An African American publishes a labor newspaper in La Crosse, 1886-87

Wisconsin Labor Advocate

Newspaper published in La Crosse in 1886-1887. La Crosse was a hotbed of labor political party activity in the 1880s and the ¿Labor Advocate¿ was one of at least four La Crosse area Labor-related newspapers from that time. What makes the ¿Labor Advocate¿ unique was its editor and owner: George Edwin Taylor. Taylor was an African American, born in Arkansas in 1857. As a black business owner, he was an anomaly in La Crosse in the 1880s. Taylor got his start in publishing working at other La Crosse newspapers. He also became increasingly interested in politics as reflected in his editorship of the ¿Wisconsin Labor Advocate.¿ The last existing edition of the paper dates from August 6, 1887 and George Edwin Taylor left La Crosse soon afterwards. He maintained a life-long interest in politics and by 1904 had become involved an all African-American political party called the National Liberty Party. Taylor accepted the nomination of that party in 1904 as its candidate for the office of the U.S. President. In doing so, Taylor was the first candidate of a national African-American party for the U.S. presidency.

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