Oklahoma Eagle

The Oklahoma Eagle started in 1922[3] after the 1921 Tulsa race massacre when a black businessperson named Theodore Baughman salvaged a printing press from the burned-out building of the Tulsa Star.[4] The Tulsa Star was Tulsa's first black-owned newspaper, and was known as the "voice of black Tulsa" with its coverage of the everyday lives of black Tulsans as they celebrated weddings, mourned at funerals, and marked graduations and anniversaries.[1]

In 1936, Edward L. Goodwin, also known as E. L. Goodwin, purchased The Oklahoma Eagle[5] and added the slogan, "We make America better when we aid our people" to the paper's masthead.[6][7] Edward L. Goodwin was a businessperson who owned rental properties in the Greenwood District of Tulsa and a shoeshine parlor.[1] Edward L. Goodwin lived through the 1921 Tulsa race massacre and knew many who had died or lost loved ones and property; he purchased the newspaper in part to ensure that Tulsa would not forget its history.[1]

In the 1970s, Edward L. Goodwin retired from The Oklahoma Eagle after running it for almost 40 years, and turned over operations to his youngest son, Robert K. Goodwin, who oversaw the paper for 10 years.[8] Robert K. Goodwin was also named by President George H. W. Bush as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He was also the CEO of the Points of Light, a non-profit organization that encouraged volunteer service.[8][9]

In the 1990s, Robert K. Goodwin handed the paper to his brothers, Edward L. Goodwin, Jr. and James O. Goodwin. Edward L. Goodwin, Jr. studied journalism at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, and died in 2014.[10] He was known for his meticulous grammar and his dedication to the preservation of the Greenwood District (also known as Black Wall Street) in Tulsa.[10] His daughter is Regina Goodwin who is a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives representing the 73rd district, which includes Tulsa.[11][12]

James O. Goodwin continues as publisher.[1] James O. Goodwin is a prominent attorney in Tulsa. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Tulsa College of Law. As a lawyer, he successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals for the constitutionality of local statutes regarding freedom of speech, and he was co-counsel in the matter of reparation for victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.[13] In addition to practicing law, James O. Goodwin served on the Tulsa City-County Board of Health for over fifty years,[14] and the Tulsa Health District's East Regional Health Center was named for him in 2018.[15]

Thelma Thurston Gorham was editor from 1954 to 1955, during which time her front page editorials on racial integration won an award from the National Council of Christians and Jews and national recognition for the paper.[4] In 1963, Gorham began teaching at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, and founded its Department of Journalism.[16]

Carmen Fields began working at the paper as a high school student in the 1960s.[4] Fields later became a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, a Boston Globe editor, and a reporter for Boston's WHDH and WGBH.[17] During her time at the Boston Globe, she was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for coverage of school desegregation issues in Boston.[18]

Benjamin Harrison Hill was an editorial page editor from 1951-1971.[4] He was also pastor of the historic Vernon AME Church in the Greenwood District for two decades.[19][2] Hill served two terms in the Oklahoma state legislature, and he also was active with the Tulsa Urban League and was president of the Tulsa chapter of the NAACP. A park and recreation center in Tulsa is named after him.[19]

In the 1990s and 2000s, The Oklahoma Eagle, like many other Black newspapers in the U.S., suffered from a decline in revenue and filed for bankruptcy. However, James O. Goodwin and several members of the Goodwin family helped keep it afloat through their investments of time and money,[4] and the paper continues to operate as the "conscience of Tulsa."[1] The publisher has been quoted as saying that he is relieved that The Oklahoma Eagle is still around to mark the approaching centennial of the Tulsa race massacre in 2021 and a changing Tulsa.[1]

E. L. Goodwin was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 1980. Edward L. Goodwin, Jr. and James O. Goodwin were inducted in 2015.[20] Robert K. Goodwin received the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.[8][21]

• Publisher James O. Goodwin on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
• The Oklahoma Eagle
• Tulsa Hall of Fame