Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/16

Rh intellectual, moral, and religious welfare of his people and state. The unusual ability displayed by this youthful editor won for him laudable encomiums, even from several white editors in Virginia. The Spirit of the Valley, edited by D. Sheffey Lewis, said: "We have received The Lynchburg Virginia Laborer, edited by I. Garland Penn. It is edited with dignity and ability. The Lynchburg Daily Advance gave this testimony: "We most cheerfully commend The Lynchburg Virginia Laborer to all the sons of toil."

Our subject ardently loves newspaper work. He was once a pleasing and trenchant writer for The Richmond Planet and The Virginia Lancet. He is at present a correspondent for The Knoxville Negro World and The New York Age. He seems to observe closely, and he expresses his ideas with great clearness and strength. No one needs to read a sentence of Addison or Washington Irving twice to understand it. This may with truth be said of the young man whose life we are now considering.

Mr. Penn is an easy, fluent speaker. Though he has on several occasions been requested to make political speeches in the Old Dominion, he prefers to confine his speech-making to educational subjects. He has frequently delivered discourses to Sunday-Schools, and has been, in several instances, invited to speak on prominent public occasions. At the annual conference of the Colored M. E. Church which met in Charlottesville in July, 1889, Mr. Penn delivered a convincing address, advocating the establishment of a Theological and Normal School within Virginia.

It may be readily affirmed from what has been said, that Mr. Penn is one of the few young men of our state who enjoys national recognition. He has on several occasions been honored by some of our leading men. On March 16, 1889, a fine cut and well-written sketch of him appeared in The Freeman of Indianapolis. Creditable sketches of him have also adorned the brilliant columns of The Cleveland Gazette and The Negro World of Knoxville. His publication of his intention to write a history of Colored American journalism has brought him into closer contact with the foremost men of our race, and caused him to receive numerous complimentary notices.