The Winter Park Advocate
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''The Winter Park Advocate'' was an African American
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
in
Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was fo ...
. It was founded by Gus C. Henderson and published its first issue on May 31, 1889.


History

''The Advocate'' was first published on May 31, 1889. It was one of only two black-owned newspapers in the state of Florida. It was also the only newspaper in Winter Park, and thus served both African-American and Euro-American readers. Henderson was the publisher, reporter, editor, salesman, and typesetter for the paper. On the first day of the ''Advocate''’s publication, there was a large
Emancipation Day Emancipation Day is observed in many former European colonies in the Caribbean and areas of the United States on various dates to commemorate the emancipation of slaves of African descent. On August 1, 1985, Trinidad and Tobago became the fir ...
celebration. For the celebration, the Orlando and Winter Park Railroad ran special trains and almost 800 people were in attendance for the event. The paper's offices were located in Hannibal Square, the heart of Winter Park's segregated black community. The ''Advocate'' sold for $1.25 for a year's subscription, and published for two years until Henderson moved to Orlando.


G.C. Henderson

Henderson was born on November 16, 1862, in Columbia County, near Lake City. Before moving to Winter Park, Henderson was Florida's first African-American traveling salesman. When that job did not work out, he moved to Winter Park. Shortly thereafter, Henderson started ''The Advocate''. In his editorials, Henderson often focused on writing about education and voting rights for his fellow African Americans. He later started two other papers: the ''Christian Recorder'' and the ''Florida Record''. Henderson died in 1915, at the age of 53.


References


Further reading

*Clark, James, ''Orlando Sentinel'', February 6, 1990, p. E4 *Black History Highlights *''The Winter Park Advocate'' *Livingston, Fairolyn, ''A Window on Hannibal Square: A View of Life in Early Westside Winter Park and a Portrait of the Lives and Careers of Walter B. Simpson and Frank R. Israel, The only Black Men to Ever Hold Office in the City of Winter Park, Florida'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter Park Advocate Winter Park, Florida Defunct African-American newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Florida Newspapers established in 1889 1889 establishments in Florida