The ''Selma Times-Journal,'' is a five-day-a-week newspaper located in

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

. It publishes every day of the week, except Sunday and Monday. The Saturday paper is called the "Weekend Edition." It is owned by

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

-based Boone

Newspapers A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

Inc.

History

The paper was founded as the ''Selma Courier'' on November 2, 1827, by Thomas Jefferson Frow.From Courier to Times-Journal
''Selma Times-Journal'' (November 12, 2010). The newspaper was later known by various names, including the ''Selma Free Press'', ''Selma Reporter'', and ''Selma Daily News''. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the newspaper's press was torched by Union Army troops following the

Battle of Selma The Battle of Selma was fought on April 2, 1865 in Dallas County, Alabama during the American Civil War. It was part of the Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia, known as Wilson's Raid, in the final full month of the Civil War. Brevet ...

(see

Selma, Alabama in the American Civil War Selma, Alabama, during the American Civil War was one of the Southern United States, South's main military manufacturing centers, producing tons of supplies and munitions, and turning out Confederate warships. The Selma Ordnance and Naval Foundry ...

). The paper then merged with the weekly ''Selma Messenger'' to form the ''Times Messenger''. The paper then merged with the ''Selma Argus'' (becoming the ''Times-Argus''), and then with the ''Selma Evening Mail'' (becoming the ''Selma Times''). In 1889, the paper changed its name to the ''Morning Times''. In 1914, Frazier Titus Raiford purchased the ''Selma Times'', and on March 1, 1920, the paper merged with the ''Selma Journal'' to become the ''Selma Times-Journal''. Frazier Titus Raiford and his wife Mary Howard Raiford served as editors and publishers until Frazier died in 1936. Mary Raiford—Alabama's only female publisher—then ran the paper by herself for 23 years. In 1923, the paper editorialized against the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

, writing, "Selma has no room within her confines for that ugly, malevolent institution of the devil known as Ku Kluxism." In the later 1920s, the paper denounced James Thomas Heflin and his

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...

demagoguery. In the 1930 election for governor, the paper supported the candidacy of Judge Benjamin M. Miller, "a noted foe of

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of i ...

and the Klan" and a supporter of Democratic presidential nominee

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

. During the civil rights movement, the ''Times-Journal'' attempted to provide balanced reporting, unlike many other Southern newspapers of the era. Nevertheless, the paper did publish "advertisements from the local

White Citizens' Council The White Citizens' Councils were an associated network of white supremacist, segregationist organizations in the United States, concentrated in the South and created as part of a white backlash against the US Supreme Court's landmark ''Brown v ...

s that included veiled threats and ... other advertisements purportedly showing Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

at a communist training session." The paper provided meaningful coverage of the

Selma to Montgomery marches The Selma to Montgomery marches were three Demonstration (protest), protest marches, held in 1965, along the highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery. The marches were organized by Nonviolence, nonvi ...

. Journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, in their book '' The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation'', wrote: "Selma had something most other venues of civil rights activity did not: a local newspaper that visiting reporters could depend on. The ''Selma Times-Journal'' saw the historic importance of the story and took its responsibility seriously, providing detailed accounts that reporters found reliable." Kathryn Tucker Windham, a writer and storyteller, was a journalist and photographer with the ''Times-Journal'' in the mid-20th century, writing the column "Around our House" from 1950 to 1966.Amalia K. Amaki & Priscilla N. Davis, ''Tuscaloosa'' (Arcadia Publishing, 2015), p. 21.

Awards

2018 Better Newspaper Contest - Alabama Press Association

Notes

External links

* * {{Boone Newspapers Selma, Alabama Newspapers published in Alabama Newspapers established in 1827 Daily newspapers published in the United States 1827 establishments in Alabama Boone Newspapers