Roscoe Dunjee

Roscoe Dunjee (1883–1965) was an American civil rights activist, journalist, and editor. He had a prominent role is advancing racial integration in housing, university admission, fair jury selection, transportation, anti-lynching, education, and public accommodations^[1]

Early life

Dunjee was born June 21, 1883 in Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, West Virginia.^[1] to Reverend John William and Lydia Ann Dunjee.^[2] His family later migrated to Oklahoma, in 1892. Dunjee's father was a minister with the Baptist Home Missionary Society. He had a brother, Irving, and three sisters, Ella, Drusilla, and Blanche. In 1903,^[3] he was notified of his father's death. He returned to Oklahoma city, where the responsibility for earning a living for his mother and a younger brother and sister fell on his shoulders. The family farm had been providing vegetables for the Dunjee, and young Roscoe decided to enlarge the operation and become a truck farmer, selling directly to the public. He decided to supplement the family income by becoming a bellhop at the Stewart Hotel in Oklahoma city, but he still wasn't satisfied with his life. Fascinated by black fraternalism, Dunjee joined the Pythian Grand Lodge and began lecturing in its behalf throughout the state. He also enlisted new members, and his reputation as an organizer grew. When Dunjee was traveling throughout Oklahoma it gave an opportunity to observe the conditions under which black migrant cotton patch workers and black tenant farmers were squeezing out bare livings. The problem was that no one was pointing out the poverty conditions under which these black families were living. Not only was the Negro unable to earn a living wage, he was being restricted in his travels and deprived of other rights and personal freedoms enjoyed by whites. Thus, Dunjee began thinking seriously about establishing a newspaper that could tell the Negro story and reply to white racism. Until he was 32 years of age,^[4] Dunjee raised and sold vegetables to earn a living. At this point, he saw an opportunity to purchase a job printing plant from Oliva J. Abby, an instructor in the Oklahoma City public schools, who was forced to give up the plant due to her husband’s illness. Prior to this time Dunjee had been writing for various newspapers in Oklahoma City and had thereby gained some experience in the field of journalism. He learned to set type eases during his tenure as a student at Langston University by working after hours in the print shop of The Langston Herald, a small paper published in the Langston community.

Career

Dunjee completed his post-secondary education the historically black Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma.^[2] He founded his own newspaper, the Black Dispatch in 1915^[1] which he used as a medium to fight against segregation and unfair treatment of blacks. The newspaper grew from a local publication to a national publication and at one point boasted nearly 20,000 subscribers. Dunjee would regularly report of the violent lynching's of unsuspecting black victims in Texas and Oklahoma.

He also focused on fighting against voting laws that prohibited or constrained black voters from the polls. His efforts helped to set precedents in federal courts by lawyers in the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). One of the most prominent cases was that of Jess Hollins. Jess Hollins was a black man that was unjustly convicted of a crime by a predominantly-white jury. Dunjee sprang into action reporting of this grave miscarriage of the law which as significant in instigating Hollins acquittal. John Hollins was indeed acquitted due to the purposeful exclusion of blacks on the jury.^[2]

In 1916 the Oklahoma Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance that forbid black residents from moving into a house where the block was 75% occupied by white residents. Dunjee funded the endeavors of several black residents who were attempting to integrate areas not zoned for black residents. One specific example was that of William Floyd, a black shoemaker that purchased a home in a predominately-white neighborhood. Floyd was incarcerated four times for attempting to occupy his newly purchased home. Dunjee bailed Floyd out each time and encouraged him to stand his ground and return to the home, subsequently Floyd won his case. A judge ruled the ordinance unconstitutional based on a Supreme Court ruling in 1916 that declared the racist housing ordinance unconstitutional.^[5]

Dunjee was active in the NAACP, the Oklahoma Youth Legislature, the National Negro Democratic Association, and the Negro Business League.^[2] He played a vital role in desegregating Oklahoma State University in 1948 (Rummel).

Dunjee never married,^[6] nor had any children. Heworked at his news publication until his death in 1965; he was inducted to the Oklahoma Journalist Hall of Fame at Central State University posthumously in 1969^[1]

Black dispatch

Roscoe Dunjee published Oklahoma City’s first black newspaper,the Black Dispatch,from 1915 to 1954. The Black dispatch^[3] was a member of the Western Negro Press Association during its formative years and later subscribed to the Associated Negro press, which boasted of having 112 member newspapers in 1921. As the year passed, Dunjee added the Crusader Service, the Pacific Coast news Bureau, and Preston News Service, among others. Today the Black Dispatch is the oldest continuously published black newspaper in Oklahoma

References