William Parker Canaday (died September 27, 1892) was an American politician and newspaper editor.
Early life
editCanaday was born and raised on a farm in Carteret County, North Carolina.[1]
Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, Canaday enlisted in the 10th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Confederate States Army. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of first lieutenant. Afterwards he worked as a rosin weigher at the port of Wilmington.[2]
Political career
editCanaday joined the North Carolina Republican Party upon its creation.[2] He quickly garnered a following among Wilmington's blacks and white working class population.[2][3] A strong proponent for equal rights for blacks, he advocated for allocation of political patronage to them to increase their representation in government.[3] When warned by a Republican journalist that he was "kindling a fire among the negroes that you will not be able to put out," Canaday replied that he would "keep up the flames, until justice is done the long oppressed colored people of this country."[3]
As customs collector in Wilmington, 12 of his 17 staffers were black.[3]
In 1872, Canady assumed the editorship of The Wilmington Post, the city's Republican paper, which had been caught in Republican factional disputes and suffered from high turnover and financial difficulties.[4] Under his editorship, the paper's written quality suffered and embraced more scandalous news stories but embraced more democratic values.[5] He also assumed a more politically confrontational tone, declaring that he was not managing a "milk and cider concern" and daring his critics to make good on their threats towards the paper's staff.[6] He hired black journalist C. H. Moore to serve as an associate editor.[3] In response to Conservative race-baiting tactics, Canaday's Post launched personal attacks against its political opponents, including making open accusations of miscegenation. Despite his fervor, the paper continued to suffer from financial problems due to a lack of advertising customers.[7] The declining fortunes of the Republican Party in the state as well as the degradation of the paper's printing press led Canaday to cease publication in 1884.[8]
Death
editCanaday died by suicide on September 27, 1892.[1]
References
edit- 1 2 "Suicide of Col. Canaday". The National Tribune. Vol. XII, no. 10. October 6, 1892. p. 7.
- 1 2 3 Evans 1995, p. 221.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Beckel 2010, p. 109.
- ↑ Evans 1995, p. 220.
- ↑ Evans 1995, pp. 221–222.
- ↑ Evans 1995, p. 223.
- ↑ Evans 1995, p. 224.
- ↑ Evans 1995, p. 225.
Works cited
edit- Beckel, Deborah (2010). Radical Reform: Interracial Politics in Post-Emancipation North Carolina. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813930527.
- Evans, William McKee (1995). Ballots and Fence Rails: Reconstruction on the Lower Cape Fear (reprint ed.). Athens: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-1731-4.