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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Torchlight Appeal (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1886-18??

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About The Torchlight Appeal (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1886-18??

The Torchlight Appeal was founded in 1888 in Fort Worth, Texas, by Rev. S.D. Russell, a pastor at Allen Temple A.M.E. Church. It was issued every Friday, and the circulation was listed as 750 subscribers in the 1893 N.W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual directory. On January 17, 1890, the newspaper wrote, "The Torchlight Appeal is being sent to every town in Texas where there are colored people." In 1885, Russell had begun publishing the Herald of Truth, which later became the College Journal of Paul Quinn College in Waco, Texas. Russell then began the Torchlight Appeal, making it the only Black press in Texas with Democratic sympathies. In 1890, however, Russell moved to Denison to work on the Texas Reformer. By January 17, 1890, the Torchlight Appeal listed J.H. Milledge as editor and S.C. Conely as associate editor; Milledge was the named editor for the remainder of the newspaper's publication.

The Torchlight Appeal's motto was "A Wide Awake Weekly Paper for the People." On January 17, 1890, the newspaper wrote that it was "A progressive Journal devoted to the interest in the Negro race of the World. It aims to stimulate a taste for literary, art, and mechanical attainments." The Appeal included works by at least two women: Eva Taylor and Rosa Conley. In the January 17, 1890, issue, Taylor wrote an article titled "LABOR THE ONLY ROAD TO SUCCESS," where she discussed what it meant to work and how work was the way to reach prosperity. In the same issue, Conley wrote a poem titled "A Soldier," where she discussed soldiering on during times of difficulty.

The newspaper also touched on the main events of the time. In the three extant issues from January and February 1890, the newspaper covered the Russian flu, also known as "la grippe," a worldwide pandemic. The first case in the United States was reported on December 18, 1889; the wave lasted five weeks and peaked in January 1890. On February 3, 1890, the Torchlight Appeal wrote, "Mr. Butler of Wichita Falls is in the city and was welcomed by a case of la grippe."

J.H. Milledge attempted to launch a daily edition of the Torchlight Appeal in August 1890, but it did not succeed. The newspaper likely ceased publication by 1894.

Note: A portion of the issues digitized for this newspaper were microfilmed as part of the Miscellaneous Negro newspapers microfilm collection, a 12 reel collection containing issues of African American newspapers published in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Creation of the microfilm project was sponsored by the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1947. For more information on the microfilm collection, see: Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a Selected List (Library of Congress), published in 1953. While this collection contains selections from more than 150 U.S. newspapers titles, for further coverage, view a complete list of all digitized African American titles available in the Chronicling America collection.

Provided By: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Torchlight Appeal (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1886-18??

Dates of Publication

  • 1886-18??

Created / Published

  • Fort Worth, Tex. : J.H. Milledge

Headings

  • -  African Americans--Texas--Newspapers
  • -  African American newspapers--Texas--Newspapers
  • -  Fort Worth (Tex.)--Newspapers
  • -  Texas--Fort Worth
  • -  African American newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  Texas
  • -  United States--Texas--Tarrant--Fort Worth

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1886.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from the Library of Congress Photoduplication Service; Harvard Univ.
  • -  Microfilmed by the Library of Congress for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 3, no. 27 (Jan. 17, 1890).

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83025816

OCLC Number

  • 9839428

ISSN Number

  • 2996-8267

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 Torchlight Appeal Fort Worth, Tex. -18??. (Fort Worth, TX), Jan. 1 1886. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83025816/.

APA citation style:

(1886, January 1) The Torchlight Appeal Fort Worth, Tex. -18??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83025816/.

MLA citation style:

The Torchlight Appeal Fort Worth, Tex. -18??. (Fort Worth, TX) 1 Jan. 1886. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83025816/.