Historic U.S. Virgin Islands Newspaper St. Croix Avis to Close After 180 Years

Unable to compete with digital media, the paper credits its survival to the literacy of past generations of slaves.

The St. Croix Avis, a small daily newspaper in the U.S. Virgin Islands, is closing after 180 years in print due to its inability to compete with social media and digital newspaper subscription services.
The newspaper's owner and publisher, Rena Brodhurst, credits the survival of the paper to past generations of literate slaves, thanking the Moravian Church for insisting that the enslaved learn to read, write, and comprehend.
The St. Croix Avis is based on the island of St. Croix, home to some 41,000 people, the majority of whom are Black and of slave descent.
Originally, the St. Croix Avis published most of its content in Danish, but shifted primarily to English after the U.S. government bought the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917.
Throughout its history, the St. Croix Avis covered multiple significant events, including weather events and Citizenship Day celebrations.