George Washington Welcome’s “Weekly Times” cited in George Washington Williams’ “The History of the Negro Race in America 1619–1880, Vol. 2”

As these discursive notes into the lost history of the first and earliest colored newspapers in West Virginia continue we continue to question how the false origin myth of J. R. Clifford and the Pioneer Press first began and has been perpetuated now for nearly twenty years or so.

As a note, we have emailed and chatted on the phone with Clifford legal scholar Mr. Tom Rodd, Esq. over the past couple of years. We have found Mr. Rodd to be generous with his time and forthright in sharing his knowledge (and publications) on Clifford. However, several emails to Prof. Connie Rice, the leading scholar on Clifford due her 2007 dissertation, have gone unanswered and ignored.

We at Lost History Associates get it. We aren’t surprised. We have been in this history game for more than a couple years and fortnights. Whereas a good journalist never ducks a correction, a good historian acknowledges their errors and oversights.

The historic record must be corrected. However, the historic record will not be corrected by those who are responsible for the historic record needing correction.

As I have closely reviewed Rice’s dissertation I’ve found several questionable and/or incomplete citations. What I have not found is any mention or even an allusion to George Washington Welcome, founder of the Wheeling Times / Weekly Times (ca. 1882) and Pioneer Freeman / Pioneer Press (ca. 1883). In 1884 Welcome sold his interest in the Pioneer Press to Clifford, who subsequently ran the paper until the second decade of the 20th century.

We must declaredly affirm that we admire and acknowledge the groundbreaking public history of Mr. Rodd, Esq. and public scholarship of Prof. Rice to recognize and uplift the history of Prof. Clifford, Esq. We also affirm our admiration and acknowledgement of the consequential career of Clifford, an associate of Frederick Douglass.

However, with these niceties out of the way someone must be accountable. That someone can be everyone; that someone can be all of us who toil within this field of public history. That someone can be the state of West Virginia and all of the individuals and institutions therein. We have repeatedly questioned the work of Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in not better advancing the public history and the historic interpretation of Storer College and its graduates. If we were conspiratorial we may dare think there is an all-involved conspiracy to obscure, suppress and erase the history of George Washington Welcome.

Whatever conspiracy may be afoot and conspiring the facts, truth and proper citations will abide and prevail.

George Washington Williams includes George Washington Welcome’s Weekly Times [Wheeling Times] in his 1882 book The History of the Negro Race in America 1619–1880.

The subject of a half-century research pursuit by Master Historian Prof. John Hope Franklin, in 1882 George Washington Williams published his seminal two-volume The History of the Negro Race in America 1619–1880. Several years before Williams had published a short-lived weekly newspaper in Washington City, using the Capitol Hill home address of Frederick Douglass for subscription orders.

Within the appendix of Volume 2 of The History of the Negro Race in America 1619–1880 Williams lists “NEWSPAPERS BY COLORED MEN” covering more than twenty states and Washington City.

On page 378 George Washington Welcome’s The Weekly Times [Wheeling Times] is cited by Williams. (When Welcome first launched his newspaper in Wheeling it was apparently a monthly, known as the Wheeling Times. In the late summer / early fall the paper began publication as a weekly and took the name The Weekly Times.)

This straightforward citation has apparently been overlooked for nearly two decades and therefore George Washington Welcome has been overlooked for nearly two decades.

How did Williams and Welcome correspond? Did Williams and Welcome know each other personally? There are several indications that Welcome was well known in certain areas of Ohio, westward of West Virginia. Williams was well known in Ohio, studying law under the father of future President William Howard Taft and serving in the state legislature. Could Williams and Welcome have known each other through their travels within Ohio?

Welcome apparently knew William Calvin Chase. Williams knew Chase. Welcome and Chase knew Frederick Douglass, as did Williams.

How long will it take for the public historic record to be corrected? We hope it takes less than twenty years to recognize and uplift George Washington Welcome, founder of two of West Virginia’s earliest colored newspapers.

JHM / LHA

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EDITOR’S NOTE:

This ongoing discursive research has been registered with the United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Any duplication and/or replication of this research, or the semblance of duplication and/or replication, without written authorization and consent of its author will be prosecuted with the full force of copyright law in local, state, federal and international criminal and civil courts.

Frederick Douglass took care of “All money orders and letters on business” for launch of The Commoner

DC Public Library, Washingtoniana Division

“ALL money orders and letters on business must be directed to the editor of THE COMMONER, 316 A street northeast, care of Hon. Frederick Douglass, until further notice.”

 

SOURCE:

The Commoner, Vol. 1, No. 1., 10 Sept., 1875, p. 2

 

“The Commoner,” Vol. 1, No. 1 [September 10, 1875]

For more information on George Washington Williams, check out John Hope Franklin’s book on Williams or watch an interview he gave on Williams.

Chronicling America’s entry for The Commoner.