Mirror of the Times

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The Mirror of the Times
TypeWeekly African American newspaper
PublisherState Executive Committee
Foundedbetween 1855 and 1857
Ceased publicationc. 1858
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, U.S.
Sister newspapers Pacific Appeal
OCLC number 10103020

The Mirror of the Times was an African American weekly newspaper in San Francisco. The first weekly edition of the "Mirror of the Times" debuted on Friday, September 12, 1856, and its publication was welcomed by several local newspapers. [1] The paper remained in print until around 1858. It was the first African American newspaper in the state – and possibly in the entirety of the West Coast – and it advocated against racial segregation and for Black civic engagement.

Contents

Foundation

The Mirror of the Times was founded by Jonas H. Townsend and Mifflin Wistar Gibbs in the latter half of the 1850s, with the first edition documented by other local papers as being published on September 12, 1856. Some sources say 1855, historian J. William Snorgrass gives the date as October 31, 1856, [2] and the United States Library of Congress lists the founding as 1857. Townsend and Gibbs founded the paper after the 1855 inaugural meeting of the California State Convention of Colored Citizens, which agreed that African Americans in California should have their own their own newspaper. [3] The paper's motto was "Truth Crushed To The Earth Will Rise Again", [4] and it was financially supported by the California State Convention of Colored Citizens. [5]

Publication

The paper was written for both black and white audiences, and it reported news in both the essay and editorial styles. [6] It advocated against California's Testimony and Witness Laws in 1856 – a set of racially discriminatory laws aimed at black people (Black Codes), which prohibited them from being witnesses or giving testimony in court cases involving white people. [4] Their advocacy failed in 1857, and they responded that one "cannot expect a class of intelligent people [...] to tamely sit down and quietly submit to a law that denies them any protection and [...] give[s] license and security to thieves and robbers to plunder us". [7] By then, the black community of California became disorganized and civically disengaged; the paper attempted to provoke the community to participate more, saying "we have settled down into a state of indifference and lethargy". [4] They recognized that in the 1857 California gubernatorial election, Democratic nominee John B. Weller had won and was hostile to civil rights. [7] A journalist for the paper advocated for more education for black youth, and was discouraged by segregated schools that did not educate black children while being financially supported by black taxpayers. [8] In addition to news, it also reviewed music performances. [9]

The paper circulated throughout the western United States. [10]

Dissolution

Gibbs moved to British Columbia in 1858, and Townsend moved to New York around the same time. [4] Gibbs became the first black judge in the United States, and Townsend became a secretary in the French diplomatic mission in Haiti. [11] The paper likely dissolved that year. [4] According to historians James A. Fisher and Philip M. Montesano, it was the first African American newspaper in the state, [12] and Snorgrass writes that it was the first in the entirety of the West Coast. [3] By 1973, only two issues – August 1857 and December 1857 – had been located. [13] It was succeeded by the Pacific Appeal , another African American newspaper in San Francisco. [14]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Daily Alta California, San Francisco, CA, Saturday, September 13, 1856, p. 2, “A New Paper;” The Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, CA, Monday, September 15, 1856, p. 2, “The Colored Paper;” The Volcano Weekly Ledger, Amador County, CA, Saturday, September 20, 1856, p. 2, under “General Variety.”
  2. ↑ Snorgrass 1981, pp. 306, 317.
  3. 1 2 Snorgrass 1981, p. 306.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Snorgrass 1981, p. 307.
  5. ↑ Bell 1967, p. 157.
  6. ↑ Snorgrass 1981, pp. 306–307.
  7. 1 2 Fisher 1969, p. 318.
  8. ↑ Hutton 1993, p. 147.
  9. ↑ Wheeler 1993, p. 142.
  10. ↑ Katz 1971, p. 136.
  11. ↑ Wheeler 1993, pp. 123, 277.
  12. ↑ Fisher 1969, p. 317; Montesano 1973, p. 147.
  13. ↑ Montesano 1973, p. 152.
  14. ↑ Hutton 1993, p. 161.

Bibliography

  • Bell, Howard H. (1967). "Negroes in California, 1849–1859". Phylon . 28 (2): 151–160.
  • Fisher, James A. (December 1969). "The struggle for negro testimony in California, 1851–1863". Southern California Quarterly . 51 (4): 313–324.
  • Hutton, Frankie (1993). The early black press in America, 1827 to 1860. Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies. Greenwood Press. ISBN   9780313286964.
  • Katz, William Loren (1971). The black West (first ed.). Doubleday.
  • Montesano, Philip M. (1973). "San Francisco black churches in the early 1860s: Political pressure group". California Historical Quarterly . 52 (2): 145–152.
  • Snorgrass, J. William (1981). "The black press in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1856–1990". California History . 60 (4): 306–317.
  • Wheeler, B. Gordon (1993). Black California: The history of African-Americans in the Golden State. Hippocrene Books. ISBN   9780781800747.
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