thirty-two page monthly; and in January, 1889, commenced to issue it weekly. This publication he devoted to the industrial idea, as a means of assisting to solve what is termed the race problem.
In 1881, Col. Wilson published a volume of his poems, the entire edition of which (1000) was sold in sixty days, and the proceeds devoted to his post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Norfolk. In 1882, his work on Emancipation was published at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. In 1888, "The Black Phalanx," written by him, was published by the American Publishing Company, of Hartford, Conn. This work needs no commendation here. Its sale surpasses that of any other work written by an Afro-American. Wilson has contributed to the press constantly, and there are few papers published by Afro-Americans whose pages have not been adorned and its readers enlightened by his articles upon the living issues and questions of the hour.
He has written several articles concerning the work and duties of the Afro-American press. We reproduce a portion of one of these written by Wilson for The Planet. After citing the pioneer work of the Caucasian press, and what it had to do in reaching its present position, this veteran says: "What was true of the whites is now true of the negro race. Twenty-five years ago you could count on the fingers of one hand all the newspapers published by negroes in the United States, and as easily count the books written by negro men and women; but to-day more than one hundred and thirty-five newspapers are printed every week, and not less than twenty-five issued monthly, not including two or three magazines. These, like the white press of fifty years ago, are the pioneers of the race's literature, and are read by two hundred thousand negroes who accept their teaching as readily as does a school child that of the teacher, with,
