Born enslaved shortly before the Civil War, John Edward Bruce was a pioneering Black Journalist. He is buried in Yonkers Oakland Cemetery in an unmarked grave, but thanks to RISEUP—Research Initiatives for the Strategic Empowerment of the Urban Populace, Inc., his legacy will soon be preserved with an ornate headstone that has been 101 years in the making.
Bruce was a trailblazing Black journalist, historian, writer, orator, civil rights activist, and Pan-African nationalist. He was born a slave in Maryland; as an adult, he founded numerous newspapers (co-founding the New York City Chronicle in 1877; the Yonkers Weekly Standard in 1908; and edited the Masons Quarterly in New York City) along the East Coast, as well as co-founding (with bibliophile and collector, Arthur Alfonso Schomburg) the Negro Society for Historical Research (NSHR), based in Yonkers.
The NSHR’s primary goal was to create an institute that would support scholarly efforts focused on African, West Indian, and Afro-American history. The society aimed to collect and preserve materials related to these histories, including books, manuscripts, and pamphlets. The NSHR’s work laid the foundation for what would become the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Malcolm X Blvd. in Harlem, NY). Schomburg’s vast collection of materials formed the core of the center’s initial holdings. The center is a research library of the New York Public Library and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide.
In 1919, Bruce joined the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and became a regular columnist for the UNIA’s newspapers, like The Negro World and The Daily Negro Times. The veteran journalist is widely recognized as a key figure in the Black intelligentsia who openly embraced Marcus Garvey. Bruce, significantly older than Garvey, became a trusted ally and advisor within the movement.
In 1874, at the age of 18, Bruce earned a job as a messenger for the associate editor of the New York Times’ Washington office. His duties included getting information for the next day’s paper from Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, a Republican who supported civil rights for African-Americans.
Despite all he accomplished, Bruce has spent more than a century in an unmarked tomb at Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers. RISEUP announced a special event to honor his legacy.
On Saturday, August 9, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., RISEUP will host a Headstone Revealing Ceremony at Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers to mark the placement of a permanent headstone for Bruce.
This event follows last year’s temporary marker placement ceremony, where Mayor Mike Spano issued an official proclamation recognizing August 11th as John Edward Bruce Day in the City of Yonkers.
Thanks to the dedication of community partners and generous donors, RISEUP successfully raised the $5,000 necessary for the headstone, which has now been completed by Minozzi and Sons, and on Friday, August 1st, at 9:30 am, we will be setting the headstone at the cemetery.
RISEUP’s Dr. Robert Baskerville (Executive Director) and Harold McKoy (Research Initiatives for the Strategic Empowerment of the Urban Populace) were interviewed by Tony Aiello, general assignment reporter for CBS New York, on Thursday. The interview took place at Minozzi & Sons and Oakland Cemetery, where they discussed our ongoing efforts to honor John Edward Bruce with a permanent headstone.
