Ralph Waldo Tyler

Who is Ralph Waldo Tyler?

Ralph Waldo Tyler was an African American journalist, war correspondent, government official, race man. He strove for racial justice in the United States and served as the only accredited Black foreign correspondent specifically reporting on African American servicemen stationed in France during World War I. His career began in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in the late 1880s where he held several journalistic positions including editor of the Afro-American; co-founding the short-lived African American newspaper, The Free American; contributing a Black news column and serving as society editor at the white-owned Columbus Evening Dispatch and writing for The Ohio State Journal.

Early on, his journalistic skills placed him in constant dialog with Black political and business leaders in the Midwest who were engaged in improving the social standing of African Americans at the height of the Jim Crow laws. In 1906, Tyler actively campaigned for an appointment as United States consul to Brazil. His political activities drew the attention of prominent national Black figures, and in 1907, upon the advice of Booker T. Washington, Tyler was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to fill the post of Auditor of the Department of the Navy. He held this post until 1913, when during the early years of Woodrow Wilson's presidency—overlooking the advice of his colleagues—Tyler published a recalcitrant article in the Washington Evening Star speaking out against the President's segregationist policies. Soon afterward, Tyler's governmental post under Wilson ended.