Cecil Newman (July 25, 1903 – February 8, 1976) was an American civic leader and prominent businessman in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. He was a member of the

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Founded in 1925, The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) was the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The BSCP gathered a membership of 18,000 passenger railwa ...

, a union that made major strides against segregation in the 1930s and 1940s, before the modern

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

Early life

Cecil Newman was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 25, 1903.

Career

Newman moved to Minneapolis from Kansas City in 1922. He founded the ''Twin Cities Herald'' about 1927 and published the ''Timely Digest'' in 1932. In 1934, Newman became

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

of the ''Minneapolis Spokesman'' and the ''St. Paul Recorder''. In 1948, Newman became the first black president of the Minneapolis

Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

Legacy

After Nicollet Avenue South in Minneapolis was blocked by the Kmart at Lake Street, a one block long, one-way street was added in order to allow north bound traffic from 1st Avenue South to get over to Nicollet; it was named Cecil Newman Lane. The ''

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder The ''Minnesota SpokesmanRecorder'' is an African-American, English-language newspaper headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and serves readers in the Twin Cities. Founded in 1934 by Cecil Earle Newman (who remained editor until his death in 19 ...

'' (the ''Minneapolis Spokesman'' and the ''St. Paul Recorder'' merged in 2000), is the oldest continuously operated black newspaper and possibly longest-lived black-owned business in Minnesota. In 1958 it moved to 3744 Fourth Avenue South. In 2015, the ''Spokesman-Recorder celebrated its eightieth anniversary and its building was designated a historic landmark.

Personal life

Cecil Newman was married to Launa Q. Newman. The length of 4th Avenue South between 36th Street and 42nd Street was named in her honor as "Launa Q. Newman Way".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Cecil 1903 births 1976 deaths Businesspeople from Minneapolis Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American businesspeople