Thomas, WV – A serendipitous series of events has led to the apparent discovery of a printing press used by J.R. Clifford – publisher of West Virginia’s most successful Black newspaper and the Mountain State’s first African American attorney.
Clifford edited and published the Pioneer Press in Martinsburg from 1882 to 1917. As an attorney, Clifford is most well-known for Williams v. Board of Education of Tucker County (1898), a civil rights case in which he represented Coketon Colored School teacher, Carrie Williams, in successfully challenging the school district’s move to shorten the school term for African American school children while keeping the full term for white students.
In August 2025, Mrs. Anna Pickering recounted how the press came with the Martinsburg home that she and her husband purchased in 1975. They discovered a copy of Clifford’s paper, the Pioneer Press, lying on the press itself, which had been buried by plumbing-related items packed into the shed. Efforts continue to try to locate the copy of the newspaper, which ceased publishing in September 1917.
With the help of Friends of Blackwater, Mrs. Pickering donated the printing press to the Berkeley County Museum Commission, which arranged for the transport of the more than 1,000-pound cast-iron machine to the Commission’s artifact storage facility on Sept. 8.
“We are honored to help preserve this important piece of West Virginia’s civil rights history,” said Judy Rodd, director of Friends of Blackwater.
“J.R. Clifford put his life on the line for equality – here in Tucker County, and across America. His story continues to be inspiring, and relevant today, and this printing press is an incredible artifact that keeps his legacy alive.”
Clifford was born in Williamsport, WV, in 1848 in what is now Grant County. After serving with the U.S. Colored Troops in the Union Army in the Civil War, Clifford obtained a teaching degree in 1875 at Storer College in Harper’s Ferry, and went on teach and serve as principal at Sumner School in Martinsburg before being admitted to practice law. He died in Martinsburg in 1933.
More information on the life and work of J.R. Clifford, visit https://www.jrclifford.org.
