Boston Guardian
Encyclopedia
The Boston Guardian was co-founded by William Monroe Trotter
and George Forbes in 1901 at Boston, Massachusetts
, and published in the same building that had once housed William Lloyd Garrison
's Liberator. In March 1901, Trotter helped organize the Boston Literary and Historical Association, a forum for militant race opinion. The first issue of the Guardian appeared in November of that year.
The paper enjoyed broad appeal with readers outside of Massachusetts, featuring news of interest to people of color from across the nation, as well as social notes, church news, sports, and fiction. Within its editorial opinion columns, Trotter often assailed the conservative accommodationist ideology of Booker T. Washington
, founder of the Tuskegee Institute.
The Guardian reached the peak of its circulation and prestige about the year 1910, roughly coinciding with the establishment of the National Association of Colored People, of which Trotter was a co-founder along with William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, et al. Trotter and Du Bois had previously joined with others in the formation of the Niagara Movement
, immediate predecessor to the NAACP.
Within the pages of the Guardian, Trotter criticized the slow progress in Negro social advancement in the face of institutional racism, discriminatory practices, and de jure segregation. When Thomas Dixon's
play The Clansman
(1905) was performed in Boston, the Guardian mounted a campaign that forced it from the stage. This stage production, based on Dixon's novel of the same name, later was adapted as the film Birth of A Nation (1915) by D.W. Griffith.
With high circulation and substantial advertising revenue, the Guardian enjoyed financial success in addition to crusading for civil rights. However, when William Monroe Trotter died in the year 1934 of an apparent accident at his home, the Guardian had already seen its best years. The newspaper eventually ceased publication in the 1950s.
"This opposition began to become vocal in 1901 when two men, Monroe Trotter, Harvard 1895, and George Forbes, Amherst 1895, began the publication of the Boston Guardian. The Guardian was bitter, satirical, and personal; but it was earnest, and it published facts. It attracted wide attention among colored people; it circulated among them all over the country; it was quoted and discussed. I did not wholly agree with the Guardian, and indeed only a few Negroes did, but nearly all read it and were influenced by it."
William Monroe Trotter
William Monroe Trotter was a newspaper editor and real estate business man, and an activist for African-American civil rights. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University, and was the first man of color to earn a Phi Beta Kappa key...
and George Forbes in 1901 at Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, and published in the same building that had once housed William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...
's Liberator. In March 1901, Trotter helped organize the Boston Literary and Historical Association, a forum for militant race opinion. The first issue of the Guardian appeared in November of that year.
The paper enjoyed broad appeal with readers outside of Massachusetts, featuring news of interest to people of color from across the nation, as well as social notes, church news, sports, and fiction. Within its editorial opinion columns, Trotter often assailed the conservative accommodationist ideology of Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
, founder of the Tuskegee Institute.
The Guardian reached the peak of its circulation and prestige about the year 1910, roughly coinciding with the establishment of the National Association of Colored People, of which Trotter was a co-founder along with William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, et al. Trotter and Du Bois had previously joined with others in the formation of the Niagara Movement
Niagara Movement
The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and Niagara Falls, the Canadian side of which was where the first meeting took...
, immediate predecessor to the NAACP.
Within the pages of the Guardian, Trotter criticized the slow progress in Negro social advancement in the face of institutional racism, discriminatory practices, and de jure segregation. When Thomas Dixon's
Thomas Dixon, Jr.
Thomas F. Dixon, Jr. was an American Baptist minister, playwright, lecturer, North Carolina state legislator, lawyer, and author, perhaps best known for writing The Clansman — which was to become the inspiration for D. W...
play The Clansman
The Clansman
The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan is the title of a novel published in 1905. It was the second work in the Ku Klux Klan trilogy by Thomas F. Dixon, Jr. that included The Leopard's Spots and The Traitor. It was influential in providing the ideology that helped support the...
(1905) was performed in Boston, the Guardian mounted a campaign that forced it from the stage. This stage production, based on Dixon's novel of the same name, later was adapted as the film Birth of A Nation (1915) by D.W. Griffith.
With high circulation and substantial advertising revenue, the Guardian enjoyed financial success in addition to crusading for civil rights. However, when William Monroe Trotter died in the year 1934 of an apparent accident at his home, the Guardian had already seen its best years. The newspaper eventually ceased publication in the 1950s.
Note
W.E.B. Du Bois attests to the influence and effectiveness of the Boston Guardian. In reference to W.M. Trotter's opposition to B.T. Washington, he wrote:"This opposition began to become vocal in 1901 when two men, Monroe Trotter, Harvard 1895, and George Forbes, Amherst 1895, began the publication of the Boston Guardian. The Guardian was bitter, satirical, and personal; but it was earnest, and it published facts. It attracted wide attention among colored people; it circulated among them all over the country; it was quoted and discussed. I did not wholly agree with the Guardian, and indeed only a few Negroes did, but nearly all read it and were influenced by it."
- Excerpt from Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept, New York, 1940, pp. 72–73 - ISBN 0-87855-917-5