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RICHMOND, Va. The nation s oldest black newspaper, founded 20 years after the Emancipation Proclamation by 13 former slaves, celebrated its 100th anniversary this week with a special edition that symbolizes its heritage. It hasn t slacked up any, said John Templeton, the bespectacled 27-year-old editor of the weekly Richmond Afro-American and Planet.
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The newspaper, which reaches 40,000 readers each week, printed its first full-color edition to celebrate its first century in business.
Templeton spoke with pride of the newspaper s past a history highlighted by fiery John Mitchell Jr., the editor from 1884 until his death in 1929.
Mitchell was threatened with death numerous times when the newspaper printed attacks on the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings, voter fraud, mistreatment of black teachers, unfair treatment of blacks in the judicial system and other Jim Crow injustices common to the old South, Templeton said.
For years, Black students at the University of Richmond have petitioned the school to change the names of two buildings. After the university denied that request, Black students are demanding action.
Black students at the University of Richmond are not happy that the name of a Black newspaper editor and civil rights activist will be added to a building alongside the name of a white segregationist and eugenicist.
Proposed Virginia license plate celebrates The Richmond Planet and Black excellence
The effort to honor a forgotten piece of Richmond history with a new license plate
By: Shelby Brown
and last updated 2021-03-04 11:20:31-05
RICHMOND, Va. - Stumbling across a newspaper article while conducting research for a historical highway marker, Reginald Carter got a lesson that he said was not in his history books growing up in Essex County.
The Virginia State University and University of Richmond graduate was exploring the details of a lynching in Essex.
He found proof in this 125-year-old article from a black-owned newspaper. The name of the paper was unfamiliar to him.
Proposed Virginia license plate celebrates The Richmond Planet and Black excellence wtvr.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wtvr.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.