(somber music) - [Narrator] In 1883, "The New York Globe" carried a story from Richmond, Virginia, about a group of whites acquitted following a racially motivated street brawl in Danville that left four Black men dead.

"A colored man is mercilessly beaten by a white man, while another brandishes a revolver to keep off all peacemakers," "The Globe" reported.

These are the class of men that the Danville jury would exonerate.

Further into the article about news from the Old Dominion was a brief report about the arrival of a new Black-owned newspaper, "The Richmond Planet".

"The Planet" ensured that for decades to come, the struggle for racial justice would not just be chronicled by a newspaper from New York, but one right from Richmond, Virginia.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (gentle music) - Richmond being the so-called capital of the Confederacy, you still had free reign to hear what was coming out of the Confederates' mouth.

So the way that they were painting the past, and in some ways, still painting the past, you could actually use a newspaper to correct.

- [Narrator] "The Richmond Planet" first came off the presses when Reconstruction was ending, but Jim Crow was beginning.

The front page article in the farewell edition of "The Planet" traced the newspaper's weekly origins to a meeting of 13 formerly enslaved men who gathered in a room above a bookstore at 3rd and Broad Street.

The newspaper they launched "played a crucial role in molding the opinions of Negroes in this city, state, and nation," as written in an "Richmond Planet" article under a headline note in the publication was, "Born in the Wake of Freedom".

From the 1880s until the 1930s, "The Planet" bore witness during a time when mob rule and the Ku Klux Klans' campaign of violence and intimidation against African Americans reached new heights.

"The Planet" offered a new voice for justice in the Old South, speaking truth to power as white politicians passed laws to deny African Americans their rights to vote, to sit where they wanted in Richmond street cars, and to live where they pleased.

As white-run newspapers celebrated the arrival of Confederate statues that loomed over Richmond's Monument Avenue, "The Richmond Planet" warned in an editorial that the glorification of state's rights and honoring the people who supported it will ultimately result in the handing down to generations unborn, a legacy of treason and blood.

The headlines and stories about brutality, racism, and injustice published in "The Planet" are from another century, but they remain very familiar today.

- I can only imagine what it was like to have a newspaper led by African American men in the 1800s when there was lynchings that were still happening in Virginia.

So at any point in time, if they were caught by themselves, who knows what would've happened or who knows what they experienced, you know, just by having that newspaper that told stories, and I think the biggest piece to me is, back then, make no mistake about it, print was power.

So if you had a newspaper, you controlled the narrative, you controlled who that narrative was disseminated to.

So there was an African American paper that told all stories.

- [Narrator] During their careers, the newspapers' founders went on to become lawyers, building businesses to promote self-sufficiency, and educating the city's African American children to unlock a more promising future.

Many of the men who launched "The Planet" were teachers, just like Albert V. Norell, a longtime Richmond school educator and "Richmond Planet" co-founder who would have 20 descendants follow in his footsteps and serving Richmond public schools.

(gentle music) - Well, you know, we're just coming out of enslavement and radical Reconstruction, which really only lasted about 12 years.

For the majority of the people that came out of slavery, they were uneducated, illiterate.

But my grandfather was enrolled at the Manly School at 16.

So I think a lot of the people that joined together to start "The Planet" were contemporaries of him because they were educated, they were literate, they understood the need to educate more and what better way than through a newspaper.

- He knew what it was like to be a slave, he was not going to let the community that he was now living in be considered to be inferior or second class citizens.

- Looking back now, I realize what a community activist he was, how he was so forceful in making sure that Black people in general, as a race, pool their resources, came together.

They were determined not to let Jim Crow, segregation, intimidation by the KKK deter them in their effort to better themselves and their community.

(bright music) - [Narrator] Albert V. Norell, along with other "Richmond Planet" founders, James H. Hayes and James Johnston, were forced out of their principal jobs in the 1880s amid a battle with the school board in a confrontation over whether African American men should lead city schools.

- So "The Richmond Planet" especially spoke out vehemently about their jobs being taken away from them.

The school board also fired a lot of their teachers.

- [Narrator] Among those who lost their teaching jobs was John Mitchell Jr, who was born in 1863 during the Civil War at Laburnum.

The Henrico County Estate, where he worked as a servant and carriage driver of James Lyons, a white attorney who also held Mitchell's parents as slaves.

- Being born at the very end of slavery and growing up in freedom, his examples of manhood would've been James Lyons, who was the attorney for Jefferson Davis.

So if he needed to know what a successful American looked like, you would pattern yourself after that.

But as far as the stick-to-itiveness that he had that would come from his father.

So he wanted to live basically the life that an American wanted to live.

By being a student and then seeing teachers, he decided to become a teacher, that's what was needed.

