New National Era

{{Short description|African American newspaper (1870–1874)}}

{{Italic title}}{{Infobox newspaper

| image = New Era 1870-01-13.jpg

| caption = The paper published its first issue on January 13, 1870.

| format = Broadsheet

| publisher = Frederick Douglass

| editor = {{bulleted list|Frederick Douglass (1870–1872)|Lewis H. Douglass (1873–1874) | }}

| depeditor =

| assoceditor = Richard Theodore Greener

| political = Late 19th c. Republican

| relaunched = 1870

| publishing_city = Washington, D.C.

| readership = National

| website = {{URL|loc.gov/item/sn84026753}}

| free = Library of Congress

}}

New National Era (1870–1874) was an African American newspaper, published in Washington, D.C., during the Reconstruction Era in the decade after the American Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation.{{Cite web |title=New National Era (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84026753/ |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}} Originally known as the New Era, the pioneering abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass renamed it in 1870 when he became the newspaper's publisher and editor.{{Cite web |title=New National Era | New York Heritage |url=https://nyheritage.org/collections/new-national-era |website=nyheritage.org}}

The first issue under Douglas was published on January 13, 1870, and was largely devoted to coverage of the Colored National Labor Union, which had convened its inaugural meeting in December of 1869. In subsequent issues, Thomas W. Cardozo wrote pseudonymous accounts of his experience in government in Reconstruction-era Mississippi under the name "Civis."{{Cite journal |last=Brock |first=Euline W. |date=1981 |title=Thomas W. Cardozo: Fallible Black Reconstruction Leader |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2207949 |journal=The Journal of Southern History |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=183–206 |doi=10.2307/2207949 |jstor=2207949 |issn=0022-4642}} Richard Theodore Greener, who had been Harvard College's first Black graduate in 1870, was hired in 1873 as associate editor.Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising, GM Rewell & Company, 1887, pp. 327–335. Described as a "well conducted" newspaper, aimed at addressing the issues of the black community in D.C., the New National Era focused on issues of Reconstruction, Republican politics of the day, and Black Washington, D.C.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AJYLAAAAIAAJ |title=The Rising Son: Or, The Antecedents and Advancement of the Colored Race |date=1874-01-01 |publisher=A. G. Brown |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=The New National Era |url=https://www.readex.com/taxonomy/term/4541/all |website=Readex}}KRYWICKI, JARAD. “‘The Soft Answer’: The ‘National Era’s’ Network of Understanding.” American Periodicals 23, no. 2 (2013): 125–41. {{JSTOR|24589014}}.

In 1872, Douglass stepped down as editor, and his son Lewis H. Douglass took over from 1873–1874. Richard T. Greener and John A. Cook succeeded him, and the newspaper’s name changed again, this time evolving into the New National Era and Citizen.{{Cite web |title=New national era. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84026753/ |website=Library of Congress}}{{Cite book |last=Chaddock |first=Katherine Reynolds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fN02DwAAQBAJ&q=%22john+a.+cook%22+new+era+d.c.&pg=PA40 |title=Uncompromising Activist: Richard Greener, First Black Graduate of Harvard College |date=October 8, 2017 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=9781421423302 |via=Google Books}}