Alfred S. Barnett

Alfred S. Barnett (December 27, 1858 – aft. 1905) was a journalist and civil rights activist in Omaha, Nebraska, Des Moines, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois. In Des Moines, Barnett created and ran the newspaper, The Weekly Avalanche from 1891 to 1894. Before moving to Des Moines, he contributed to his brother, Ferdinand L. Barnett's Omaha paper, The Progress. He worked for civil rights also a member and an officer of numerous civil rights organizations, including the Nebraska branch of the National Afro-American League and the Afro-American Protective Association of Iowa. Barnett was described as a "pleasing speaker".[1]

Alfred S. Barnett
Phototype from the Progress, June 21, 1890
Born(1858-12-27)December 27, 1858
Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.
OccupationJournalist
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Bessie Burfitt

Life

Barnett was born December 27, 1858 in Huntsville, Alabama to F. L. Barnett and Sarah Erskine. His brother, Ferdinand L. Barnett, was also a civil rights activist and journalist. Ferdinand was editor of The Progress an Omaha newspaper, and was elected to the Nebraska State House of Representatives in 1826.

At the age of ten, Alfred became responsible for himself. August 31, 1882 he was married in Chicago to Bessie Burfitt and moved to Omaha. The couple had at least two children. In the late 1880s he worked in mortgage and loans, and was a census enumerator in the 1890 US Census.[2]

Barnett was a cousin to Ferdinand Lee Barnett, husband of Ida B. Wells-Barnett.[3][4]

Omaha

In late 1889 and early 1890, Chicago's T. Thomas Fortune called for the organization of local leagues for the purpose of the advancement of blacks which would meet in January 1890 to form the National Afro-American League. On January 9, 1890, a meeting was held in Omaha to this effect. Edwin R. Overall was elected chairman of the meeting, and Barnett played a prominent role. Matthew Ricketts, Barnett, and Fred Thomas were selected to be the local league's delegates to the national convention of the league and Silas Robbins would attend the national convention as a delegate from the Republican Colored Club.[5] The selection was disputed and eventually, Ricketts, A. L. Bennet, S. G. Thomas, Silas Robbins, and Overall attended.[6] Later, in Mary of 1890, Barnett took part in a statewide meeting of black Nebraskans to discuss issues relating to equal rights, to form a permanent state league, and to support black people seeking to move to Nebraska to purchase homes and farms.[7]

May 1, 1891, the Nebraska branch of the Afro-American League met again and Barnett was selected corresponding secretary. Ricketts was selected as president, B. F. C. Alberts as General secretary, W. A. Wigginton as treasurer, J. Smith of treasurer, and Silas Robbins as attorney. B. B. Walker, Thomas Carnahan, and Barnett were selected as delegates to that year's national convention in Knoxville.[8]

In 1890, he was a member of a national building, loan, and protective union organized to assist Omaha blacks to buy or build a home. The local board of the group consisted of president George F. Franklin, vice president William Marshall, Secretary and Treasurer Alfred S. Barnett, Attorney James S. Bryant. The Board of Appraisers was Millard F. Singleton, Alphonso Wilson, and Harrison Buckner.[9]

While in Omaha, Barnett was a frequent contributor to the paper, The Progress,[10] of which Barnett's brother, Ferdinand, was editor and founder and which ran from 1889 to 1906.[11] In 1891, Alfred moved to Des Moines.

Des Moines

From 1891 to 1894, Barnett edited the Weekly Avalanche, which called itself the official organ of the "Afro-American Protective Association of Iowa" and having the slogan, "Equal Rights to All: Special Privileges to None". The Avalanche had a circulation of 2,300,[1] but in August 1894, Barnett left the Avalanche after being arrested on charges of seduction. He and his family left Des Moines and Albert Lincoln Bell, a local attorney, managed the paper until it closed in October.[12]

While in Iowa, Barnett was an active member of the Afro-American Protective Association of Iowa.[13] In February 1894, he led the push to arrest and prosecute the proprietor of a restaurant for refusing to serve black members of the Iowa State Legislature at his restaurant.[14]

Chicago

After Des Moines, Barnett settled in Chicago where he worked as a police court clerk[12] and as a lawyer.[15] He remained active in civic affairs and was an officer of the Triangle and Inner Circle Club in Chicago in 1906.[16]

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References
  1. Mouser, Bruce L. For Labor, Race, and Liberty: George Edwin Taylor, His Historic Run for the White House, and the Making of Independent Black Politics. Univ of Wisconsin Press, Jan 21, 2011
  2. The Afro-American League Officers Elected at the Nebraska State Convention to Serve for the Ensuring. Progress (Omaha, Nebraska). Saturday, June 21, 1890. Page: 1
  3. lfreda Duster (1904-1983), Chicago, Illinois. Interviewed by: Marcia McAdoo Greenlee, March 8 and 9, 1978. p 20 Accessed March 7, 2016 at http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/45168262?n=32&printThumbnails=no
  4. He was also called a brother of the Chicago Barnett. [No Headline]. Western appeal., June 23, 1888, Image 1, accessed March 8, 2016 at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016811/1888-06-23/ed-1/seq-1
  5. Have Too Many Great Men. Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska). Friday, January 10, 1890. Page: 3
  6. The League Convention. A National Organization Perfected At Chicago. One Hundred and Forty-One Delegates Present. New York Age (New York, New York). Saturday, January 25, 1890. Page: 1
  7. To The Colored Citizens Of Nebraska. Progress (Omaha, Nebraska). Saturday, March 22, 1890. Page: 2
  8. Afro-American League. Omaha daily bee., May 15, 1891, Image 1, access March 8, 2016 at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99021999/1891-05-15/ed-1/seq-1/
  9. [No Headline]. Progress (Omaha, Nebraska). Saturday, March 22, 1890. Page: 2
  10. [No Headline]. The Appeal., September 19, 1891, Image 1, accessed March 8, 2016 at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016810/1891-09-19/ed-1/seq-1
  11. Federal Writers' Project & Gibson, Paul (illustrator.), The Negroes of Nebraska. United States Work Projects Administration. The Omaha Urban League Community Center (sponsor.), Wooldruff Printing Co. (publisher) 1940
  12. Suggs, Henry Lewis. The Black Press in the Middle West, 1865-1985. Greenwood Press, 1996 page 74-75
  13. Colored Men in Council. Iowa state bystander., July 06, 1894, Image 1, accessed on March 8, 2016 at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025186/1894-07-06/ed-1/seq-1
  14. Colored Men Sue J. S. Hockersmith, The Chicago Tribune, Ferb, 28, 1894, page 2, accessed march 8, 2016 at http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1894/02/28/page/2/article/colored-men-sue-j-s-hockersmith
  15. Editor's Observation, Iowa state bystander., July 12, 1912, Image 4, accessed March 8, 2016 at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025186/1912-07-12/ed-1/seq-4/
  16. The Triangle And Inner Circle Clubs. Broad Ax (Chicago, Illinois). Saturday, November 24, 1906. Page: 3
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