From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Colored People's Column and Colored News (Earlington and Madisonville Newspapers)
(start date: 1893 - end date: 1954)Almost from the beginning, a "Colored News" column appeared in The Bee, a semi-weekly Republican newspaper in the mining town of Earlington, KY. The newspaper was first published in 1889, and the, "Colored People's Column," appeared as early as November 24, 1892, with A. R. Bailey as the editor. It was thought that the number of African American newspaper subscribers would greatly increase as a result of the new column. It did not happen, as was noted in the newspaper on December 22, 1892.
In 1900, the newspaper column was titled "Our Colored Citizens." By 1902, the column was titled "News for the Colored People," written by Reverend J. H. Gough. The column was limited to 1,000 words and the coverage area included Earlington, Mortons Gap, and Hecla, KY.
African American readers were encouraged to subscribe to The Bee. Their column was to appear in each newspaper issue but would be omitted if space was needed for other news. Around 1903, the column was titled "Colored News" or "Colored Column" until it was finally decided that "Colored News" would be the heading. Miss Neva Waters was the editor of the column in 1916 which was the final year for the "Colored News" column. There are about 30 years of The Bee newspaper issues available online. The "Colored News" column can be found on the latter pages of most issues.
There was also a "Colored News" column in the Madisonville Messenger newspaper. On March 1, 1947, there was the "Colored Church" column on p.6. The "Colored News" column appeared on March 4, 1953. There were just a few brief sentences about individuals in the community. The column remained short and brief for the year or so of its existence that ended on November 11, 1954.
Full text of The Bee newspaper are available within the Kentucky Digital Newspaper Program and Chronicling America. More about the history of The Bee is also available at the Chronicling America website. The Madisonville Messenger newspaper is available on microfilm at the University of Kentucky Libraries.