Ralph Waldo Tyler

Ralph Waldo Tyler (1860–1921) was an African-American journalist, war correspondent, government official, and race man. He strove for racial justice in the United States and served as the only accredited Black foreign correspondent specifically reporting on African-American servicemen stationed in France during World War I. His career began in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in the late 1880s, where he held several journalistic positions including editor of the Afro-American; co-founding the short-lived African-American newspaper, The Free American; contributing a Black news column and serving as society editor at the white-owned Columbus Evening Dispatch, and writing for The Ohio State Journal.

Early on, his journalistic skills placed him in constant dialog with Black political and business leaders in the Midwest who were engaged in improving the social standing of African Americans at the height of the Jim Crow laws. In 1906, Tyler actively campaigned for an appointment as United States consul to Brazil. His political activities drew the attention of prominent national Black figures.

In 1907, upon the advice of Booker T. Washington, Tyler was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to fill the post of Auditor of the Department of the Navy. He held this post until 1913, when during the first year of Woodrow Wilson's presidency—overlooking the advice of his colleagues—Tyler published an article in the Washington Evening Star criticizing the President's segregationist policies, such as the segregation of government offices. Soon afterward, Tyler's governmental post under Wilson ended.

Booker T. Washington and his Secretary, Emmett J. Scott, next recommended Tyler to be the National Organizer of the National Negro Business League (NNBL), an organization founded by Washington to engage in documenting the state of Black businesses to promote an organized and active League membership. Tyler learned about the social conditions and concerns of Blacks throughout the country. His role at the NNBL entailed visiting and addressing local branches of the NNBL. His findings were reported in a 1914 syndicated column of the American Press Association, and his travels through the Southern U.S. enabled him to undertake a personal study of the Great Migration then in progress by blacks out of the rural South for the North and Midwest. These reports were eventually published in various U.S. magazines, journals, and newspapers. In 1917, Tyler left this post to serve as secretary in another organization founded by Washington, the National Colored Soldiers' Comfort Committee, which provided financial support for Black soldiers and their families.

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