pages of the Tribune principally to the advancement of Savannah’s African American community and Republican Party. That same year, Deveaux published editorials encouraging Savannah’s Black residents to register to vote and garnered attention by condemning the Savannah Theatre for segregating seats at a performance of the all-Black Braham Musical Club. Despite the publication’s success, there were no printing presses owned by African Americans in Savannah, and the Tribune was forced to suspend publication in 1878 after white Democratic printers refused to print the newspaper.

When Deveaux and R. W. White revived the Tribune on October 23, 1886, the paper published from its own printing plant located on St. Julian Street. In that issue’s salutatory editorial, Deveaux explained that “the main and higher object of our paper will be to promote the cause of education, cooperating with all teachers and workers in that cause, and the moral and material advancement of the colored people.” In 1889, editorial control of the Tribune passed to Solomon “Sol” C. Johnson when Deveaux accepted an appointed position as collector of customs in Brunswick, Georgia. Under Johnson’s direction and with a reach extending to north Florida, the Tribune crucially reported injustices of the Jim Crow era. Beginning in 1892, Johnson particularly criticized segregated streetcars in the city and played an instrumental role in the boycott movement that emerged in the early 20th century.

After Deveaux’s death in 1909, Johnson purchased the Tribune, and, by the 1920s, he shifted the newspaper’s editorial tone from the ideology of Booker T. Washington to a more activist voice for civil rights and social equality. Continuingits history of featuring prominent black thinkers in its columns, Harlem Renaissance writer James Weldon Johnson served as a correspondent for the Tribune during his tenure as executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1928, the Tribune, Georgia’s leading African American newspaper, faced significant competition with the establishment of the Atlanta World (later Atlanta Daily World), which became the preeminent black newspaper in the state. Following Sol Johnson’s death in 1954, his goddaughter Willa Ayers Johnson became the first woman owner and editor of the Tribune, and she managed the paper until it ceased publication in September 1960. Robert E. James, a banker, then reestablished the Tribune in 1973, and he managed the paper until 1983 when his wife, Shirley Barber James, became the publisher and sole owner. To this day, the Tribune continues to serve Savannah-Chatham County’s African American community.

Provided By: Digital Library of Georgia, a project of GALILEO located at the University of Georgia Libraries

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Savannah Tribune (Savannah [Ga.]; Savannah, Ga.) 1876-1960

Dates of Publication

  • 1876-1960

Created / Published

  • Savannah [Ga.] : Toomer, White, Pleasant & Co., 1876-1960.
  • Savannah, Ga. : Tribune Publishing Co.
  • Savannah, Ga. : Sol C. Johnson
  • Savannah, Ga. : Mrs. Willa A. Johnson

Headings

  • -  African Americans--Georgia--Savannah--Newspapers
  • -  Savannah (Ga.)--Newspapers
  • -  Chatham County (Ga.)--Newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  Georgia--Chatham County
  • -  Georgia--Savannah
  • -  United States--Georgia--Chatham--Savannah

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 35 (July 29, 1876)-v. 78, no. 51 (Sept. 24, 1960).
  • -  "Independent."
  • -  Not published: <1878>-1885. Cf. Gregory, W. Amer. newspapers.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from the Library of Congress Photoduplication Service.
  • -  Also on microfilm: Athens, Ga. : University of Georgia Libraries.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper
  • AN13.S45 S27

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn84020323

OCLC Number

  • 8107226

ISSN Number

  • 2768-6604

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 Savannah Tribune Savannah Ga.; Savannah, Ga. -1960. (Savannah, GA), Jan. 1 1876. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84020323/.

APA citation style:

(1876, January 1) The Savannah Tribune Savannah Ga.; Savannah, Ga. -1960. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84020323/.

MLA citation style:

The Savannah Tribune Savannah Ga.; Savannah, Ga. -1960. (Savannah, GA) 1 Jan. 1876. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn84020323/.