El Paso's early history cannot be told without mentioning journalist James S. Black's contribution and legacy. Black, born in I 870, provided countless people with vital information while documenting early El Paso history. He dedicated his life to written words, not only speaking to El Pasoans through his writings but encouraging them to stand up for their beliefs.
Black spent his early adult years in Cuba serving in the Spanish-American War as one of Roosevelts Rough Riders in Troop F, a primarily volunteer cavalry unit within the United States Army. Troop F consisted of law enforcement officials, military personnel, cowboys, miners, and college athletes. During his time as a Rough Rider, Black helped fight the battle of San Juan Hill and Kettle, which helped capture Santiago de Cuba and win the Spanish-American war.
Image caption: James S. Black , right, El Paso Herald, May 11, 1921. Courtesy of the El Paso Times.
Before Black made his way to El Paso, he worked as a newspaper printer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before being recognized for his journalistic skills and becoming the editor of The Albuquerque Journal. After gaining experience and prestige in Albuquerque, Black moved to El Paso to assume the role of editor of the El Paso Morning Times. His articles captured much attention and captivated audiences, with his strong voice, not only in his local community but throughout surrounding areas. Black documented historic moments in El Paso history, such as the opening of the Plaza Theatre, El Paso High School, and many other iconic El Paso Buildings. He started writing for the El Paso Morning Times, eventually becoming city editor and then editor of the El Paso Times, a position he held for 15 years until Capt. H. D Slater purchased it in 1925.
Upon arriving in El Paso, Black quickly began making a name for himself in the local community and among his peers with his fierce leadership and dedication to championing Civil liberties. He fearlessly used his voice to write articles regardless of repercussions. Black certainly exuded a personality that would bend at nothing, writing about contentious issues, staring them right in the face.
In the 2018 article "El Paso Has Long Embraced the Role of Watchdog Journalism," the El Paso Times asserts that as editor of the El Paso Morning Times, Black stood up courageously against the Ku Klux Klan "which was making inroads into the city's leadership." The El Paso Times, under Black's leadership, fought vigorously against the Klan. On September 15, 1921, in an editorial entitled "The Ku Klux," Black investigated some of the Klan's activities in other parts of the country. "Apparently the Ku Klux Klan, with his ghostly trappings, has not considered El Paso a safe place for night riding with masked face, but the general opinion elsewhere seems to be that it essays to set up a sort of super government," Black writes, "and that is not Americanism." He tasked reporters to sneak into meetings and collect license plate numbers of cars at the meetings, and he hired a reporter to act as an undercover Klansman. The list included several police officers and other officials who were ordered to sign affidavits affirming they were not Klan members. In I 923, El Paso citizens voted in a non-Klan-backed mayor and ousted four school board members supported by the Klan. In I 943, The El Paso Herald-Post characterized Black as a "fearless editor."
Another such act of fearless editing, during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, Black documents in the El Paso Morning Times that "for ten years El Paso as a news-story dateline appeared practically every day on the front pages of American newspapers." El Paso became the most consistently talked about city in America, says the El Paso Times in 2019. In 1916, Black received a tip from Pancho Villa's former mistress that Villa was planning on attacking Columbus, New Mexico. Black then alerted General Pershing, but Pershing ignored the warning. Pershing believed that the newspaper should not become involved in military affairs. Black sent out two reporters and waited for the news of the raid to be published in the Columbus local newspapers. The tip from the mistress was true. Villa raided Columbus on March 9, 1916, burned down many buildings, and killed 18 United States citizens. The incident could have potentially been prevented had Black's words been taken more seriously.
In 1918, Black published an article detailing the deaths of 13 Mexican "outlaws" at the hands of vigilante men. Oddly, Black wrote about the vigilante men as heroes for killing Mexican "outlaws" while labeling them peons. His news spread all over Texas, spewing hate toward Mexicans; however, the government had no desire to stop the killings of Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans. Black's words influenced many Texans, and more hatred and killings of Mexicans ensued. Journalist Guadalupe Vargas Calderon argues in her 2018 article "Violence, Past and Present: Analyzing the Violence Endured by Mexican Immigrants and Mexican Americans" that "the incident and its lack of legal action signified to Mexicans and their decedents, living in the state of Texas, that justice is not going to be easily attainable through the US justice system." Today, people continue to be influenced by other opinions through social media and articles.
