Ferdinand L. Barnett (Omaha)
| Ferdinand Lee Barnett | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Nebraska Legislature from the 10th district |
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In office 1927–1928 |
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| Preceded by | Bernard R. Stone |
| Succeeded by | M. J. Gardiner |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July , 1854 Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | July 18, 1932 (aged 77–78) Omaha, Nebraska, US |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Alice, Hattie Hunter |
| Occupation | Journalist, Civil servant |
Ferdinand L. Barnett (July 1854 - July 18, 1932) was a journalist, civil rights activist, politician, and civil servant from Omaha, Nebraska. He was founder an editor of the newspaper, the Progressive, which ran from 1889 to 1906 and served for a time as deputy clerk in the county court. He was elected to the Nebraska State House of Representatives in 1926.
Ferdinand Lee Barnett was born in July, 1854 in Huntsville, Alabama to F. L. Barnett and Sarah Erskine. He attended Rusk School in Huntsville and Fisk University in Nashville. He moved to Omaha in the 1880s along with his brother, fellow activist and journalist Alfred S. Barnett. Alfred S. later moved to Des Moines and then Chicago, while Ferdinand stayed in Omaha until his death from heart disease on July 18, 1932. Services were at St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church and Barnett is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Ferdinand first married a woman named Alice and second, on October 7, 1925, to Hattie Watts (née Hunter) of Sparta, Illinois daughter of Shed Hunter and Maria Patterson.
Barnett had no children and was a cousin to Ferdinand Lee Barnett, husband of Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
Barnett was active in the Omaha black community even before founding his paper, The Progress. In 1895, Barnett was a member of the Omaha branch of the National Afro-American League, serving in the Press committee with George F. Franklin, and in 1896 he was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention,. In 1897 he was appointed sidewalk inspector in Omaha, a prestigious public position.
In 1889 he founded The Progress, Omaha's first black paper. His influence through the paper was both local and national, and in 1901, he was elected vice president of the Western Negro Press Association. The paper ran until 1906, and that same year (1906) he served as deputy clerk of the county court under Judge Irving Baxter and ran for city alderman. In the paper he worked with James Bryant.
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