Lillian J.B. Fox: First African-American Writer for a White Newspaper in Indiana

Lillian J. B. Thomas Fox was an African-American journalist and club-woman active in Progressive Era Indianapolis.

She rose to prominence in the 1880s and 1890s as a civic leader and writer for the Indianapolis Freeman, a leading national black newspaper at the time, and the later joined the Indianapolis News as Indiana’s first black columnist for a white newspaper.

In 1891, Fox was hired as a reporter and correspondent editor for the Indianapolis Freeman, a nationally prominent black newspaper.

Throughout the years, Fox became a well-known speaker and activist, founding the Indianapolis Women’s Improvement Club and the Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, as well as becoming involved in national organizations.

Fox was especially an advocate for improving access to public health and fighting tuberculosis within the Indiana black community.