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Title:
The century voice. : (Yazoo City, Miss.) 194?-19??
Place of publication:
Yazoo City, Miss.
Geographic coverage:
  • Yazoo City, Yazoo, Mississippi  |  View more titles from this: City County, State
Publisher:
Century Voice
Dates of publication:
194?-19??
Frequency:
Monthly
Language:
  • English
Subjects:
  • African Americans--Mississippi--Newspapers.
  • African Americans.--fast--(OCoLC)fst00799558
  • Mississippi--Yazoo City.--fast--(OCoLC)fst01226271
  • Mississippi.--fast--(OCoLC)fst01207034
  • Yazoo City (Miss.)--Newspapers.
Notes:
  • "With justice for all, and malice toward none."
  • Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • Description based on: Vol. 3, no. 9 (Apr. 1945).
  • Published by: T.J. Huddleston, Jr., <1956>.
LCCN:
sn 88067172
OCLC:
18201974
ISSN:
2694-6319
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The century voice. August 1, 1942 , Image 1

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Afro-American Courier and The Century Voice

The Huddleston family produced two business-related newspapers in Yazoo City, the seat of cotton-producing Yazoo County in Western Mississippi. Philanthropist and entrepreneur Thomas Jefferson Huddleston, Sr., founded the fraternal organization, Afro-American Sons and Daughters, with the purpose of raising funds for the first Black-owned and operated hospital in the state. There was dire need for such a facility because African American citizens could not receive adequate medical care nearby. The Afro-American Courier was published by the organization as their official journal. Huddleston owned a string of Century Burial Association funeral homes throughout Mississippi; The Century Voice was the mouthpiece for this company. Both papers primarily promoted their respective businesses, but also carried other news and opinions on subjects of importance to the local African American community.

The Afro-American Courier was first published in 1926, two years after the fraternal organization was established and two years before the Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital opened its doors. The four-to-eight-page monthly, later reduced to bi-monthly distribution, referred to Huddleston as custodian and business manager of the organization. The newspaper's stated purpose was "… to keep the Lodges informed as to the progress of the Order … to awaken race consciousness, along the line of mutual cooperation … [and] to put ourselves on record before the civilized world, as a worth-while people." The Courier reported on the status of local lodges, and it printed lists of sick members and recent deaths. Frequent topics included details of the new medical facility as well as features on the Huddleston family and the hospital's chief surgeon, Dr. Lloyd Tevis Miller. Local news, particularly sports and educational achievements, often made it into the paper. Huddleston wrote optimistic editorials as seen in the January 1, 1939 issue stating, "In spite of race hatred, race discrimination, and injustice, there is still a ray of hope for the Negro." The last known issue of the Courier was published in May 1957, five months before Thomas Jefferson Huddleston, Sr., passed away. The hospital closed around 1970 as alternative health care options became possible.

In August 1942, Thomas Jefferson Huddleston, Jr., announced that he had resigned from his position with the Afro-American Sons and Daughters to devote all his time to the family's Century Burial Association business. He modeled his new newspaper, The Century Voice, after the Courier, which he had edited subsequent to his graduation from Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1933.Also an eight-page monthly, the Voice described itself as a "News journal dedicated to the doctrine of universal democracy." As did the Courier, the Voice provided ethical guidance, but devoted more space to local and societal news. The Century Voice reflected events in the world at large, in particular World War II, warning readers in a February 1942 editorial that "Postwar Adjustment will be most Severe For Negroes." The Century Voice appears to have ended in 1963.

Provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History