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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Greene County Herald (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-Current

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About Greene County Herald (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-Current

In the Piney Woods of southeastern Mississippi, next to the Alabama border, sits Greene County. Established in 1811, Greene is one of the oldest counties in the state. The sandy soil of the sparsely populated region supported long leaf pine forests, but was not conducive to growing cotton, corn, and other crops in commercial quantities. At the turn of the 20th century, yeoman farming was supplemented by industrial jobs as the timber boom created a new source of income for many residents.

The Greene County Herald began publication on September 1, 1898 in the county seat, Leakesville, on the Chickasawhay River; the owners were George Guy Faulk and E. J. Adam. With the February 2, 1899 edition, James Faulk replaced his older brother George as editor of the weekly. When James became sole proprietor in late August the same year, he immediately moved the day of publication from Thursday to Friday, where it remained for the 24 years he ran the newspaper. Normally four pages during his tenure, for five years (1911-16) he expanded the length to eight pages. Faulk had a distinguished journalism career, serving as president of the Mississippi Press Association (1916), joining a long list of influential editors who held that office. At the time of the sale of the Herald in November 1922 to G. S. Harmon and Leopold Locke of Poplarville, Faulk was the state Vice President for Mississippi for the National Editorial Association. In 2020, the newspaper is still being published as a weekly.

Throughout its first quarter century, the Greene County Herald was known for being a great source of local and state news. The newspaper’s original motto “Devoted to the development of Greene County” left no doubt about its purpose; it served as the official journal of the county. While the first two pages typically featured foreign and national news in addition to general interest articles and fictional stories, the later pages had Leakesville and county news, including the monthly proceedings of the Board of Supervisors. Subjects tackled by the Board included the erection of a new courthouse in 1898 and the reoccurring issue of building and maintaining a bridge across the Chickasawhay River. Faulk was a Democrat and vowed to support all Democratic candidates. From the last “Redeemer” governor, Andrew H. Longino (1900-04), through the progressive reforms of James K. Vardaman (1904-08), Edmond F. Noel (1908-12), Earl L. Brewer (1912-16), and Theodore G. Bilbo (1916-20), the Free Press supported them all. The social, educational, and economic reforms of the progressive governors were aimed at aiding poor white farmers and workers, but not the African American citizens of the state; Vardaman and Bilbo in particular were known for their racist rhetoric.

Provided By: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Greene County Herald (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-Current

Dates of Publication

  • 1898-current

Created / Published

  • Leakesville, Miss. : James and Bessie Faulk

Headings

  • -  United States--Mississippi--Greene--Leakesville

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began with Sept. 1, 1898 issue.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 4, no. 14 (Oct. 31, 1902).

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn87065327

OCLC Number

  • 15581873

ISSN Number

  • 2765-9488

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:

Greene County Herald Leakesville, Miss. -Current. (Leakesville, MS), Jan. 1 1898. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn87065327/.

APA citation style:

(1898, January 1) Greene County Herald Leakesville, Miss. -Current. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn87065327/.

MLA citation style:

Greene County Herald Leakesville, Miss. -Current. (Leakesville, MS) 1 Jan. 1898. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn87065327/.