Gertrude Mossell

Gertrude Mossell

Journalists/Writers

Gossip--Published

Mossell, Gertrude Emily Hicks Bustill, 1855-1848

Gertrude Mossell, also known as Mrs. N.F. Mossell (1855-1948), was one of the most influental Black female journalists and editors of the late nineteenth century. She wrote, among others, for Indianapolis World, Woman's Era, Colored American Magazine, and The New York Age, later The New York Freeman. Here, she ran the column "Our Woman’s Department.”
In The Work of the Afro-American Woman (1894) she recommends journalism as a profession to educated Black women whom she expects to find employment in Black as well as white papers. She also envisions a "future day" when there will be a "a women's journal, by our women, for our women" (98 pp.)
Due to her prominence, Mossell was herself repeatedly mentioned (as both journalist and private person) in contemporary newspapers.

Person

Reference

07/03/1855

01/21/1948

"Gertrude Mossell (1855-1948) Journalist, educator, feminist Gertrude Mossell was born July 3, 1855, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and worked as a teacher for several years before becoming a journalist in the early 1870s. She wrote columns and articles for many black newspapers including the Indianapolis Freeman, the Philadelphia Echo, the Richmond Rankin Institute, Our Women and Children, the Indianapolis World, and Woman's Era. She also wrote for white newspapers and magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, The Philadelphia Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Philadelphia Press. In December 1885 Mossell began writing a column entitled "The Woman's Department" for The New York Freeman, at the time the leading African American newspaper in the United States. It was the first woman's column published in a black newspaper, and was used to advocate for equal rights for women. It appeared in The Freeman until 1886. Mossell was also one of the first to recommend that newsboys be used to distribute papers in African American communities, and to suggest that a black newspaper syndicate similar to the Associated Press be established. Such an organization was established upon the founding of The Associated Negro Press in 1919. Mossell died in Philadelphia on January 21, 1948. " (via PBS.org)

Garland Penn in The Afro-American Press and Its Editors (1891) provides a valuable overview of her career and also cites her evaluation of other journlists throughout his study.
A biographical sketch is also included in "Gertrude Bustill Mossell: Guiding Voice for Newly Freed Blacks" (1993) by Rodger Streitmatter.