Western Appeal
June 13, 1885 front page of Western Appeal
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| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Founder(s) | Samuel E. Hardy John T. Burgett Frederick Douglass Parker |
| Publisher | Parker Burgett & Hardy Publishing Company |
| Editor | Frederick Douglass Parker John Quincy Adams Roy Wilkins |
| Founded | June 5, 1885 |
| Political alignment | Republican |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 1923 |
| Headquarters | St. Paul, Minnesota |
| ISSN | 2163-7083 |
| OCLC number | 10153837 |
The Western Appeal was a weekly newspaper published from 1885 to 1923. It was one of the most successful African-American newspapers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Founded in St. Paul, Minnesota, it was published in six separate editions in cities across the United States at the height of its popularity. In 1889 the newspaper changed its name to The Appeal to reflect its expanded geographic scope.
In 1885 there were less than 1500 African-American residents in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. African-American newspapers were common at the time, but few of them lasted longer than a year, since they were started for cultural purposes more than commercial ones. There had been many previous African-American newspapers in St. Paul, including one printed in 1876 also named the Western Appeal. It had no affiliation with the paper established in 1885.
The Western Appeal was first published on June 5, 1885, in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was started by Samuel E. Hardy and John T. Burgett with Frederick Douglass Parker, who also served as the newspaper's first editor. It was a weekly paper, with an edition each Friday containing news, editorials, advertisements, and a literary page. Subscription rates were affordable, only two dollars a year, but the paper was already struggling financially by the end of 1886.
In December 1886, Parker resigned as editor and a new management team took over. Prominent St. Paul businessmen Thomas H. Lyles and James Kidd Hilyard led the team and put their own money into the paper to save it. In February 1887, the team reorganized under the name Northwestern Printing Company. It provided job order printing services in addition to publishing the Western Appeal, which kept the paper afloat financially over the long term.
Lyles and Hilyard initially convinced Parker to return to the Western Appeal as editor. But by January 1887, Parker had resigned again to take another position. Lyles and Hilyard then promoted associate editor John Quincy Adams to editor. Adams had been editor of a similar newspaper, the Bulletin, in Louisville, Kentucky. He had moved to St. Paul in 1886 at the request of Lyles and Hilyard to work at the Western Appeal. With his promotion, Adams became the driving force behind the newspaper.
Adams was an influential writer and a staunch Republican, and like other editors of his day, he expressed his opinions through his paper's editorial page. The Western Appeal even received funding directly from the Republican Party, another common practice for newspapers of the time.
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