Harrison J. Pinkett (1882 – July 19, 1960) was a journalist and civil rights activist in Washington DC and then a lawyer in Omaha, Nebraska. As a journalist, he was the head of the so-called "Press Bureau" and often used the bureau's collective pen name, "P.S. Twister". In 1907, at the recommendation of friends in the NAACP, he moved to Omaha where he frequently worked in civil rights. He served as a first lieutenant in the 92nd Infantry Division in World War I and frequently defended the rights of black soldiers.
Life Harrison J. Pinkett was born in Luray, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley in 1882 to Civil War Veteran Charles Pinkett, of Indian and black ancestry, and Columbia Kemper, a white woman. He had fifteen siblings, seven of whom died in early youth. Included among these are two sisters, Daisy and Carrie, and four brothers, Archibald S, Wallace, Martin, and Charles. His father was a wagon maker and wheel wright. Archibald was also a lawyer and served as Secretary of the Washington DC branch of the NAACP.
Along with Archibald, Harrison was a part of the Howard University Law School class of 1906."Bliss School Graduates". Evening Star (Washington (DC), District of Columbia). Sunday, June 3, 1906. page 16 He also received education at Columbia University."Harrison J Pinkett, 78, Dies; Long Leader for NAACP". Omaha World Herald. Wednesday, July 20, 1960. page 44 In DC, Pinkett worked as a bricklayer and printer and worked for a time as a printer in Martinsburg, West Virginia and as an apprentice journalist at the Pioneer Press."Thompson's Weekly Review". Freeman (Indianapolis, Indiana). volume: XX. issue: 30. Saturday, August 10, 1907. page: 4 His first wife was Eva Madah Banks. Eva died January 20, 1948. He later remarried and his second wife was named Venus.
In 1936 he was interviewed by the Federal Writers' Project funded by the Works Progress Administration. In that interview he talks about his life and especially about the lynching of Willy Brown.Interview with Fred Dixon (1936) report available here: www.loc.gov/resource/wpalh1.16040908/?st=gallery
Journalist and Activist Pinkett was active in student affairs while at Howard. He took part in the Blackstone Club"City and District". Evening Star (Washington (DC), District of Columbia). Wednesday, April 6, 1904. page 16 and was active at the Bethel Literary and Historical Society (where he was secretary"Bethel Literary". Washington Bee (Washington (DC), District of Columbia). Volume: XXVI. Issue: 34. Saturday, January 19, 1907. page: 5) and the Richards Debating Club. In 1905, Pinkett acted as secretary of the first meeting of the Niagara Society in Washington, DC presided by DC Society Head, Lafayette McKeene Hershaw."Local Niagara Society Formed". Evening Star (Washington (DC), District of Columbia). Monday, October 23, 1905. page 16 Hershaw was then elected secretary with the presidency going to John F. Cook: Pinkett shifted to assistant secretary. Other officers included, Lewis Henry Douglass, Francis James Grimké, William Henry Harrison Hart, William Calvin Chase, William H Richard, John Wesley Cromwell, and William C. Martin."The Niagara Movement". Washington Bee (Washington (DC), District of Columbia). Saturday, November 25, 1905. Volume: XXV. Issue: 26. Page: 1
In January, 1907, Pickett was admitted to the DC bar"Admitted to Practice". Evening Star (Washington (DC), District of Columbia). Friday, January 25, 1907. page 12 and became a prolific writer for black papers. He served as manager and attorney of a group called the Press Bureau under the pen name "P.S. Twister". In this capacity, he was deeply critical of other black leaders, including Journalist R. W. Thompson,"No Headline". Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas). Friday, May 22, 1908. Volume: X Issue: 21. page: 4 and of Howard University President, Wilbur P. Thirkield"Paragraphic News". Washington Bee (Washington (DC), District of Columbia). Saturday, January 25, 1908. Volume: 27. Issue: 35. Page: 1 for their support of the election of Booker T. Washington, Jesse E. Moorland, J. H. N. Warring, and John T. Baldwin to the Board of that university because of their connection with capitalistsRayford W. Logan. "Howard University: the First Hundred Years, 1867–1967". NYU Press, 1969. page 154-155 as well as previous Howard University President, John Gordon."Letter" Richmond planet., December 30, 1905, Page 4, Image 4 Writings under this pen name ceased and he was asked by black leaders to consider practicing law in Omaha, where he moved in 1908 becoming the first University trained lawyer in Nebraska. Pinkett's connection to DC continued, and W. E. B. Du Bois visited Pinket in Omaha in the summer of 1908.Negro Leader will not Vote for Mr. Taft, Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska), Monday, June 22, 1908, Page: 1
Omaha Lawyer When he arrived in Omaha, he was listed as one of four black lawyers along with S Robbins, F L Smith, and J W Carr."Omaha News". Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas). volume: X. issue: 43. Friday, October 23, 1908. page 4 An early national case Pinkett worked in was in support of black troops stationed in Omaha who were erroneously discharged for involvement in the 1906 Brownsville Affair which falsely accused troops stationed in Brownsville of a disturbance at Brownsville bars resulting in the death of a white bartender and the wounding of a police officer. The affair reached Omaha when an imposter who went by the name G S Ward claiming to represent Senator Joseph B. Foraker and presenting a list to the command at Fort Omaha of individuals who supposedly confessed to involvement."Law was Defied". Sun (Baltimore, Maryland). Volume: CXLIV. Issue: 58. Wednesday, January 13, 1909. page: 1 He also spoke out against the mob involved Greek Town riot of 1909."Fixing the Blame". Omaha World Herald. Tuesday, February 23, 1909. page 4