And just like in the Black community now, there's always this thing about, well, you're gonna be the first one to go to school and get through college.

And here we are hundreds of years later and that's still here.

So when you think about him starting as a student and becoming a teacher during Reconstruction, that will be a natural progression for someone who likes to read.

- [Narrator] Mitchell went from teaching to journalism, becoming a newspaper correspondent.

Shortly after "The Richmond Planet's" launch, Mitchell became the papers editor-in-chief.

- I think he got involved with the newspaper mainly because of the reach of it.

He wanted to speak to Negroes and whites all over during that time, you know, he saw himself as a race man, he saw himself in the same category eventually as a Frederick Douglass.

How did he hear about Frederick Douglass?

In the newspapers.

- [Narrator] "The Freeman", an African American run newspaper in Indianapolis, wrote that Mitchell was not afraid to "hurl the thunderbolts of truth into the ranks of the wicked."

Under Mitchell, "The Richmond Planet" became known for a sharp pen and haunting images of lynching in the Jim Crow South and beyond.

White-run newspapers often downplayed, ignored, and sometimes even excused mob violence.

But "The Richmond Planet" refused to look away and repeatedly ran a list of lynchings that took place in the U.S. (sad music) - It was a crime against humanity that he was talking about.

People of different races were subject to mob violence, we call it lynching, violent at its end, but also at its beginning with the whole mob mentality.

If the country is supposed to be built on due process, you shouldn't deny anybody due process.

- [Narrator] It was the kind of coverage that could have been lost to history, if not for "The Planet" and other African American-led newspapers around the U.S. (sad music continues) - John Mitchell was a very outspoken firebrand editor, so he was not intimidated by Jim Crow, the Klan, he spoke out against the erection of the Confederate statues.

You know, those statues were erected not to talk about the glory of the South, those statues were erected at the beginning of Jim Crow to intimidate Black people.

- He was very critical of the white establishment but he was also very critical of the Black community saying that, you know, "You're really going to have to focus to get this new thing called freedom to work for you."

And I think he saw himself as a person who could mimic the good work of other people and then create his own thing.

- [Narrator] Through it all, "The Planet's" coverage exposing the ugly truth brought tremendous risk for the journalists at the newspaper.

- There was always threats of lynchings, there were several lynchings in Richmond, and the initiation of much of the systemic racism that we even see existing today.

And I'm really proud of the fact that in spite that there were all these reasons to be very careful, they continued to be strong activists in the community and to continue to publish the newspaper.

- [Narrator] After writing a furious editorial about an 1886 lynching of an African American man accused of attempted rape in Charlotte County, Mitchell received a rope with a note threatening that he would be the next one hanged if he ever set foot in the county.

Undeterred, Mitchell took a train down to the rural Virginia County, armed with two Smith & Wesson pistols, and walked five miles from the station to the site of the lynching, apparently without incident.

It was an approach consistent with Mitchell's beliefs that African Americans needed to be prepared to defend themselves.

The newspaper editor once said, "The best remedy for a lyncher or cursed midnight rider is a 16 shot Winchester rifle in the hands of a dead shot negro who has enough nerve to pull the trigger."

- Carrying a gun or two, which he did, was a natural thing that all men did.

And this is the first time Black men were able to do the same thing so he was definitely ready to protect himself 'cause he was no fool, he knew that there was risk.

The stories of him intervening are true, and I do believe, at some point, he did have to go on his own.

But when you read the stories, he actually stopped several places and that gives you an idea of how cautious and crafty he was, you know, he wasn't flying out there to be a martyr, so I'm sure he had a mental green book in his head, you know, knowing what to do, where to go, who to trust, maybe who not to trust.

And in some ways, I think John Mitchell Jr., the braggadociousness, all of that was part of a persona too.

It was the ultimate hip hop game, it's like, you are going to know who I am by my words, you're gonna know my attitude, you're gonna know exactly what you're going to encounter if you step to me in the wrong way.

- [Narrator] "The Planet" offered Richmond's African American community a new voice, an opportunity to tell their own story and help shape the narrative of the city and beyond.

- They had a lot of social columns to let people know that Black people had a social life, we were very fortunate in Richmond in that we had a mirror society.

Everything that was happening in a greater part of Richmond was happening here in Jackson Ward.

So we had our own branch of the Richmond Public Library, we had our own branch of the YMCA, we had restaurants that had fine dining with table cloths and napkins, we had the Hippodrome, we had theaters, we had a swimming pool.

It was important for "The Richmond Planet" to explain what was happening in the Black community.

So it was imperative for every community to have a newspaper that reflected them and not to have a newspaper that was very heavily slanted.

- There has always been a need to tell our story according to our vision.

