In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
The residents of Decatur County involved in the People's Party held a grand rally early in the morning on March 27, 1892. For the citizens of Decatur County this rally was the first assemblage of the People's Party. The rally centered on a joint debate involving Rev. E. B. Mobley and Ben E. Russell. Mobley represented the ideals of the People's Party, which promoted government control...
The Norfolk Virginian reported the acres of farmland that grew tobacco and the
pounds of tobacco harvested as a result in 1891. There were various counties and big
producers included Amherst, Bedford, and Prince Edward. Many of these counties
resided in the Central Virginia region. 24,034 planters planted on 110,579 acres and
produced 48,522,655 pounds of tobacco...
In the city of Norfolk on July 21, 1891, Dr. Morgan Health officer of Norfolk
County, examined the dairies and livestock in the city. The Norfolk Virginian reported
on the results and also wrote about other issues the Board of Health addressed.
According to the newspaper, he examined 475 animals with an output of 768 gallons. Dr.
Morgan's examination yielded results...
In the small village of Haymarket, about 38 miles north of Alexandria, two white men, Lee Heflin and Joseph Dye, were lynched on March 19, 1892. The two men had been recently convicted of murder and sentenced to death. At 12 A.M. on March 19, a mob gathered outside the jail and demanded that the prisoners be handed over. The prisoners were taken away before the mob could reach them. The pair was...
In the spring of 1892, an evangelical writer from New York City identified only by his initials, J.H.M, visited Charleston. During his visit, he made a number of observations regarding the state of the city 30 years after the Civil War. First and foremost, he states that the economy still has not recovered to its pre-war prosperity. He states, The people are cotton poor. Farmers are so crippled...
Twenty-seven years had passed since Grant surrendered to Lee at Appomattox, VA and yet, according to A.D. Kean, division still belied his society. In seeking those similarities which connect the North with the South, Kean made a poignant point, asking readers of the People's Party Paper to recall those 23 New York Unknown who similarly left their homes with the kisses of their mother still on...
On March 7, 1893 Edwin Alderman gave a speech in Greensboro, North Carolina regarding the importance of history and historical records. Alderman explained to his audience at the beginning of his speech that a "Historic Awakening" was occurring throughout the original thirteen states and that it was important that North Carolina become involved. Alderman possessed a lot of state pride and felt...
The Farmer's Alliance was an organization of farmers beginning in Texas in 1876 whose influence was widespread until its demise in the late 1880s. It was created in order to protect the farmers who were affected by particularly poor economic times in the late nineteenth century by helping push up the prices of their goods. Just prior to its fall, the Farmer's Alliance was viewed by some...
In 1892, the United States Congress granted an extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 known as the Geary Act. This original law, passed in 1882, allowed a ten-year moratorium for Chinese immigration. The United States government believed that Chinese immigration endangered the good order of certain localities. In addition, this law required that Chinese immigrants register and obtain a certificate...