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The Seattle Republican
The Seattle Republican was a weekly newspaper in Seattle from 1894 to 1913, and is considered Seattle's first successful African American newspaper.
The Seattle Republican was Seattle's second Black newspaper, after The Seattle Standard was founded by Brittain Oxendine in 1891. The founder of The Seattle Republican, Horace R. Cayton Sr., was formerly enslaved in the American South. Cayton moved to Seattle to work in journalism. He was a political reporter for Seattle's largest paper at the time, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and joined The Seattle Standard before it collapsed in 1893. In an attempt to start a successful paper that could appeal to both Black and white audiences, Cayton founded The Seattle Republican in 1894.
Cayton shared copies of the paper for years with Hiram Revels, a leading figure during Reconstruction. Revels was president of Cayton's alma mater, Alcorn College. Revels dictated his replies to his daughter Susie Sumner Revels, who also shared her own family news with Cayton.
Susie Revels began contributing to the paper in 1896 with an article on Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Exposition. Cayton praised her skills in the paper, writing: "she gives every evidence of becoming a very forceful and effective writer and seems especially adapted to fiction and verse." Soon she moved to Seattle to marry Cayton and help with the paper. Susie was associate editor starting in 1900, becoming Seattle's first woman newspaper editor. Both Caytons wrote for the paper, with Susie contributing articles and short stories.
Before racial discrimination and segregation spiked in Seattle in 1910, there were some opportunities for Black business owners to succeed by catering to Seattle's mostly white residents. Some Black settlers, like the Caytons, viewed Seattle as an unmolded frontier town with a heightened possibility of progress and economic opportunity. There were only 2,300 Black residents by 1910, but this was a large growth from the 400 Black residents in 1900. Additionally, the percentage of Seattle's Black residents who owned businesses was higher during its frontier period than in the 2000s.
The Seattle Republican catered to a general audience in Seattle, and due to city demographics it mostly had white readers. At one point it was the second-most popular newspaper in Seattle. The newspaper's scope and audience differed from that of Seattle's first Black newspaper, The Seattle Standard, which wrote to Seattle's Black community. The Seattle Republican sought to portray "the black race" in a positive manner and hoped to create harmony between races through open discussion of sensitive race issues. Some Black readers felt the paper catered too much to the white community in Seattle, and the paper shared some of the difficulties of catering to both communities in a 1906 piece called "Stop Your Paper".
The Seattle Republican published local politics and commentary targeted at a general audience, but also included news specifically from Seattle's Black community. It was the only paper on the West Coast to regularly receive cable and telegraph news from the press in New York, and it covered national politics in addition to its local reporting. Regular columns covered various aspects of the paper's reporting, from "Political Pot Pie" for local politics, to "Realm of Religion" for church reporting, and "Afro American" and "Brother in Black" for national news. The Seattle Times noted in 1909 that The Seattle Republican had not missed a single issue since it had started.
The paper's tone followed the Progressive Era Republican politics of the time, sharing an optimistic view and debating current events with opinionated arguments. Horace stated that it "stands for right, and champions the cause of the oppressed. The success of the Republican Party is one of its highest ambitions." This did not prevent it from critiquing some Republican policies. Horace frequently wrote about the struggle for equal rights locally and nationally. The Caytons advocated for Black people to move to the West in search of less explicit racial discrimination. The Seattle Republican dedicated coverage to local corruption and crime. The paper also covered topics relevant to other ethnic communities in the area, such as news about Seattle's Jewish population and advocacy for Japanese immigrants in California.
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The Seattle Republican
The Seattle Republican was a weekly newspaper in Seattle from 1894 to 1913, and is considered Seattle's first successful African American newspaper.
The Seattle Republican was Seattle's second Black newspaper, after The Seattle Standard was founded by Brittain Oxendine in 1891. The founder of The Seattle Republican, Horace R. Cayton Sr., was formerly enslaved in the American South. Cayton moved to Seattle to work in journalism. He was a political reporter for Seattle's largest paper at the time, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and joined The Seattle Standard before it collapsed in 1893. In an attempt to start a successful paper that could appeal to both Black and white audiences, Cayton founded The Seattle Republican in 1894.
Cayton shared copies of the paper for years with Hiram Revels, a leading figure during Reconstruction. Revels was president of Cayton's alma mater, Alcorn College. Revels dictated his replies to his daughter Susie Sumner Revels, who also shared her own family news with Cayton.
Susie Revels began contributing to the paper in 1896 with an article on Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Exposition. Cayton praised her skills in the paper, writing: "she gives every evidence of becoming a very forceful and effective writer and seems especially adapted to fiction and verse." Soon she moved to Seattle to marry Cayton and help with the paper. Susie was associate editor starting in 1900, becoming Seattle's first woman newspaper editor. Both Caytons wrote for the paper, with Susie contributing articles and short stories.
Before racial discrimination and segregation spiked in Seattle in 1910, there were some opportunities for Black business owners to succeed by catering to Seattle's mostly white residents. Some Black settlers, like the Caytons, viewed Seattle as an unmolded frontier town with a heightened possibility of progress and economic opportunity. There were only 2,300 Black residents by 1910, but this was a large growth from the 400 Black residents in 1900. Additionally, the percentage of Seattle's Black residents who owned businesses was higher during its frontier period than in the 2000s.
The Seattle Republican catered to a general audience in Seattle, and due to city demographics it mostly had white readers. At one point it was the second-most popular newspaper in Seattle. The newspaper's scope and audience differed from that of Seattle's first Black newspaper, The Seattle Standard, which wrote to Seattle's Black community. The Seattle Republican sought to portray "the black race" in a positive manner and hoped to create harmony between races through open discussion of sensitive race issues. Some Black readers felt the paper catered too much to the white community in Seattle, and the paper shared some of the difficulties of catering to both communities in a 1906 piece called "Stop Your Paper".
The Seattle Republican published local politics and commentary targeted at a general audience, but also included news specifically from Seattle's Black community. It was the only paper on the West Coast to regularly receive cable and telegraph news from the press in New York, and it covered national politics in addition to its local reporting. Regular columns covered various aspects of the paper's reporting, from "Political Pot Pie" for local politics, to "Realm of Religion" for church reporting, and "Afro American" and "Brother in Black" for national news. The Seattle Times noted in 1909 that The Seattle Republican had not missed a single issue since it had started.
The paper's tone followed the Progressive Era Republican politics of the time, sharing an optimistic view and debating current events with opinionated arguments. Horace stated that it "stands for right, and champions the cause of the oppressed. The success of the Republican Party is one of its highest ambitions." This did not prevent it from critiquing some Republican policies. Horace frequently wrote about the struggle for equal rights locally and nationally. The Caytons advocated for Black people to move to the West in search of less explicit racial discrimination. The Seattle Republican dedicated coverage to local corruption and crime. The paper also covered topics relevant to other ethnic communities in the area, such as news about Seattle's Jewish population and advocacy for Japanese immigrants in California.