January 1887

Granville Woods patented 'telegraphony' in 1887 — a system allowing a telegraph wire to transmit both Morse code and voice simultaneously. He sold the patent to American Bell Telephone Company. Woods also patented the 'induction telegraph' that year, allowing moving trains to communicate with stations, preventing collisions. Thomas Edison twice challenged this patent and lost both times.

Timothy Thomas Fortune founded the New York Age, which became the most widely read Black newspaper in the nation. A radical journalist born enslaved in Florida, Fortune coined the term 'Afro-American,' founded the Afro-American League in 1887, and wrote 'Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the South' (1884). The Age influenced a generation of Black political thought.

T. Thomas Fortune transformed the New York Freeman into the New York Age in 1887, building it into one of the most influential Black newspapers in America. Fortune pioneered militant journalism demanding full civil rights, coined the term 'Afro-American,' and allied with Ida B. Wells to amplify anti-lynching campaigns.

Journalist and activist Timothy Thomas Fortune transformed the New York Freeman into the New York Age, which became the most influential Black newspaper in the country during the late nineteenth century. Fortune coined the term 'Afro-American' and used the paper to advocate forcefully for Black civil and political rights. He also founded the Afro-American League in 1890, a forerunner of later civil rights organizations.