I've had an opportunity to look at both newspapers that were popular in Richmond, and the news about African Americans in the white newspapers was usually buried in the back of the paper, and it was very short and it was their version of what was happening with African Americans.

And the citizens recognized that "The Planet" told things the way they saw it happening in their community.

- One of the things I think that was very important for the Black community to get from all of these newspapers is the feeling that we are at least up on the game that they want us to play.

They try to keep us from communicating, but we learned to communicate.

They made it illegal for us to write, well, with the help of some, we learned to write, we learned to read.

And then with the beginning of Reconstruction, now you can interpret what you've read.

(soft music) - [Narrator] Carter said he really started reading "The Richmond Planet" when he was working on a project to create a highway marker, remembering the 1896 lynching of Thomas Washington.

- He was lynched for allegedly assaulting the daughter of a prominent white citizen within Essex County.

And John Mitchell wrote a story about that lynching too, to be exact, and we used both of those articles to kind of corroborate with department historic resources that the lynching actually did happen.

- [Narrator] While reading "The Planet", Carter found a different story than the one he read in coverage from a white-run newspaper that suggested Black and white citizens interviewed felt the punishment fit the crime.

- The biggest difference is he was not convicted, it was alleged.

That information was used, so to me, that speaks volumes.

I can't imagine an African American stating to a white newspaper or white reporter that, "Oh yeah that Black man deserved to be lynched."

The members of "The Richmond Planet" actually visited the site where the lynching occurred.

So in their article, they wrote, you know, vivid information about the actual lynching.

- [Narrator] "The Richmond Planet" sought fairness and justice in countless other instances, including the case of Simon Walker, a 15 year old African American boy facing the gallows at the Chesterfield County Courthouse in the 1880s over allegations he assaulted a white girl near what is now Virginia State University.

According to "The Richmond Planet", Mitchell thought it would be a shame upon the state, a disgrace for the commonwealth to allow a child of that age to hang.

Mitchell traveled across Virginia to track down Governor Fitzhugh Lee to spare the boy's life, at one point, personally rushing to Chesterfield County with the paperwork to stop the execution.

The teenager's sentence was eventually commuted to 20 years in prison.

"The Planet" spoke truth to power in countless other instances, including the 1906 flogging of a 15 year old African American boy in Suffolk.

Authorities whipped the teenager after he was found guilty of shoplifting, the mayor refused to impose a fine and instead subjected the teenager to 30 lashes.

"The Richmond Planet's" article said, "The boy writhed in pain, while the teenager's mother watched her child's whipping, every cut of the lash, Mayor Kilby, left a streak in that mother's heart, you brutalized her boy."

- I think one of the most important issues that he's recognized for writing about is anti-lynching.

Now we can't act like that is the only thing he spoke about but he also was very important in bringing the community together, letting them know what others were doing and inspiring them.

If he and his friends were going to put money behind another business, he bragged about it, he didn't report it, he bragged about it.

- [Narrator] John Mitchell Jr's public life extended beyond "The Richmond Planet".

He launched The Mechanics Savings Bank, and became a member of Richmond City Council, where he worked to secure funding for the Leigh Street Armory that houses the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.

But "The Planet", in many ways, still defines Mitchell's career, and his bravado wasn't only seen in his fight for racial justice, but in his celebration of successes in the Black community.

- Jackson Ward was a Black Wall Street, first Black-owned bank in America was established here, five Black-owned banks eventually were here, seven Black-owned insurance companies, and over 300 Black-owned businesses.

So these people were determined to make circumstances better for their race.

- [Narrator] Mitchell was contemporaries with Maggie Walker, civil rights pioneer and a driving force in Jackson Ward life, who started her own bank and her newspaper, the "St Luke Herald".

Walker and Mitchell often supported the same causes but their approaches were different.

- The clap back to John Mitchell was always gonna be harder than any clap back to Maggie Walker.

With John Mitchell during the times of Jim Crow, he was really trying to be bigger than he would've been able to do.

Whereas I think Maggie Walker was able to continue the path of leadership that she had because it did come off as non-aggressive, it was wiser.

John Mitchell was attacked more.

He asked for it, I mean, he did, he really did.

And that same way he started in the 1880s, as an editor, as a writer, he wanted to carry that all the way into right up to the beginning of the Depression.

(rhythmic music) - [Narrator] Mitchell and Walker used the collective voices of their newspapers to rally the community to protest efforts in 1904 to segregate Richmond's street cars, the transit company's policy put white patrons in the front of the cars, for its Black patrons to sit at the rear of the cars.

"The Richmond Planet" was furious at such a degrading policy with the newspaper publishing an editorial taking aim at such exhibitions of rank race prejudice.

