Jerome B. Peterson

Jerome Bowers Peterson (1859–1943), was an American newspaper editor in New York City, as well as a consular official for the United States Department of State, and served as customs revenue appointee for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Peterson was a co-founding editor of The New York Age newspaper in 1887, and held a consular position to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela in 1904 to 1906.

Early life and education Jerome Bowers Peterson was born on September 12, 1859 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He lived on Sullivan Street, and attended the Mulberry Street School in Manhattan, an African Free School.

Career

Newspaper Peterson was a founding owner and editor at The New York Age, a noted African American newspaper in New York City, In 1907, Fred R. Moore purchased The New York Age from Timothy Thomas Fortune and Peterson; and Peterson remained the paper's editor until 1933. Peterson worked as consul to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, from 1904 to 1906.

Death and legacy He died on February 19, 1943 in Brooklyn. His estate papers were archived at Yale University; Details about Peterson's life and work are also outlined in his granddaughter Carla L. Peterson's book Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City.

Personal life He married in 1893 to Cornelia Steele White; she was the daughter of Philip A. White, a former member of the Brooklyn Board of Education. Together they had three children. She died in 1926 in New York City after surgery. His granddaughter is the literary scholar and historian Carla L. Peterson.