[Genealib] J. R. Clifford stamp, Pioneer Press editorials online

Thu Feb 12 14:11:25 EST 2009

FYI.  If any of you are doing anything with the Commemorative Stamp Set
of civil rights pioneers issued this month, here is some info on J. R.
Clifford.  

On our Web site:
Bio:  http://www.wvculture.org/history/clifford.html
Timeline entry:
http://www.wvculture.org/history/timetrl/ttsept.html#0922
Editorial pieces:
http://www.wvculture.org/history/africanamericans/pioneerpress.html

Susan Scouras
Librarian
WV Archives and History Library
The Cultural Center
1900 Kanawha Blvd. East
Charleston, WV  25305-0300
(304) 558-0230, Ext. 742

-----Original Message-----
From: Terri Marion 
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 4:47 PM
To: Terri Marion
Subject: News Release: Archives and History Section posts Pioneer Press
editorials online

Contact:

Jacqueline A. Proctor

Deputy Commissioner/Communications Manager

Phone: 304.558.0220, ext. 120

E-mail: jacqueline.proctor at wvculture.org

For Immediate Release: Feb. 10, 2009

Archives and History section posts Pioneer Press editorials online

The Archives and History section of the West Virginia Division of
Culture and History has posted some of the Pioneer Press editorials by
J. R. Clifford as part of its Black History Month celebration and to pay
tribute to Clifford who is one of 12 civil rights pioneers announced as
honorees on the February 2009 Commemorative Stamp Set being issued by
the U.S. Postal Service. The Pioneer Press was the state's first black
newspaper. The editorials can be accessed at the Division's Web site at
www.wvculture.org/history/africanamericans/pioneerpress.html.

On Friday, Feb. 20, at 11:30 a.m., the U.S. Postal Service will present
the J. R. Clifford Stamp celebration program at the Cultural Center,
State Capitol Complex in Charleston. Guests include Gov. Joe Manchin III
and first lady Gayle Manchin, House Speaker Rick Thompson, State
Education Superintendent Steve Paine, NAACP Charleston Chapter President
Coston Davis, representatives of Clifford's family, the Martin Luther
King, Jr. Male Chorus, Kitty Dooley, former West Virginia Supreme Court
Justice Larry Starcher and more. First Day issue commemorative stamps
can be ordered from the Postal Service during the ceremony. The event is
free and open to the public. 

The posted editorials date from January 1911 through September 1916.
Clifford was, among other things, a strong advocate for civil rights.
His June 3, 1911, editorial reads, in part, "For 28 years The Pioneer
Press has been a leader in this State and Nation for the grand and noble
fight that is being waged for the amelioration of the condition of the
Negro." On May 25, 1912, he wrote, "One of our strong writers, says:
'The Negro has I fear little to hope for.' That's true, but he has a
great deal to fight for. Will he do it?"

Clifford was a trailblazer in many aspects of West Virginia's black
history. He broke new ground in education, journalism, law, and civil
rights. Clifford was born in Williamsport, Hardy County (present-day
Grant County) in 1848. He served in the 13th U.S. Heavy Artillery during
the Civil War. After the war, he attended a writing school in Wheeling
and then began teaching other African Americans to write. After
graduating from the Storer College normal department in 1875, Clifford
accepted a teaching position at the Sumner School in Martinsburg and was
eventually promoted to principal.

In 1882, while teaching at Sumner, Clifford established the Pioneer
Press. He advocated for the rights of African Americans locally and
nationally. He often criticized the all-white management of Storer
College. The Pioneer Press remained one of the most respected black
newspapers in the national until it was closed by the federal government
in 1917, due to Clifford's editorial criticisms of the United States'
involvement in World War I.

Many of Clifford's most important contributions to black history were in
the field of law. He studied with a white lawyer in Martinsburg, J.
Nelson Wysner, and in 1887 became the first African American to pass the
West Virginia bar examination. He argued two landmark cases before the
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, winning one. In Williams v.
Board of Education of Tucker County, the Tucker County Board of
Education had reduced the school term of African-American schools from
eight to five months to save money. A black teacher, Carrie Williams,
consulted with Clifford who suggested she continue teaching the entire
eight months, despite the fact she would not be paid. When the board
refused to pay Williams for the additional three months, Clifford took
the case to court. The West Virginia Supreme Court found in favor of
Williams, the first ruling in U.S. history to determine that racial
discrimination was illegal.

In the area of civil rights, Clifford worked with his friend, W. E. B.
Du Bois, to found the Niagara Movement in 1905. They developed the
movement to counter Booker T. Washington's philosophy of working within
the existing system to achieve gradual civil rights and advancement.
Washington had become quite popular with the white politicians of the
time because of his conservative views. Participants in the Niagara
Movement wanted immediate change. Clifford left the Niagara Movement
when it formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) in 1909. Among other disagreements, he objected to the
use of the word "colored" in the organization's title.

Clifford died in Martinsburg in 1933, at the age of 85. In 1954 his body
was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery in recognition of his
service during the Civil War.

For more information, contact Jacqueline Proctor, deputy commissioner of
the Division, at (304) 558-0220.

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West
Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, brings together the
state's past, present and future through programs and services in the
areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and
museums. Its administrative offices are located at the Cultural Center
in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state
archives and state museum. The Cultural Center is West Virginia's
official showcase for the arts. The agency also operates a network of
museums and historic sites across the state. For more information about
the Division's programs, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of
Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

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