Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/212

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THE AFRO-AMERICAN PRESS.

The prospectus was well received, and was closely followed by 500 copies of The Enterprise, which greeted an anxious public with the characteristic motto: "We will from no duty shrink." On its list of subscribers were soon some of the most prominent whites, as well as colored men, of the county, with some of the best business houses of Danville, North Carolina, and of Richmond, as advertisers. Many complimentary and substantial messages of appreciation poured into the editor's sanctum. We here insert one from T. E. Barksdale, the very efficient superintendent of schools of Halifax: "Upon my return home I found the first and second numbers of your paper. This commendable effort speaks well for the advance of your people in the last fifteen years. A strict adherence to the design of the paper, as set forth in your prospectus—the educational and religious improvement of your race—will, in my humble judgment, crown The Enterprise with success. Please find enclosed subscription for one year."

Mr. Henry, who was born in Richmond in 1852, received his education in the public schools of that city, including the high school. He afterwards read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1882, having as his associate in the practice the lamented R. Peel Brooks.

As a keen and magnificent writer, he proved himself equal to the task in the editorship of The Enterprise. For six months he stuck in a most tenacious manner to the following text, which stood at the head of its editorial columns. It bespeaks volumes for its mission. We here present it: "Educate your children; economize your earnings; acquire property; become part owners of the soil of your country. We have nailed our flag to this mast, and he who would attempt to haul it down, is an enemy to the best interests of the negro."

Mr, Henry resigned the editorship when an attempt was