Arianne Edmonds, "We Now Belong to Ourselves: J. L. Edmonds, the Black Press, and Black Citizenship in America" (Oxford UP, 2025)

·50 min·4 clips

Jefferson Edmonds' 1909 article details the chaotic, heartbreaking day enslaved people learned they were free.

Caleb Zakrin interviews Ariane Edmonds about her book on Jefferson Lewis Edmonds, founder of The Liberator newspaper in early 20th-century Los Angeles. Edmonds introduces herself as a curator, mother, and Senior Civic Media Fellow at USC Annenberg. She explains how her grandfather preserved Jefferson's papers, sparking her research. The discussion begins with Jefferson's 1909 Los Angeles Daily Times article, where he vividly recounts the day of emancipation on the plantation, including mothers holding children and sharecroppers signing X's. Ariane describes how Jefferson learned to read through Freedmen Bureau schools and became a teacher and political canvasser during Reconstruction. She highlights how Black families used Bibles to record personal histories, as they were one of the few secure possessions. Ariane reflects on Jefferson's multifaceted mission for Black liberation, which led him to found The Liberator in 1900, inspired by abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and John Brown. The newspaper focused on education, land ownership, civic involvement, and women's rights, championing Black women's suffrage in California before national laws. Ariane details the Shank rule in Los Angeles, which allowed businesses to overcharge Black patrons, and Jefferson's campaign against mayoral candidate John Shank. She shares Jefferson's coverage of W.E.B. Du Bois' 1911 visit to Los Angeles, including details of galas and community pride. The conversation turns to the decline of The Liberator and Jefferson's bitterness in his final years, as subscriptions dwindled and he faced pressure from mainstream newspapers. Ariane discusses preserving his legacy through digitizing The Liberator issues and her book, emphasizing that Jefferson's story is part of a broader history of Black newspapers. She concludes by expressing gratitude for the chance to give his story a home in the book.

As heard by us

A measured discussion of The Liberator, Black citizenship, and family history.

Caleb Zakrin speaks with Ariane Edmonds about We Now Belong to Ourselves, J.L. Edmonds, The Black Press, and Black Citizenship in America, centering Jefferson Lewis Edmonds and the Los Angeles-based Liberator.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A Black Los Angeles newspaper opens into a family history and a bigger claim on Black citizenship.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from New Books in Journalism