A. J. Smitherman facts for kids

Andrew Jackson Smitherman (born December 1883 – died June 1961) was an American lawyer, journalist, and a champion for civil rights. He worked to make sure all people were treated fairly.

Smitherman started his career in journalism in 1908 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He wrote for a newspaper called the Muskogee Cimiter. Later, he started his own newspaper, the Muskogee Star, in 1912. He then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1913 and started the Tulsa Star. Smitherman was an important leader in the Greenwood District of Tulsa. This changed after the terrible Tulsa Race Massacre. After this event, Smitherman was wrongly accused of causing trouble. He left Oklahoma and eventually settled in Buffalo, New York. There, he started another newspaper, the Buffalo Star, in 1932.

Early Life and Education

Andrew Jackson Smitherman was born in Childersburg, Alabama on December 27, 1883. He was the second of eleven children in his family. His father owned a coal business, and his mother was a schoolteacher.

When he was a child, his family moved to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. After finishing high school, he went to the University of Kansas and Northwestern University. He earned his law degree, called a Juris Doctor, from La Salle University. He also studied in big cities like Chicago and Boston.

Journalism and Activism

Smitherman began his journalism career in 1908 at William Twine's newspaper, the Muskogee Cimiter. In 1909, he became a leader in the Associated Negro Press, a group for Black newspapers. He became its president in 1910 and held that job until 1921.

In 1912, he started his own newspaper, the Muskogee Star. A year later, in 1913, Smitherman moved to Tulsa. There, he founded the Tulsa Star. This newspaper was published until the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. The Tulsa Star supported the Democratic Party. This was unusual because most African American newspapers at that time supported the Republican Party.

Smitherman believed in self-reliance for Black communities. He also strongly spoke out against violence and unfair attacks on African Americans. He urged people to stand up for themselves. In 1919, he was chosen to meet President Woodrow Wilson when the president visited Oklahoma City. After a rise in violence against African Americans in Oklahoma in 1920, Governor James B. A. Robertson held a meeting with people of different races. Smitherman was invited as one of the important African American leaders. He argued that Black communities should be able to protect themselves from violence.

The Tulsa Race Massacre

The Tulsa Star newspaper encouraged its readers to be ready to defend people who were unfairly arrested. Smitherman wrote that a past event showed that even prisoners in a courthouse were not safe from angry mobs. When people gathered near the Tulsa Star offices because of an arrest, Smitherman was said to have told them to go to the courthouse. This is where the violence first started.

On June 1, 1921, during the Tulsa Race Massacre, the offices and printing press of the Tulsa Star were destroyed. Smitherman's home was also destroyed. He had to leave Tulsa after the massacre. He and his family, including his wife and five children, moved to Massachusetts. Prosecutors tried to blame him for causing the violence. In 1925, he moved to Buffalo, New York. There, he started the Buffalo Star newspaper in 1932. Other states did not send him back to Oklahoma, and the charges against him were officially dropped in 2007, long after he had passed away.

Later Life and Recognition

Andrew Jackson Smitherman passed away in Buffalo, New York in June 1961.

He was honored after his death by being added to the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2020-2021. This recognized his important work as a journalist.

See also

• National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame
• Tulsa Outrage