A Cry for Justice: Daniel Rudd and His Life in Black Catholicism, Journalism, and Activism, 1854-1933

7. Daniel Rudd’s Post-ACT Years i
n the South

CHAPTER 7 Daniel Rudd’s Post-ACT Years in the South ‫ﱱ‬‫ﱠ‬‫ﱱ‬ The Colored People themselves must solve the Negro problem . Upon their shoulders rests the well-being of their race. D. RUDD  APRIL  The Collapse of the ACT in Detroit Daniel Rudd skillfully led the ACT through a number of setbacks and difficulties on its way to financial viability. For example, in December , about a month before Mackey’s departure from the ACT, Rudd decided to open a newspaper branch office and printing facility in Chicago. The newspaper’s Chicago plant was located at  South Clark Street, Room . This new venture was short-lived, however. In January  the ACT reported that a fire had badly damaged the facilities. Rudd later seemed to suggest the fire may have been an act of vandalism. Why Rudd chose not to comment more extensively on the fire is unclear.1 Rudd’s ACT reached as many as , subscribers at its zenith in .2 This number seems remarkable when measured against other notable black newspapers of the period. For example, the Christian Recorder at its peak reached only , subscribers.3 Another well-known black newspaper, the Chicago Conservator, could boast of a circulation of  ‫ﱱ‬ ‫ﱠ‬ ‫ﱱ‬ just over ,.4 But despite the remarkable success of the ACT, it wouldn’t last. Subsequent to Rudd’s move from Cincinnati in , he established the headquarters of the ACT at  Mullett Street in Detroit. Rudd’s new base of operation was located between St. Antoine and Hastings streets, in the city’s fourth ward, near St. Mary’s Hospital and Detroit College of Medicine.5 After securing a location for the headquarters of his printing operation, Rudd continued to demonstrate his ingenuity. For example, he produced the electricity for his own printing shop and planned to provide electricity for “this entire section of the city.”6 As a dedicated Catholic, Rudd would have no doubt found a home parish. Which parish Rudd attended while residing in Detroit is not known, however. He may have attended St. Mary’s, a German parish located a couple of blocks away at St. Antoine Street and Monroe Avenue. It is also possible Rudd attended one of the neighborhood’s English-speaking churches, either St. Aloysius, located on State and Washington streets, or St. Peter and Paul, located at Jefferson and St. Antoine streets.7 Neither Rudd’s name nor the name of the ACT is listed in Detroit’s  city directory. No resident appears to have been living at  Mullett Street after . This may mean the facility was sold and not occupied or, more likely, the property had been abandoned. Rudd’s name again appears in the  edition of Detroit’s city directory. Here he is listed as the proprietor of the ACT. By this time, Rudd was residing at  Monroe Avenue in the city’s seventh ward, between Orleans and Dequindre streets, about five blocks away from his previous Mullett Street address. The last year Rudd was listed in the city’s directory was .8 The collapse of Rudd’s newspaper in  is likely attributed to one or more of the following four factors. First, the ACT was forced to compete with a number of new black newspapers established in Cincinnati in early ; second, the establishment of Philadelphia’s black Catholic newspaper, the Journal, appears to have resulted in the ACT losing as many as , subscribers; third, the collapse of the Detroit Plaindealer in  may have encouraged Rudd to move his newspaper to Detroit. Here he may have mistakenly thought he could capture a significant share of the advertising dollars once controlled by the failed newspaper. Finally, the above adverse factors were, no doubt, exacerbated by difficulties associated with the economic recession, which began in .  DANIEL RUDD’S POST-ACT YEARS IN THE SOUTH The decline of the ACT probably commenced sometime before the economic recession began in . In fact, Rudd’s local black subscription base may have been threatened as early as the summer of . For example, in June of that year Rudd reported Cincinnati would soon be welcoming a number of new black political newspapers.9 The next month, Rudd announced the arrival of the first of these anticipated publications, the American.10 In April of the following year, one of Rudd’s journalistic associates , William H. Anderson, editor of the Detroit Plaindealer, began publishing a Cincinnati edition of his well-known newspaper. Employing two of Rudd’s former...