In the early 1880s, a fight erupted in Montana over the location of the state capital. William Andrews Clark and Marcus Daly, the biggest names in the Montana copper industry, each wanted their local city to become the capital. While Daly preferred his beloved Anaconda, Clark fought to make the upstart mining city of Helena the capital. As part of the campaign to persuade voters to select Helena, he created and funded The Colored Citizen. Clark was known as a famous entrepreneur, the “Copper King of Montana,” and as one of the wealthiest men in the United States during the late nineteenth century. He spent over $200,000 supporting the newspaper during its short run from September-November 1894, which was during the campaign season. James Presley Ball Jr. was named editor of the newspaper. Ball Jr. was also a photographer, and he represented a variety of African Americans who migrated to Helena in the 1880s in search of better treatment. He published the newspaper at 137 N. Main St, which is in the downtown area of the city.  The Colored Citizen’s opening issue discussed the purpose of the paper. According to the Library of Congress, “Its reason for being was the intense interest among the city’s 279 ‘Colored’ Citizens in the upcoming election to decide the site of the state capital: Helena or Anaconda.” This issue also stated that Montana should be immensely proud of all of its “Colored Citizens.” During 1884, African Americans represented around 1% of the total state population with about 1,500 citizens. Additionally, the Colored Citizen had stories and articles about news on the local and state level. The newspaper was four pages long, with six columns.  In the final issue of the newspaper on November 5th, 1894, a full-page endorsement filled the front page. It stated, “The Anaconda Mining Company Does Not Employ a solitary Colored man. Dagoes and Foreigners are preferred to Native Colored Americans. Helena has 500 Prosperous Colored Citizens. They own Thousands of Dollars of Real Estate and are Engaged in every kind of Business. Colored Men of Montana stand by your Helena Brethren. Vote for HELENA for the CAPITAL.” Unfortunately, the newspaper was shut down shortly before the vote, which ended up coming down to the wire. With a narrow gap of less than 2,000 votes out of the 50,00 votes cast, Helana won. The Colored Citizen’s influence on the vote is immeasurable, and its work to make Helena the capital has impacted Montana to this day. The newspaper also laid the groundwork and foundation for the African American newspapers that followed.  

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In the early 1900’s, Helena was the home of Montana’s largest African American population with over 400 individuals, which was about 3% of the city’s population. In the entire state of Montana there were about 2,000 African American residents. Joseph B. Bass, founder and editor of the Montana Plaindealer, was an active member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a strong believer in the “hard work and self-improvement" doctrine of Booker T. Washington. He was previously employed at the Topeka Plaindealer in Kansas. He worked on the paper with the help of Joseph Tucker, an African American man who had lived in Helena for over a decade and worked as a printer.

Four pages long and printed weekly, The Montana Plaindealer was a trusted news source in the community. The newspaper was strongly Republican and one of their taglines stated, “We unhesitatingly subscribe to the principles of Republicanism.” It preached the goal of “racial uplift” through entrepreneurship and civic work and supported Progressive political reform. The inaugural edition stated, “This enterprise shall at all times strive for a greater Helena, and for mutual progress of all people in the community, and for a greater activity of our people in the business world.” These sentiments were expressed in the stories, editorials, and information conveyed in the newspaper.

Additionally, Bass wrote about community news, such as church information, and other national interest stories. An example of a national story was the 1907 Brownsville Incident. An important column in every edition was the “Race News” column that published stories about racial discrimination, economic opportunities, and Civil Rights news. The newspaper also included results of political battles. An example of these battles is seen in local primaries and elections on the state and national levels. Additionally, the newspaper also protested discriminatory legislative action. This is illustrated in their protest of an anti-miscegenation bill passed in Montana in 1909.

The newspaper’s impact and reach are difficult to explain with statistics, but Bass stated that over 3⁄4 of all African Americans in Helena subscribed to the paper. The paper also had a number of white subscribers as well, a number that tripled the amount of African American subscribers. The paper was partially funded by fundraising social events, like dinners, that were thrown by White Republicans. Unfortunately, these fundraising events were not enough as The Montana Plaindealer underwent financial difficulties and had to suspend publication due to a lack of money in September 1911.

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