We are celebrating Black History Month and our friends from the Monroe Fordham Regional History Center have gladly provided us with Buffalo Black History. Here is today’s fact.
Andrew Jackson Smitherman was born on December 27, 1883, in Alabama. He was a reputable newspaper writer and editor. He moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1913 and founded the Tulsa Star. After helping to defend Greenwood, during the Tulsa race riots, he moved to Buffalo in 1925 and founded the Buffalo Star, (later the Empire Star) in 1932.
The paper was widely acclaimed until it stopped publication after his death in 1961. The Motto for the paper was, “Freedom, Justice and Equality for all, love of God and our fellow man; doing all the good we can for our community.”