In 1911, he wrote an affidavit in support of newly elected governor Chester Hardy Aldrich's accusations of fraud (that three times as many votes were cast as the population supported) in the election in Omaha's third ward,"Comes to Omaha To Open Inquiry on Thursday". Omaha World Herald. Wednesday, February 1, 1911, page 1 a position which put him in opposition to Tom Dennison's supposed machinations and in support of John LewisPinkett was cousin to Omahan William Lewis of Dan Desdune's jazz band, it is unclear if he was related to John. "Three Omaha Colored Officers Land in US". Omaha World Herald. Saturday, February 15, 1919. page 13 and his Anti-Saloon League."Evidence not Street Gossip What is Wanted". Omaha World Herald. Friday, February 3, 1911. page 1 In a not dissimilar situation, Pinkett was a part of campaigns in 1916 to make Douglass County a dry county."Dry Want $20,000 For Campaign Fund". Omaha World Herald. Friday, January 21, 1916. page 4
Blacks were not united in support of Pinkett, however. He was heavily involved in the prosecution of black businesses in Omaha's Midway, which before World War I was the city's red light district.Schneider, Mark Robert. "'We Return Fighting': The Civil Rights Movement in the Jazz Age". UPNE, 2002. page 33-34 He spoke against saloons and bootlegging joints and called for greater enforcement of laws against drug sales, noting the availability of morphine, opium, and cocaine. Both before and after the war he worked for the newspaper, The Monitor, which gave his message a voice,McKanna Jr, Clare V. "Seeds of Destruction: Homicide, Race, and Justice in Omaha, 1880–1920." Journal of American Ethnic History, Vol. 14, No. 1, African Americans (Fall, 1994), pp. 65-90 and in 1921 he started the short-lived newspaper A New Era.
World War I Pinkett was a strong patriot and in the days before the United States declared war on the German Empire and joined World War I, he wrote a letter to the Omaha World Herald in support of the action and calling blacks to service."Ready to Serve" Omaha World Herald. Thursday, March 29, 1917. page 6 Pinkett enlisted, becoming one of five Omaha officers (Pinkett was a first lieutenant).The others were: Amos Madison, William M Johnson, Dr. William Peebles, Edward Turner and John W. Bundrant. "Colored Men Return with their Shoulder Straps". Omaha World Herald. Friday, October 19, 1917. page 10, W. Allison Sweeny, "History of the African American Soldier"
Pinkett received his commission at Fort Des Moines on October 15, 1917 after five months training and first reported to Camp Dodge. He served with as battalion adjutant for the first battalion of the 366th Infantry in the 92nd Infantry Division. He landed in France on June 26, 1918 and was stationed for six weeks at Bourbonne for training. He then was sent to the Boche to the Vosges sector. He saw active service for a month on the Vosges sector, he was ten days on the Argonne, and a month on the Metz sector where he was when armistice was signed. He believed his men fought gallantly, noting that of 32 distinguished services medals given to the 92nd division, his organization received 22 of them."Saw Men Cut in Half by Machine Gun Fire". Omaha World Herald. Thursday, April 3, 1919. page 1. Pinkett is called a captain in this and future World Herald references to his service. Upon the end of World War II, Pinkett remembered the hearing of the November 11, 1918 armistice while under fire in front of Metz, saying, "The colored boys under me laid down their rifles, and the Germans did the same. They rushed across the clearing that separated them and embraced with joy.""H.J. Pinkett, Attorney Here 39 Years, Recalls First Armistice in France". Omaha World Herald. Monday, November 11, 1946. page 6
Near the end of the war while serving in Mayenne, France Pinkett continued to write editorials to the World Herald, writing in support of a national cemetery in France."His Memorial to the Allied Dead". Omaha World Herald. Saturday, February 1, 1919. page 2 Pinkett returned to the US March 1, and was discharged at Camp Upton on March 8 and returned to Omaha shortly after.
Committee of 5,000 controversy In early 1921, Pinkett became the focus of a controversy in Omaha. In part, the controversy arose when he sued pastor W C Williams of St. John AME Church (where Pinkett had been a member) over financial irregularities when the church built a factory for the employment of the women in the church."Pastor Says Pinkett Charge 'Spite Work'". Omaha World Herald. Thursday, January 6, 1921. page 4 At nearly the same time, Pinkett hired George Wells Parker to be editor of the newspaper "The New Era", a paper Pinkett paid to produce. When the pair disagreed over the contents of the paper, Parker created a new paper, "The Omaha Whip" which managed two editions before closing. Parker accused Pinket and two other men, Ole Jackson and Johnny Moore, of promising to give the black vote to police superintendent Dean Ringer. The accusations included that the police look the other way while Moore, who had recently been released from prison, and Jackson sold "anything they want to sell"."Pinkett-Ringer-Jackson-Moore Combine Works Overtime Again", The Mediator, Omaha Nebraska, March 31, 1921, page 1. Further, Parker accused Pinkett of association with the supporters of the Ku-Klux-Klan and called on Omahan's to stand by the campaigns of Mayor James C. Dahlman and his party."Why the Whip was Discontinued". Omaha World Herald. Thursday, March 24, 1921. page 8 Williams preached in support of Parker and against what he believed was police protection of these joints and called black candidate for police commissioner John T. McDonald, Sr to state his position. Williams also associated his opponents with a group called the "committee of 5,000" which he claimed consisted of the ministers and members of white Protestant churches in Omaha who campaigned against Jews, Catholics, and blacks in the city and supposedly had KKK ties"Says More Joints are Running than Ever". Omaha World Herald. Monday, April 4, 1921. page 1
Law and civil rights work