Richard W. Thompson (1865 - February 12, 1920) was a journalist and public servant in Indiana and Washington, D.C. He was at various times an editor or managing editor of the Indianapolis Leader, the Indianapolis World, the Indianapolis Freeman and the Washington D.C. Colored American. He was published as a general correspondent in The Colored American, The Washington Post, the Indianapolis Freeman, the Indianapolis World, Atlanta Age, Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, the Cincinnati Rostrum,[No Headline]. Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), Saturday, November 17, 1900, Volume: 13 Issue: 46 Page: 4 the Charleston West Virginia Advocate,Nosegay for "One of Our Boys", Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), Saturday, April 4, 1903, Volume: XVI Issue: 14 Page: 4 the Philadelphia Tribune and the Chicago Monitor. His longest-lasting relationship was with the Indianapolis Freeman. In 1896, the black paper, The Leavenworth Herald, edited by Blanche Ketene Bruce, called Thompson the "best newspaper correspondent on the colored press."[No Headline]. Leavenworth Herald (Leavenworth, Kansas), Saturday, May 2, 1896, Page: 2
He was closely associated with Booker T. Washington and twice served as an assistant of Emmett Jay Scott, in 1903 when Scott was Washington's assistant at the Tuskegee Institute and again in 1918 when Scott was special assistant to the Secretary of War during World War I. He played an important role in the support of Washington against the attacks against Washington by William H. Ferris in 1903. He also had a long-running antagonism with William Calvin Chase of the Washington Bee.
Life Richard W. Thompson was born in 1865 in Brandenburg, Meade County, Kentucky.Booker T. Washington, Louis R. Harlan, The Booker T. Washington Papers: 1899–1900 University of Illinois Press, 1976a p48 His father was a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Connection Church, and died in 1872. later that year he moved with his mother, Jane, to New Albany, Indiana. In 1875, he moved to Indianapolis where he attended public schools. His performance in school was excellent, but he was forced to leave school before the end of his senior year due to ill health.Personal Mention. Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana). Saturday, November 18, 1893. Volume: 5 Issue: 46 Page: 8
His mother was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky and died of pleurisyAround The Churches A Week's Happenings in Religious Circles Saturday, February 24, 1900 Recorder (Indianapolis, Indiana) Page: 4 25 February 1900 aged 53. She was survived by her mother, Richard's grandmother.Demise of Mrs. Jane L. Thompson Saturday, March 3, 1900 Colored American (Washington (DC), District of Columbia) Volume: 7 Issue: 48 Page: 13 Jane Thompson played a leading role in the community of Indianapolis's Jones Tabernacle A. M. E. Zion church.Around The Churches. A Week's Happenings in Religious Circles Saturday, March 3, 1900 Recorder (Indianapolis, Indiana) Page: 4
Thompson had two wives, Grace Evelyn Lucas and Ella B Gibbs, both of whom taught together in Indianapolis Public Schools. He first married teacher Ella B Gibbs, daughter of Eliza Gibbs, on April 5, 1888. They had one daughter, Vivian Lucille Thompson (b 1893).City Notes Saturday, August 11, 1900 Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana) Volume: 13 Issue: 32 Page: 8 Another child, Bertram Ferroe Thompson died in 1890 at the age of 18 months.Mortuary Notice, Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana) Saturday, October 18, 1890, Volume: 2 Issue: 43 Page: Supplement 1 Ella B. Thompson died in the morning of May 29, 1900 after two months illness aged 33. The funeral was at Metropolitan A.M.E. Church.Deaths. Saturday, June 2, 1900 Colored American (Washington (DC), District of Columbia) Volume: 8 Issue: 9 Page: 13
Even before Ella died, Richard had a relationship with Grace Lucas. In 1892, Lucas was accused in a letter to the Indianapolis Freeman of being a poor teacher and of having an affair with Thompson.That School Question Again Saturday, April 9, 1892 Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana) Volume: 4 Issue: 11 Page: 8 After Ella's death, Thompson married Lucas on November 12, 1901, in Jersey City, NJ. Bishop Alexander Walters, a friend of Thompson's, presided.The Thompson Nuptials. Bishop Alexander Walters Officiates at a Pretty Wedding Ceremony in Jersey City Saturday, November 16, 1901 Washington Bee (Washington (DC), District of Columbia) Volume: 20 Issue: 25 Page: 1 Under the name Grace Lucas Thompson, she occasionally published articles in the Indianapolis Freeman and other newspapers. The pair lived in Washington DC for much of the rest of their lives, and Grace taught public schools in there.[R. W. Thompson; Indianapolis; Grace Lucas Thompson] Saturday, September 14, 1912 Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana) Page: 8
Vivian Lucille Thomas married Walter Scott Turner August 6, 1917.[No Headline] Evening Star (Washington (DC), District of Columbia), Wednesday, August 22, 1917, Page: 7 At the time of his death, Thompson was involved in a dispute with assistant superintendent of DC Schools, Roscoe C. Bruce, related with Bruce's alleged opposition to Vivian's appointment as teacher in spite of her passing her examination and being, by those rights, first in line for a position.The School Investigation, Washington Bee (Washington (DC), District of Columbia), Saturday, April 24, 1920 Page: 4
