During this time, he was also a regular correspondent of The Elevator of San Francisco, over the nom de plume of Private L. Overture; of The Colored Citizen of Cincinnati, edited by Prof. John Corbin, now of Arkansas; and of The Zion's Standard and Weekly Review of New York, edited by Prof. Howard Day, having with the last-mentioned paper the nom de plume of Paul Pickwick.
On going to Mississippi in 1868, he became the special correspondent of The New York Tribune, and wrote to other papers in the North during the period of Reconstruction. His letters to The Tribune afterwards attracted considerable attention, and were frequently copied into the columns of other papers. Mr. Greeley, on his way to Texas, stopped over at Canton, Miss., especially to pay Mr. Spelman a visit; but, unfortunately, he was not at home, and he never afterwards saw his benefactor alive.
In 1870, he was elected vice-president of the Republican Press Association, the only colored man who was a member; and subsequently he became its president. He has been connected, as editor and proprietor, with the following papers in Mississippi: People's Journal, The Messenger and The Mississippi Republican. He was associated with the late Hon. James Lynch in the publication of The Colored Citizen and The Jackson Tribune; and with the Baptist denomination in the publishing of The Baptist Signal and The Baptist Messenger, of which papers he was editor.
At the National Republican Convention of 1884, Mr. Spelman was the special correspondent of The Evening Post, a Democratic daily paper published in Vicksburg, Miss. He is still a frequent telegraph contributor to the press, for which he is daily compensated. He contributes an occasional letter to the Afro-American press, on matters pertaining to the race in the South.
Mr. Spelman's connection with the press has been of a
