RICHARD W. THOMPSON.

Richard W. Thompson stands in the front rank of those who
are making history for the Negro race in this century. A
native of Kentucky, he has spent most of his life in Indiana
and was educated in the common and high schools of
Indianapolis. His career of thirty-five years is quite an
interesting one, abounding in well-directed efforts that
have done much to give character and dignity to the
Afro-American youth of the land. At an early age he evinced
a remarkable aptitude for public affairs, and at school
showed proficiency of the highest order in such studies as
political economy, civil government, history, literature. He
was especially happy in the art of English composition, his
papers on current problems attracting wide attention in his
home community. Losing his father when very young, he was
largely dependent upon his own exertions for a livelihood
and throughout his school days worked at a variety of
pursuits.

In 1879 he became associated with Messrs Bagby & Co., in the
publication of _The Indianapolis Leader_, the first
journalistic venture launched in the Hoosier State, and
later on mastered the trade of printing. Taking as naturally
to newspaper work as "a duck to water," he made himself an
indispensable quantity on the _Leader_ staff and at
seventeen, was city editor. At the same time in connection
with his school duties, he kept books for Dr. F. M. Ferree,
secretary of the Marion County Board of Health. When _The
Indianapolis World_ was launched in 1883, Mr. Thompson took
charge of the city department and at different times during
the palmy days of that sheet, held nearly every position on
it from work at the case to foreman of the mechanical
department and managing editor. He was the first managing
editor of _The Indianapolis Freeman_, in which position he
was a marked success. Later, as editor of the _Washington
Colored American_, he won national fame as an accomplished
journalist, a graceful, versatile and forcible writer and a
clear and courageous thinker upon all questions that affect
the Negro's social, political and industrial development. He
leads rather than follows popular sentiment, and at no time
while the editorial tripod was in his hands did he take a
stand