In February 1920, Thompson was confined to his home after suffering a nervous breakdown. Thompson died on Friday night, February 12, following an operation at Freedman's Hospital.Mortuary Notice, Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas), Friday, February 20, 1920 Volume: 22 Issue: 8 Page: 1 His funeral was at St. Luke's church, pallbearers were intimate friends of his: Robert Heberton Terrell, John C. Dancy, Walter Singleton, John T. Howe, J. A. Lankford, and J. Finley Wilson.Richard W. Thompson. A Prominent Member of the Colored Press Dead, Washington Bee (Washington (DC), District of Columbia), Saturday, February 21, 1920 Page: 1
Early career in Indiana
In 1879 Thompson joined with brothers Benjamin, Robert, and James Bagby writing for their paper, the Indianapolis Leader, which was the first black newspaper in Indianapolis. At that time, in connection with his school duties, he kept books for Dr. F. W. Ferree, secretary of the Marion County Board of Health.White Folks, like Colored Folks, Have Their Troubles : Officers in the Twentieth Are Jealous of Funston, Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas), Friday, October 27, 1899, Volume: I, Issue: 43, Page: 1, Piece: One of Four His work was recognized and he was appointed by speaker to the Indiana State Legislature as a page during the 1880–1881 session. His nomination received the support of many legislators at the time, including Benjamin Harrison, S. Hinton, and J. T. V. Hill.
In 1882, he became city editor of the Indianapolis Leader. He then moved to the Indianapolis Freeman, where he was made an editor, and the Indianapolis World. The Indianapolis World was launched by Edward Elder Cooper, Edwin E. Horn, and Levi E. Christy with Thompson in charge of the city department. At different times he worked for that paper as compositor, foreman of the mechanical department, and managing editor.
In 1886, he turned 21 and registered as a Democrat to vote for Grover Cleveland. In 1887 he was employed as a deputy in the office of auditor of Marion County, Indiana under Thomas Taggart. He came first in a civil service exam ahead of 75 whites in 1888 and on August 1 was appointed a letter carrier in the Indianapolis Post Office by Postmaster Aquillo Jones, where he served until July 1893. That year he became managing editor of the Indianapolis Freeman and the Indianapolis World.
Move to D.C. Thompson's interest in class included a discussion of the Emancipation Day festivities in 1893, which Thompson covered for the Freeman for a number of years. The celebrations were increasingly of little interest to Washington Elites. Thompson saw the change in the nature of the festivities not so much related to the aging and deaths of so many blacks born into slavery and replacement by people who were born after, but instead as due to the evolution of black social structure, saying that Frederick Douglass, Blanche Bruce, and James D. Lynch were "as far away from the colored people at the other end of the social scale as the most exclusive white society man thinks himself to be from the most humble white laborer." and that leading blacks in Washington saw the celebration in the same way as leading white citizens did.Gatewood, Willard B. Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite, 1880–1920. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990, p51
In July 1894 he moved to Washington D.C., having been appointed by Thomas E Benedict as a compositor in the Government Printing Office. In September of that year he was promoted to chief clerkship of the counting division, which position he held in July 1895 but had left by 1899. He was the first black clerk and time-keeper ever appointed in the department. While continuing to write for papers, his duties in the federal office was to record all public documents, reports, etc. issued from government presses. During a reorganization of the division, he inaugurated the system of bookkeeping used their for some time with the approval of Benedict.
He left the printing office in D.C. to clerk in the office of recorder of deeds, working closely with Henry Plummer Cheatham. In D.C., he also became heavily involved in the intellectual scene of the city. While living in the capital, his work was frequently published outside of D.C. and he published in the Indianapolis Freeman throughout his life. In 1895, he analyzed the Washington, D.C. elite in a series of articles called "Phases of Washington Life" for the Indianapolis Freeman.Samuels a Myth, So Says. Richard W. Thompson, the Brilliant Author, Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), Saturday, August 3, 1895, Volume: 7 Issue: 31 Page: 1 In 1896, Will Milton Lewise invited Thompson to again address class lines among blacks for the Freeman. Thompson emphasized that class lines were based on authentic characteristics such as character, worth, morals, and conduct, and not on the color of skin, texture of hair, or money.Gatewood, Willard B. 1990, p25 Throughout his life, Thompson became very close with many Washington elites, including Henrietta Vinton Davis,Personal Mention, Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), Saturday, November 18, 1893 Volume: 5 Issue: 46 Page: 8 James E. Slaughter, W. Bishop Johnson,Advertisement, Colored American (Washington (DC), District of Columbia), Saturday, February 10, 1900, Volume: 7 Issue: 46 Page: 6 T. Thomas Fortune, Paul Bray, Lester Walton, James H. Anderson, William O. Minard, N. B. Dodson, George W. Harris,Items Of Race Interest, Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana), Saturday, September 30, 1911, Page: 2 and R. E. S. Toomey.
Social involvement