John Edward Bruce facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Edward Bruce
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| Born | February 22, 1856 Piscataway, Maryland |
| Died | August 7, 1924 (aged 68) New York City |
| Resting place | Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers |
| Pen name | Bruce Grit |
| Occupation | Journalist, historian, writer, orator, civil rights activist |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Howard University |
| Spouse | Florence A. Bishop |
John Edward Bruce (born February 22, 1856 – died August 7, 1924) was an important American writer and activist. He was also known by his pen name, Bruce Grit. He worked as a journalist, historian, and speaker. He fought for the rights of Black people and supported the idea of Pan-Africanism, which means people of African descent around the world should work together.
John Edward Bruce was born into slavery in Maryland. As an adult, he started many newspapers along the East Coast. He also helped create the Negro Society for Historical Research in New York with Arthur Alfonso Schomburg.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
John Edward Bruce was born in 1856 in Piscataway, Maryland. His parents, Robert and Martha Allen (Clark) Bruce, were enslaved. When John was only three years old, his father was sold to another slave owner in Georgia. John never saw or heard from his father again.
John and his mother escaped to Washington, D.C. Later, they moved to Connecticut. There, John went to a school where Black and white students learned together. This was his first chance to get a formal education. He later returned to Washington, D.C., where he received private lessons. He also took a three-month course at Howard University. After that, he mostly taught himself.
In 1874, when he was 18, John Bruce got a job. He worked as a messenger for an editor at The New York Times office in Washington. Part of his job was to get information from Senator Charles Sumner. Senator Sumner was a Republican who strongly supported civil rights for African Americans.
Starting a Career in Journalism
In 1879, John Edward Bruce and Charles N. Otley started a newspaper in Washington, D.C. It was called the Argus Weekly. They wanted the paper to bravely support the ideas of the Republican Party. They also wanted it to help Black Americans grow morally and intellectually. This was a time when many new projects were starting in the Black community.
Bruce continued to start new newspapers. In 1880, he founded the Sunday Item. In 1882, he started the Republican. Both of these papers were in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1884, he worked as an editor and business manager for the Commonwealth in Baltimore, Maryland.
Later that year, he went back to Washington, D.C., to create another paper called the Grit. He also earned money by writing for other newspapers. These included The Boston Transcript and The Albany Argus. He used his pen name, "Bruce Grit," for these writings.
Speaking Out for Rights
John Edward Bruce became a popular speaker. He gave speeches about important issues like lynching, which was the illegal killing of Black people. He also talked about the difficult lives of Black people in the Southern states. He criticized the American political system for not protecting the rights of its Black citizens.
In 1890, he joined the National Afro-American League. This was the first organized group in the nation that fought for Black civil rights. Its leader was T. Thomas Fortune. In 1898, the group changed its name to the National Afro-American Council, and Bruce became its new president.
In 1900, Bruce was part of the writing team for the Republican National Committee.
Moving to New York
By 1908, John Edward Bruce had moved to New York. Many Black Americans were moving north during this time, a movement known as the Great Migration. In 1908, he started the Weekly Standard in Yonkers, New York.
From 1910, he worked as the American Correspondent for the African Times and Orient Review. This newspaper was published in London, England, and edited by Dusé Mohamed Ali. In Yonkers, he also worked as a probation officer in 1910.
Belief in Self-Defense
During and after the American Reconstruction era, many Black leaders believed in peaceful ways to bring about social change. However, John Edward Bruce was upset by the rise of lynchings and new laws that separated Black and white people. He believed in armed self-defense against racist attacks.
He famously said that a person who would not fight to protect their family was a coward. He believed that someone who stood up for what was right would always earn respect, even from their enemies. He supported "organized resistance to organized resistance." This meant fighting back in an organized way against organized attacks.
Later Work and Legacy
In Harlem and Yonkers, Bruce connected with many smart people. This included new immigrants from the Caribbean. In 1911, he and Arthur Schomburg, who was from Puerto Rico, founded the Negro Society for Historical Research. This group was first based in Yonkers. Its goal was to create a place to support scholarly work. It was the first time that scholars from Africa, the West Indies, and Black America came together. This society later became the basis for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.
Bruce also guided Hubert Henry Harrison. Harrison was a young man from St. Croix who became important in Black socialism and Black nationalism.
Bruce believed that Black people in the United States should have their own independent future. Around 1919, he supported Marcus Garvey's Pan-African movement. Garvey was from Jamaica. As a member of Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Bruce wrote for their newspapers, Negro World and the Daily Negro Times.
Even though he was very productive, Bruce often had to work for the Port of New York Authority to support himself. He retired in 1922 and received a small pension. He passed away two years later in Bellevue Hospital in New York City.
John Edward Bruce had a large state funeral at the UNIA Liberty Hall in New York City on August 10, 1924. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers. More than 5,000 people attended three services held that day to honor him.
Bruce was a member of the Prince Hall Masons. He was also part of the Humane Order of African Redemption and the African Society of London, which is now the Royal African Society.
Family Life
John Edward Bruce married Florence A. Bishop. She was from Cleveland, Ohio. They were married on September 10, 1885, in Washington, D.C.