Black ended his 15-year career as one of the most essential news editors in the Southwest. He moved on from El Paso to Long Beach, California, soon after discovering he had heart problems. On December 17, 1943, at the age of 73, he passed away of a heart attack in a Long Beach hospital surrounded by family. Chester Tope of the El Paso Herald-Post in 1944 indicates his death reached front-page news. Tope says, "To older residents, his death was as important as the day's war [WWII] developments because Jim Black at one time was one of the city's most widely known men. He wasn't the shouting, desk pounding, swashbuckling editor of stage and screen. Yet Jim, a peace-loving man, found life full of adventure that carried death threats in some instances while he was editor of the El Paso Times."
In his "Side-Bar Remarks" article, Tope chronicles three of Black's particular adventures. One was when two State officers had gone too far when they stopped two men and their wives in search of contraband Iiquor. Black insisted that illegal searches of automobiles without warrants needed to cease. Of the officers being unnecessarily rough, Black wrote a "blistering editorial" demanding Austin take its men out of El Paso County immediately. Tope notes, "Gifted with the ability to call a man all kinds of names, in a genteel manner, Jim got under the hide of the state's gun-toters."
In another incident, someone had threatened to "pistol-whip" Black in his office. Black laughed at the threat and refused to drive home in a police car after dinner. A couple of armed patrolmen were sent to Black's office and ordered to shoot if anyone entered the office. "They waited in darkness that looked out on the city room," Tope writes. "About the time Jim usually returned to work, three tall fellows, wearing pistols in holsters and looking like hardboiled gents look, walked into the city room. They asked for Black. Told that he wasn't there, they turned and walked out, unaware that they would have been blown to kingdom come if they had started trouble. Black walked in, smiling, a few minutes later." Austin officials ordered the State officers to leave El Paso the following day.
In the third incident, Black confronted a group that had planned to take over the city government. During a meeting with the group, Black was threatened. Rumors spread that he was continually guarded, but his only companion on his way home every evening was the city editor, who lived a block down from Black. Tope reports, "Jim won his campaign, as customary - a battle for tolerance and civil liberties, which he championed without fear as long as he lived."
Many former El Pasoans who grew close to Black mourned his passing, and the El Paso Times published a column about the mark he left on the city and how much El Pasoans praised him for being such a fierce editor and for his significant impact on El Paso journalism.
Indeed, Black was a watchdog, and El Pasoans recognized him for his courageous efforts and for wanting to make El Paso a better place to live for future generations without regard for his safety. His obituary in the El Paso Herald-Post in 1943 states, "He was a self-effacing man who was known to his staff as a fearless fighter when he supported a cause. He was widely known as a champion of civil liberties. He laughed at death threats during bitter political fights and refused police protection until friends prevailed upon him to permit officers to escort him home during early morning hours." Black had made it his duty always to give El Pasoans the best newspaper articles, exposing public figures, even if it got him into trouble.
A little over a decade after Black's passing, the James S. Black Foundation was established, awarding scholarships to college journalism students. This scholarship fund was set up for use in journalism education at Texas Western by the Harwood Foundation of Los Angeles. The Harwood Foundation wanted to honor Black by creating this scholarship to help young journalists get through school. According to the El Paso Times, "The Black Fund brings journalism scholarship funds to a total of $3,700 for the 1962-63 year."
Journalism in El Paso would not be what it is today without the ideals passed down by men like James S. Black. His influence on El Pasoans during the early 20th century is commendable, impacting El Pasoans for a better tomorrow. The legacy he left in El Paso is the foundation on which the El Paso Times is built. We must take what he stood for, carry it with us through the 21st century, and continue building upon his watchdog legacy.\
Frontier newspaper : the El Paso times / by John Middagh