Thomas P. Mahammitt
| Thomas P. Mahammitt | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August , 1862 Frederick, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | March 28, 1950 (aged 87) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Occupation | Journalist, Civil Rights Activist |
| Spouse(s) | Ella Mahammitt, Sarah Helen Mahammitt |
Thomas P. Mahammitt (August 1862 – March 28, 1950) was a journalist, caterer, civil rights activist, and civic leader from Omaha Nebraska. He was owner and editor for the black weekly, The Enterprise, Omaha's leading black paper at the turn of the 20th century. He was also an active leader in the Masons and the Boy Scouts and was named "Omaha's most distinguished Negro citizen" in 1934.
Mahammitt was born August, 1862 in Frederick, Maryland. Mahammitt worked as a waiter as a young man, and moved to Omaha in the 1880s where he continued to work as a caterer. In 1896, Mahammitt and Oscar R. Ricketts ran "Mahammitt & Ricketts, Billiard Hall and Pool Room, Bath Room and Tonsorial Parlor" at 1120 Capitol Avenue in Omaha.
He married Miss Ella Lilian Davis Browne of Kansas City in that city on June 9, 1891. A reception was held in Omaha at the home of Millard F. Singleton. He later married Helen B. Tolliver on May 25, 1904 in Des Moines, Iowa. She died November 26, 1956. Mahammitt died March 28, 1950. His funeral was at St. Philip's Episcopal Church and he was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
In 1893 George F. Franklin started publishing The Enterprise, later published by Thomas P. Mahammitt. For Easter, 1896, Mahammitt's Enterprise released a special edition which was widely commended and whose contributors included Ella L. Mahammitt, Mrs. E. E. Guy, J. A. Childs, Josephine Sloan Yates, Mrs. E. Turner, Comfort Baker, Victoria Earle Matthews, and Margaret James Murray (wife of Booker T. Washington).The Enterprise was owned by Thomas and operated by his wife, Ella, with Mrs. Al. Robinson the typographer, and was Omaha's leading black paper in the 1890s and 1900s. Its success allowed it to increase in size from a seven-column folio to a six-column quatro in 1901. Mahammitt was on the executive committee of the Western Negro Press Association along with chairman W. W. Taylor and with H. R. Pinkney, Col. F. L. Jeltz, Nick Chiles, and W. H. Duncan and of the National Afro-American Press Association in 1905.
Mahammitt was involved in civic affairs as well. In 1896, he was on the executive board of the Colored Men's Working Republican Club, and in 1897 he served as treasurer for the local board for the Negro Department of the Tennessee Centennial. He had a good relationship with Omaha's political elite, and in 1900 he became Omaha Inspector of Weights and Measures. Mahammitt was noted for his strict enforcement and made his office self-supporting, inspecting fees paying his salary.
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