About The Rising son. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1896-19??
Kansas City, Mo. (1896-19??)

Kansas City Rising Son

The Rising Son was an African American newspaper published in Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri. The paper operated from 1896 through 1918 with Lewis Wood as editor. From 1896 until November 17, 1905, the Rising Son was issued each Friday as an eight-page weekly. For a brief span--November and December 1905--the paper came out on Thursdays. Beginning on December 15, 1906, the Rising Son changed its publication schedule again, appearing on Saturdays.

Lewis Wood believed in patronizing businesses which did not discriminate against African Americans in employment or sales, and he placed special emphasis on supporting black enterprises. However, Wood was proud of the paper’s success beyond the African American community, and in the March 23, 1907 issue, he expressed pleasure “in gaining the confidence of the large white business firms in regard to its advertisements as trade promoters.”

William T. Washington purchased the Rising Son from Harry R. Graham in 1906. Washington had studied at Williams and Oberlin colleges and had worked for a time with Bliss Perry, editor of the Atlantic Monthly.

Under Washington’s leadership, the Rising Son expanded its news coverage and broadened the sources of its advertisements. An ambitious politician, Washington attempted to use the newspaper to advance his own political career and complained that Nelson C. Crews of the Kansas City Sun, another African American newspaper, attempted to obstruct his political influence. The feud between the two men became personal with Washington claiming at one point that Crews had threatened his life. Their rivalry ended when Crews purchased the Rising Son and ousted Washington as editor.

Note: A portion of the issues digitized for this newspaper were microfilmed as part of the Miscellaneous Negro newspapers microfilm collection, a 12 reel collection containing issues of African American newspapers published in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Creation of the microfilm project was sponsored by the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1947. For more information on the microfilm collection, see: Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a Selected List (Library of Congress), published in 1953. While this collection contains selections from more than 150 U.S. newspapers titles, for further coverage, view a complete list of all digitized African American titles available in the Chronicling America collection.

Provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO