In case you missed it: Minkins home in Pawtucket listed on National Register of Historic Places

Did you know that the home of Rhode Island Press Association Hall of Fame member John Carter Minkins was listed this month on the National Register of Historic Places? The following is the bulk of a news release announcing the designation:

John Carter Minkins (1859-1969) was arguably the most important Black man in Rhode Island journalism for more than half a century. A career newspaperman with a national profile, Minkins w

as also a lifelong civil rights activist -- proudly using his voice and position to advocate for the rights of Black Americans. Now, his Pawtucket home is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its

significance to Black history. 

His newspaper career began in Virginia, but by age 25, he had established himself in Providence, and he remained in Rhode Island for the rest of his life. His distinguished career included positions at several Rhode Island newspapers, as well as writing for national outlets, all at a time when Black journalists were exceptionally rare. In 1906, Minkins became editor-in-chief of the Providence News-Democrat, making him the first Black editor of a white-owned newspaper in the country, according to contemporary sources.  Minkins remained active – professionally and politically – well into his 80s. 

In addition to his paid work, which brought Minkins’ voice to national publications and stages across the country, he also dedicated himself to Black community life closer to home. Minkins participated in many civic and advocacy organizations, including the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which he helped to found in 1913. In 1914, Minkins pressured the Providence YMCA to allow Black people to use its newly opened facility. His paper, the Rhode Island Examiner, was the sole Rhode Island newspaper to provide front-page coverage of the story.

While John C. Minkins’ trailblazing career spanned many decades and numerous places of employment, the Minkins family home at 345 Glenwood Avenue remained a constant. Purchased in 1900, Minkins lived there for nearly 60 years – not only raising seven accomplished daughters with his wife Rosa, but also hosting gatherings of politicians and newspapermen and, importantly, working from his home office as a correspondent for newspapers across the country.

This spring, the Minkins family home was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places for its significance to Black history. The nomination originated from an ongoing statewide project to document sites related to the struggle for Black civil rights in Rhode Island. 

“We are thrilled that John Carter Mikins’ longtime home in Pawtucket is now included in the National Register, the nation’s official list of historic places worthy of preservation. We are continuing to identify homes, offices, churches, and other places where Black Rhode Islanders advanced the Civil Rights movement, and are planning additional nominations to the National Register in the future,” said RIHPHC Deputy Director Joanna Doherty.

On Sept. 24, Keith Stokes, Rhode Island Historian Laureate, the Heritage Alliance of Pawtucket, and Public Archaeology Lab (PAL) will join RIHPHC to share the long and cooperative process it took to develop the nomination. This lecture is free with registration. Contact us for program-related questions.

Minkins’ papers are housed at Rhode Island College, the University of Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society. Minkins was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2013 and featured prominently in a 2022 exhibit about the African American Press in Rhode Island. In 2024, the City of Pawtucket established the John Carter Minkins Community Leader Award to honor his legacy.

Here is our summary on Minkins from his induction in 2005:

John Carter Minkins was one of the true pioneers of Rhode Island journalism yet seems to fly under the radar of recent generations of journalists in the state. He spent a half-century as a newspaperman, almost all of it in Rhode Island, working for both Republican and Democratic newspapers, and traveled easily and most competently a part of the otherwise all-white newspaper establishment.

Born in 1869 in Norfolk, VA, he graduated in 1888 from the Norfolk Mission College, intending to be a teacher. He changed careers after being hired by the Norfolk Evening Telegram to report on the city's African-American community.

He came to Providence in 1891 and was hired by the Providence News. In 1892 he went to the Evening & Sunday Telegram, where he made a name for himself with his coverage of the Lizzie Borden trial. In 1990 he was hired by the Pawtucket Times as a copy editor and editorial writer. At the same time, he was a correspondent for the Hearst Newspapers and contributed news to other New York dallies and the Boston Globe. In 1904, he returned to the Evening Telegram as news editor and Sunday editor, and in 1906 he returned to the Providence News, where he soon became editor-in-chief – the first black editor, he boasted, of a white-owned newspaper. He was editor until 1910, when he moved to the Providence Evening Tribune and also purchased the weekly Rhode Island Examiner.

Minkins' 50-year newspaper career ended when he retired in 1938, but he continued to write and lecture on local, national and world issues and received many honors and appointments from government and private organizations. He and his wife, Rosa Jessup Minkins, sent four of their five daughters to Pembroke College. He died in 1959 at the age of 90.