Minnesota‘s oldest Black newspaper celebrates 90 years in print

CATHY WURZER: This week marks the 90th anniversary of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, the longest running Black-owned news outlet in the state. It's a newspaper that's still going strong, covering Black news at the local and national level. And as you might know, it used to be two newspapers, the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder, but they merged about 25 years ago.

We're going to talk to one of their reporters, Charles Hallman. He is a legendary figure in Minnesota journalism. He's been with the Spokesman-Recorder since 1990. Ah, Mr. Hallman, how have you been?

CHARLES HALLMAN: Cathy, can you hear me?

CATHY WURZER: I can.

CHARLES HALLMAN: Thank you very much for having me on the phone. You taught me something new. I didn't know how to use all these fancy gadgets, so I can-- I can-- I can expand my horizons now using these headphones and all these other things. So thank you very much for having me on the air. You don't know how gracious I could be. I had just such a small part on the success of our newspaper, so I'm thankful that you're having me on the air with you.

CATHY WURZER: Well, I want to ask about your career, and I want to go back just a tiny, tiny bit here. Now, the Spokesman-Recorder, the Spokesman was founded in 1934, which is what, now, amidst the Great Depression at that point. It was 30 years before the Civil Rights Act. Do you know much about the history of this newspaper?

CHARLES HALLMAN: Yes. I know that Cecil Newman had the ears of every major politician, including Hubert Humphrey, including the governors at that time. When he spoke, they definitely listened. He was very outspoken. He spoke about so many issues that had an impact on the Black community in this area.

And he was not bashful in doing that. And he would use his platform effectively to do that. But people that's still alive that knew him-- because I never met him-- said that any time there was something happening, he would be the first one they would contact. You know, Hubert Humphreys, Don Frazier, all of those politicians who, you know, you think, why would they talk to a Black man who owns a small newspaper? Well, in that time, two small newspapers?

But he had such a powerful influence on them that they had-- he was basically an advisor. Because if they didn't listen to him, he was going to run it in his paper that next week and keep running it. So he was very powerful man.

I think his story has not been told enough about the influence, but he's not alone. There's many, many figures that has done an impact, that changed lives in this community that needs to be told. But Cecil Newman was definitely a powerful person who-- I don't know why he started the paper here in this town-- he was from Kansas City-- other than he saw there was a void that needed to be filled. And he filled it.

CATHY WURZER: You know, I was doing some research, Charles, at the Minnesota History Center, looking through microfiche of the Spokesman-Recorder, looking for a specific person, Toni Hughes, who was a pioneering Black woman, first Black woman on the air here in the Twin Cities.

And as I was going through the Spokesman-Recorder, it was so interesting because the paper covered every aspect of the Twin Cities' Black community. And it was from community news to who was doing what. What have you heard from folks over the years about the role that newspaper played in their lives?

CHARLES HALLMAN: Oh, just the fact that they knew that whatever was happening, they would find out about it effectively and honestly through the newspaper. So therefore, somebody was born, they heard about that. Somebody, unfortunately, died, they would hear about that, and all the things in between.

If they got a job promotion, they heard about that. If there was an event at a church, they heard about that. There was a parade or some kind of celebration, they heard about that. And also, they heard about things that were detrimental to our community.

So, yeah, that was-- people told me that the newspapers was used as either a primary source to their news, to their news-gathering. Then they used the mainstream media as a supplement, or the vice versa. They used the mainstream media as a supplement, and I was the primary. However you want to say it, it was always used hand by hand.

And in some cases, some people felt that if they didn't read it in our paper, it wasn't true. They wanted to know. And they and they had no bashful of calling the paper and say why you didn't cover this, why this is happening?

So yeah, it was a very-- and that-- not our paper, all the Black press throughout the country was always influential in the lives of their respective community because mainstream media did not do that. The Curran report that came out in 1968, President Johnson said that. The community is not being covered by you. You need to do better than that.

Well, they did in some respects tried to improve that, but the Black press had always stayed on the foreground and the front line in doing those type of things. And that's something I'm proud of being a member of over these years.

CATHY WURZER: It's been fun being a colleague of yours. You and I pretty much started the same time. And I know you've covered-- well, my gosh, almost every beat there is in your time at the Spokesman-Recorder. Do you have a favorite? Do you have a favorite beat?

