ROSCOE DUNJEE
Do your parents read newspapers? Do they listen to the news on the radio or on
television? The news tells us about many things going on today. And people who
write or report the news can make a difference. One newsman who made a
difference was an Oklahoman named Roscoe Dunjee.
Roscoe was an African-American child who grew up in Choctaw, Oklahoma. His
father was a preacher who made very little money. The family lived in a dugout.
(A dugout is a house built into the side of a hill.) Roscoe worked hard in the oneroom school for black children. At the age of fifteen, he went to college.
He liked to read and write. Soon, he decided to start his own newspaper!
He named it the Black Dispatch. (A “dispatch” is another word for an important
message.) In his newspaper, he wrote about how black people were not always
treated fairly by other people.
He asked for African-American students to be able
to go to good schools. He hoped that black people
would be able to work at any jobs they wanted.
But Roscoe did more than write about fairness.
He traveled around the country to speak to people
about the need to be fair. Many of the things
Roscoe wrote about became true when laws were
changed in Oklahoma. You can see his picture
hanging in the state capitol.
1. What was it like for Roscoe growing up?
2. How did Roscoe let people know about the need to treat people fairly?
3. If you owned your own newspaper, what would you write about?
Courtesy Oklahoma Council for Social Studies