ABSTRACT
For most of the nineteenth century Detroit newspapers deliberately and openly adopted a public posture of loyalty to the Democratic party or its opponent, whether Whig or Republican. Detroit’s journals were largely vehicles of partisan communication and persuasion. In the early Reconstruction Era, 1865-1872, the overwhelming preponderance of news and editorials filling up the columns of Detroit’s dailies was politically biased. The Detroit press typically filled about one fourth of their news space with partisan news stories and articles during the presidential election campaigns. In non-election seasons news fluctuated between four and nine percent partisan news. Other news articles from the South helped to shore up Northern support for the civil rights of African-Americans. Typically, journalistic claims of first-hand observation and factual reporting of black behavior conformed to popular cultural conventions and presented African-Americans as amusing, immature, foolish and superstitious.
