''Philadelphia Free Press'' was a 1960s era

underground newspaper The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group. In specific rec ...

published biweekly in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

from 1968 to 1972. Originally launched at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

in May 1968 as the monthly ''Temple Free Press'', it separated from Temple and became the ''Philadelphia Free Press'' in September 1968. Robert Glessing described the early evolution of the ''Free Press'' in his book ''The Underground Press in America'':

"The ''Philadelphia Free Press'' was initially a quiet voice on the Temple University campus reporting only on college issues. Originally an unimaginative, pictureless two-page paper, the ''Free Press'' grew under doctoral candidate Bill Baggins and his activist staff to a colorful sixteen-page format including coverage of local, state and national movement news."

The ''Free Press'' was published by a collective and distributed free at Philadelphia-area colleges, with circulation in the thousands. Operating on a shoestring, its costs were partly subsidized by record company advertisements, with one generous record company even insisting on paying $300 for a $50 ad. The ''Free Press'' was more political than its local underground competition, the ''

Distant Drummer ''Distant Drummer'' was a 1960s counterculture underground newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States from November 1967 to July 1979. It changed titles twice: from October 2, 1970 to August 12, 1971 (issues no. 105–151) it ...

'', which cost 15 cents and was more interested in covering rock 'n' roll than the

antiwar movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pea ...

. Early founders included Bill and Judy Biggin, Jim Quinn (an organizer for the

DuBois Club The W.E.B. Du Bois Clubs of America was a national youth organization sponsored by the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and launched at a national convention held in San Francisco in June 1964. The organization was active in the American student move ...

), and Temple undergraduates Rick Rubin and Art Platt; and contributors included local gay activist

Kiyoshi Kuromiya Kiyoshi Kuromiya (May 9, 1943 – May 10, 2000) was a Japanese-American author and civil rights, anti-war, gay liberation, and HIV/AIDS activist. Born in Wyoming at the World War II–era Japanese American internment camp known as Heart Mounta ...

. In early 1970 some of the more culturally oriented contributors, including Art Platt, left to form their own rival paper, the ''Plain Dealer''. The ''Free Press'' ran into a number of difficulties due to its Marxist-Leninist revolutionary politics; the paper was repeatedly harassed by the Philadelphia police under

Frank Rizzo Francis Lazarro Rizzo (October 23, 1920 – July 16, 1991) was an American police officer and politician. He served as Philadelphia police commissioner from 1968 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He was a member of the Democr ...

, in 1969 the paper was banned from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

for its use of four letter words, Jim Quinn was briefly expelled (and subsequently reinstated) by Temple, and in 1971 Bill Biggin, a Canadian, was deported by the US Department of Justice. The paper closed in 1972, in part a victim of the winding down of the Vietnam War and the decline of student activism on campus.Shore, Elliott. "Decade of Dissent: The Alternative Press in Philadelphia, 1966–1976". Drexel Library Quarterly, v.12, n.3 (July 1976), p. 59-74.

Notes

{{Reflist Underground culture Defunct newspapers of Philadelphia

See also

Notes