In 1893, it had been thirty years since enslaved people in the South had been made free with the Emancipation Proclamation. During the violent and all-to-brief period of Reconstruction (1865-1877), freed people began — against all odds — to exercise their civic rights and build strong, self-sufficient communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This evolution continued even after the “redemption” of the region — its return to the status quo of white supremacy, now maintained through Jim Crow laws and racial terror. Instrumental in chronicling the ever-changing racial and political landscape were Black newspapers like the Huntsville Gazette<\/a><\/em>, a weekly, published from 1879 to 1894. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This exhibit provides a snapshot of the Gazette<\/em>‘s coverage of issues about and important to the Black community by highlighting one article per issue from the year 1893. That year was chosen not because it was extraordinary but because it was perfectly ordinary — that is, filled with its own stories and concerns that follow from 1892 and flow into 1894. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The content in this exhibit is presented in two forms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The timeline includes transcriptions of article content. Like many periodicals past and present, the Gazette<\/em> was frequently plagued with typos, which we have let stand as they are, to accurately represent the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All images are in the public domain or have no restrictions attached, unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the best experience, especially when on a mobile device, click here to view the timeline in its own window<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n Timeline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n