Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/314

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THE AFRO-AMERICAN PRESS.

undertake the erection of an institution of learning at Winton, it being a most desirable locality for such an enterprise. To enlist the sympathy and help of the people, he began to issue monthly a paper known as The Chowan Pilot, by aid of which, within less than eighteen months, a two-story school-building, 60 by 30, was completed and paid for.

So brilliant was this brief record of his as a journalist, that in the summer of 1887, at the time of the establishment of The Pilot by the North Carolina Ministerial Union, he was unanimously chosen editor-in-chief of the paper. After some solicitation, he accepted this responsibility, and consented to consolidate The Chowan Pilot with this new enterprise. He then took immediate steps toward purchasing a printing-press, and to open an office under his own supervision. In less than a month everything was in readiness for operation.

Remarkable to say, he began to issue a bi-weekly paper, according to agreement, without any previous training in the art of type-setting. He not only filled the position of editor, but also compositor. Since its establishment, The Pilot has appeared regularly, and has rapidly grown in public favor. It is the only paper published in the town of Winton, and it is read by a majority of the white citizens, such being bona fide subscribers. It is a neatly printed, twenty-column paper, devoted chiefly to the denomination from which it derives its name; but in almost every issue are to be found strong articles affecting the race problem of America. The editor believes that the press, in the hands of the negro, may be made greatly instrumental in his advancement.

The success of The Pilot is better told by those who have visited the office, than by the author. Prof. S. M. Vass of Shaw University, upon a visit to The Pilot office at Winton, writes thus to The North Carolina Baptist: "It is my pleasant privilege to be able to sit in the office of The Baptist Pilot and write this short article for the Baptists of North