Indianapolis Freeman
{{Short description|African-American newspaper}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name = The Freeman of Indianapolis, Indiana
| motto = A National Illustrated Colored Newspaper
| logo = Indianapolis_Freeman_Logo.jpeg
| image = Advertisement for the Freeman_Newspaper.png
| image_alt = border
| caption = Advertisement for The Freeman
| type = Weekly newspaper
| format = Broadsheet
| owners = {{unbulleted list|Louis Howland 1884-1888|Edward Elder Cooper 1888-1892|George L. Knox 1893-1926}}
| founders = Louis Howland {{#tag:ref|The library of congress has Louis Howland as the creator of this newspaper |group=O}}{{cite web |title=The Freeman (Indianapolis Ind.) 1884-1927 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82016211 |website=loc.gov |publisher=Library of congress |access-date=26 September 2021}}
| publisher = George L. Knox and Elwood C. Knox
| chiefeditor =
| maneditor =
| opeditor =
| sportseditor =
| staff =
| ceased publication = 1926
| headquarters = Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
| circulation = 25,000
| ISSN =
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| publishing_country = United States
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}}
The Indianapolis Freeman (1884–1926) was the first illustrated black newspaper in the United States.{{cite book |last=Ratzlaff |first=Aleen J. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qvchtbfW4FMC&pg=PA131 |title=Seeking a voice: images of race and gender in the 19th century press |publisher=Purdue UP |others=S. Kittrell Rushing, Roy Morris, Jr. |year=2009 |isbn=9781557535054 |editor1-last=Sachsman |editor1-first=David B. |location=West Lafayette |pages=131–140 |chapter=Illustrated African American Journalism: Political Cartooning in the Indianapolis Freeman}} Founder and owner Louis Howland, who was soon replaced by Edward Elder Cooper, published its first print edition on November 20, 1884.
History
Cooper sold the paper to George L. Knox in 1892. Knox shifted the paper's political allegiance from Democratic to Republican because he was one of the most influential Black Republicans in Indiana. The paper shifted back toward the Democratic Party in its final days due to the power of the Ku Klux Klan over the Indiana Republican Party.{{cite web |title=The Indianapolis Freeman Newspaper formed |url=https://aaregistry.org/story/the-indianapolis-freeman-newspaper-formed/ |website=aaregistry.org |publisher=AAREG |access-date=26 September 2021}}
Knox was the publisher from 1893 to 1926. The paper was called "A National Illustrated Colored Newspaper" and was referred to as a national race paper. It had a circulation of 25,000.{{cite book |title=Ad Sense |date=1905 |publisher=The New York Magazine |location=New York |page=96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fFKAAAAYAAJ&dq=George+L.+Knox+elwood&pg=PA242 |access-date=26 September 2021}} Sold internationally, it covered everything from small Black communities to sports and entertainment. Booker T. Washington was a contributor. The paper came out on Sundays and it was said its negative review could ruin a career.{{cite book |last1=Watkins |first1=Clifford |title=Showman |date=April 22, 2024 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson, Mississippi |isbn=978-1-57806-555-4 |pages=17–18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JR2XJjutQ-AC&dq=George+L.+Knox+elwood&pg=PA17 |access-date=26 September 2021}} Hurt by inflation following World War I and competition from the more locally focused Indianapolis Recorder, the paper ceased publication in 1926.{{cite book|last=Taylor Jr.|first=Robert M.|editor=David J. Bodenhamer|others=Robert Graham Barrows|title=The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bg13QcMSsq8C&pg=PA781|access-date=5 April 2012|year=1994|publisher=Indiana UP|isbn=9780253312228|page=781|chapter=Indianapolis Freeman}}{{Cite journal|url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/10462|title=The Political Realignment of Black Voters in Indianapolis, 1924|first=William W.|last=Giffin|date=June 1, 1983|journal=Indiana Magazine of History|via=scholarworks.iu.edu}}
The paper frequently featured the writings of Richard W. Thompson, who was managing editor from 1888 to 1893.Booker T. Washington, Louis R. Harlan, The Booker T. Washington Papers: 1899-1900 University of Illinois Press, 1976
Historic significance
Unlike other Black newspapers that reprinted photographs, woodcuts, and drawings at the time, the Indianapolis Freeman had a full staff of African American artists dedicated to producing original illustrations for the newspaper. The paper published representations of blackness created by Black artists for a Black viewership. The intention of the newspaper to replace white perceptions of blackness with Black representation of blackness was noted by repetition of the phrases "as observed by the Freeman's Artist" and "as seen by the artist" in illustration captions.{{cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=Andreá|date=2015|title=Cultivating Black Visuality: The Controversy over Cartoons in the Indianapolis "Freeman"|journal=American Periodicals|volume=25|issue=2|pages=124–138|doi=10.1353/amp.2015.0032 |s2cid=194112538 }}
The Freeman employed Black agents across the country from its start, claiming to have over 200 agents in towns and cities nationally by 1914. The Freeman boasted the largest circulation of any Black newspaper, and the publication included more advertisements for Black entertainment than any other paper.{{cite journal |last1=Thornbrough |first1=Emma |title=American Negro Newspapers, 1880-1914 |journal=Business History Review |date=1966 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=467–490|doi=10.2307/3112124 |jstor=3112124 |s2cid=154420806 }}
References
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=Notes=
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{{African American press}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indianapolis Freeman}}
Category:African-American newspapers
Category:Defunct African-American newspapers
Category:Mass media in Indianapolis
Category:Newspapers established in 1888
Category:Defunct newspapers published in Indiana
Category:1888 establishments in Indiana