''The Monroe Journal'' is a weekly newspaper from

Monroeville, Alabama Monroeville is the county seat of Monroe County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census its population was 5,951. Several notable writers were born in Monroeville. History Occupied for thousands of years by indigenous peoples, this area ...

serving the city and surrounding area.

History

''The Monroe Journal'' is the oldest and the longest-running newspaper in

Monroe County, Alabama Monroe County is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,772. Its county seat is Monroeville, Alabama, Monroeville. ...

. The paper was founded in 1866 in Clairborne. It moved to Monroeville sometime after its 1867 sale by L. M. Brewer. It was purchased by Q. Salter in 1887, when he was just 20 years old. It would remain in the Salter Family for 64 years. By 1916 it had linotype and power-driven presses. From 1929 to 1947 A.C. Lee, father of Harper Lee and the model for Atticus Finch, was editor and part-owner of the Journal. Q.M. Salter died in 1938, two years after selling his interest the Journal. During Reconstruction, its editorials and published letters took a "staunchly pro-white and pro-Southern stance," and in the 1920s, when the Montgomery Advertiser spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan, the Journal portrayed them as hysterical, saying "Just what good purpose the Advertiser imagines might be served by unrestrained denunciation of this particular form of criminality we fail to fathom." However, by the 1950s, the ''Journal'' had shifted its stance, speaking against the Ku Klux Klan, telling them to "direct its attacks at the ''Journal'' and other strong business interests rather than trying to intimidate local black citizens."

References

{{reflist Newspapers published in Alabama Newspapers established in 1866 1866 establishments in Alabama