From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Convention of Colored Newspaper Men
Peter H. Clark chaired a meeting in Cincinnati, OH, August 4 & 5, 1875, that called for the organization of the Convention of Colored Newspaper Men. Clark (1829-1925), born in Ohio, was an abolitionist writer, speaker, and educator. In 1849, he was the first teacher in Cincinnati's newly established public schools for Colored children, and he established the first Colored high school. Clark was highly regarded as an educator and as a political activist who could inspire Colored people to vote in Cincinnati.In 1875, Clark wanted to form an organization that would strengthen and correct the reporting of news about Colored people in the United States, particularly in the South. At the 1875 meeting, it was planned that the Convention of Colored Newspaper Men would also produce an 18-volume publication on the true history of the Colored people in the United States. Months after the meeting, Clark sounded the call for membership via articles in Colored newspapers, the articles detailing a plan of representation for each state and territory. For Kentucky, there were to be 12 representatives.
Clark's plans did not materialize, but the stage was set for bringing together Colored newspapers in order to strengthen their operations and the Colored perspective of news reporting about Colored people.
For more see P. H. Clark, "A Call for a National Convention of the Colored People of the United States," The Colored Tribune, 04/18/1876, p. 4 [available online at GALILEO Digital Initiative Database]; A. R. Rivera, "Afro-American Press Association" in Organizing Black America, by N. Mjagkij; Proceedings of the Convention of Colored Newspaper Men, Cincinnati, OH, 04/04/1875; and P.S. Foner, "Black participation in the Centennial of 1876." Phylon, vol. 39, issue 4 (4th Qtr., 1978), pp. 283-296.