About

First published on February 21, 1899, the Progressive Era is the third-oldest African American-owned newspaper published in Athens, Georgia. Unlike its predecessors, the Athens Blade and Athens Clipper, the Progressive Era was owned by a stock company, the Era Publishing Company, which was located on Reese Street. Athens physician William H. Harris served as the paper’s editor-in-chief with W. Decker Johnson, an African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) Church bishop, also serving in an editorial capacity. The Progressive Era circulated semi-monthly at a subscription rate of fifty cents, but that increased to a dollar by 1904. In 1914, Monroe B. 'Pink' Morton, one of Athens’ most prominent African American businessmen and owner of the Morton Building, purchased a majority stake in the Progressive Era. The paper appears to be out of print by 1919. Despite almost 20 years of circulation and ownership by Athens’ leading African American businessmen, writers, and thinkers, only a single issue of the Progressive Era is known to have survived to the present day.