CHARLES HALLMAN: Well, obviously-- you know, it's funny. I was brought there to cover sports, so obviously that is my favorite. But I covered everything except fashion shows and bake sales. I didn't cover those things.

But yeah, I've covered almost everything over the years. And that's because Mrs. Newman, who at that time was the publisher of the paper, Cecil Newman's late wife, she recognized my versatility, as well as my editors. So therefore I was allowed to do other things besides sports.

But, you know, sports is something I enjoy. I enjoy covering just the little things that's not talked about still. There's stories out there that people don't normally hear about. And it's not just the famous people. I always enjoy just sitting and talking with people on the bus or on the plane or on the streets and hearing their stories.

And oftentimes I appreciate the fact, Cathy, that the community trusts me with their information. I had one person tell me that they might not like what I wrote, but they know it's honest, and they know it's factual. And so therefore, they allowed me to survive as long as I have.

CATHY WURZER: Well, when I say you're legendary, I mean you are legendary. And hasn't it been just so-- there's so many stories in the world, Charles. But how we cover the news has changed so dramatically in the past 35 years or so. How has it changed for you on the print side?

CHARLES HALLMAN: Oh, it's changed a lot because we have a generation now that uses the phone or uses electronic means to get their news, especially social media. So therefore, we lost that generation to make that connection from those of us who always use print as a source to this current generation that feels that Instagram or Twitter or whatever you call that now and Facebook is the sources to get their news.

I have no problem with that. The problem is there's always need to be long-form journalism. They also need to be public radio. There need to be these newscasts and sources of information that gives us context more than just a couple of lines or 120 characters or anything of that nature.

And they still need to be there. And I always feel, Cathy-- and I think you do as well-- is that we are the journalists-- as journalists, we are the recorder of history. We are the recorder of record. And so therefore, 50 years from now, you can go back and see what happened in 2024 based on things that we reported on and recorded.

That's very important, and that's why I take my job very seriously, and I think you do as well. Because we chronicle history, and we chronicle what's going on in a factual way. And we don't need to speculate. There's too much speculation out there.

And we don't need to clickbait. We don't need all of that. There's too many people that does that. But they still need journalists who believe in finding the information and reporting it factually and accurately.

I talk about that. I was at NABJ just a couple of weeks ago, and I talked to young people who, they still think that if I just get-- I just get 1,000 eyes, people will know what I'm saying.

And I tell them that I write for one person. I never write for the masses. I write for one person. If I can get one person to read what I wrote and learn something, either initiate some kind of response, either positively, or even get them mad enough to want to do something, I have accomplished my goal.

And so therefore, I don't know how many people read our paper. And I don't know how many people read my stories. But if I can get that one person, and that's what I aim to write for, then I think I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, Charles, I think you do such a great job, and I hope you keep going. Now, how are you going to celebrate the 90th anniversary?

[CHUCKLES]

CHARLES HALLMAN: I got three stories to submit this week. That's how I'm going to celebrate it.

[CHUCKLES]

CATHY WURZER: Always working.

CHARLES HALLMAN: I've been trapped. I've been trapped to go to attend a gala that we're having on Saturday. I don't like those type of things, Cathy. I'm a person who likes to-- I'm a worker bee, and I like to stay behind the scenes.

But I have my three stories to process. I have the Lynx game to cover tonight. I'm embedding myself with the Hamline football team tomorrow, so I'm going to spend the day with them.

So I have a lot of things to do, but I will be celebrating it because the work got to go on, and we have to continue to put a paper out. And I have not missed an edition since I've been at the paper, so therefore I don't want to break my streak now.

CATHY WURZER: No, no, and you will not. You will not, my friend. It is always a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much, and happy anniversary. And continue to do the good work you're doing.

CHARLES HALLMAN: Same to you, Cathy. Thank you. We got to keep talking to each other and keep hanging in there. There's not too many of us hanging out there doing this as long as we doing this. We're only 21 years old, so therefore, we got some years to go before we get old.

CATHY WURZER: Exactly. Amen, Amen Charles, take care of yourself. We'll talk to you soon.

CHARLES HALLMAN: You, too.

CATHY WURZER: We've been talking to Charles Hallman. He's a reporter for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Been there more than 30 years. The anniversary gala, by the way, this Saturday in Minneapolis. And it is hosted by our MPR News President, Duchesne Drew, and emceed by the one and the only, Angela Davis.