"The Planet" urged readers to boycott the street cars and to hit what the newspaper said was, "the white man's nerve center," which is his pocket.

"Walking is good now, stay off the street cars," "The Planet" implored its readers.

Walk they did, so much so that the Washington Post said, "Liniment sales reportedly increased at Richmond's Black-owned drug stores."

The boycott bankrupted the Virginia passenger and power company.

In spite of their success, the streetcars continued to be segregated.

- He was very vocal about where you should spend your money.

I'm sure he was talking about the way that they had to even travel on the streetcar was horrible.

But as it got worse, it's like we can't stand it anymore, it's not he can't stand it, it's we.

And so, he's asking we to get out there and actually let it be known that, you know, this is unacceptable.

- [Narrator] The feisty newspaper editor could pack a punch with this pen and be cutting in his rhetoric, but his time in the public light also took its toll, like a boxer who takes too many hits over their long career.

Mitchell ran for governor, but got trounced at the polls.

"The Richmond Planet" editor also tussled with white state regulators who criticized the operation of African American banks in the city.

Mitchell's disagreements often revolved around regulators' criticisms that the editor wasn't properly managing the bank's ledgers.

The bank closed a few years later, and Mitchell was brought up on embezzlement charges.

He was sentenced to three years in prison, but those convictions were thrown out on appeal - Being accused of what I'm sure he saw as being trivial, almost cooked up to the point where he was literally saying, "You've gotta be kidding me."

When you look at how that went down, I think him fighting that and keeping that going and saying, "I will be vindicated, I will be vindicated."

And years and years go by and they dropped the charges eventually, but a lot of the stuff is still in probate.

John Mitchell, Jr. was a prize fighter in the sense that he was the champion, he could take on all challengers but I think at some point, the rules of fighting changed and once it became corrupt, and whether that be politics, business, social order, he felt that he could still fight that game singularly and he was not able to do that.

- [Narrator] Mitchell collapsed and died on December 3rd, 1929.

His obituary in "The Richmond Planet" announced that the combative editor had finally, "laid down his pen."

"The Richmond Planet" ran a sketch of the fallen editor with an inscription that said, "His fight versus discrimination is now your fight and ours."

(gentle music) - I think John Mitchell Jr's legacy should be the starting point for learning about Reconstruction, to actually see reconstruction as the first time America actually tried to live up to the Constitution.

And if we're still trying to do that now, let's talk about the marriages, let's talk about the families, let's talk about the businesses.

How were they able to survive?

How were they able to coalesce without phones, without the influx of cash, with high interest?

How they were able to build capital?

What happened to that capital?

Are we living through a problem with wealth disparity?

You don't talk about that in the 1900s, you need to go back, you need to go back to the 1860s to learn that those seeds that were planted were not allowed to grow, period.

And one of the reasons that we're in this mess that we're in right now is because there isn't that ancestral capital that was built during that time, was taken away, in some cases, stolen, buried, and now we're dealing with the repercussions of it.

(soft music) - [Narrator] Many people still haven't heard of "The Richmond Planet", but an archive of its crumbling editions has been digitized so the paper lives on.

- I have no clue why they decided to form the newspaper but I'm so glad that they did because they've impacted not just the lives of the individuals who lived in Jackson Ward at the time, but we're using their research, their information, their publications, to prove that something happened 130 plus years ago.

- You know, at the Black History Museum, which is where I'm working, we tell stories that inspire, we tell the untold stories, the forgotten stories.

So if we don't know these stories, then they're lost.

So it's important that we have "The Planet" as a reference point so we can go back and research and find out all the wonderful things that the community was doing, because of "The Planet" and the excellent coverage that the newspaper provided.

- I think it's important that we don't forget the legacy of "The Planet" newspaper and that we don't forget those 13 men, including my grandfather, who started the newspaper, because those are the people whose shoulders we stood on.

And they are the people who have shown us exactly what we need to do, in regard to making sure that the truth is printed.

- It's like a serial, story, it's not just one paper, it's not just one magazine article, it's not just one election coverage for a few years, it's actually the document of a people coming into their own, finding success, and then the things that they came across, the things that came up against them and how they fought them, and we're still fighting them today.

(lively music) ♪ I'm the underdog ♪ ♪ I'm the, I'm the underdog ♪ ♪ I'm the underdog ♪ ♪ I'm the, I'm the underdog ♪ ♪ I'm the underdog, yeah, I'm the underdog ♪ ♪ I'm the underdog, yeah, I'm the underdog ♪ ♪ I'm ready for battle anytime we go to war ♪ ♪ I'm ready for battle anytime we go to, eh ♪ ♪ I'm the underdog, yeah, I'm the underdog ♪ ♪ I go for the kill ♪