Born in Nashville, Tennessee, J. Finley Wilson attended Fisk University. He traveled extensively and held a range of jobs, including office boy, railroad employee (in Colorado), miner (in Arizona), cowboy (in Wyoming), and reporter for the New York Age. Wilson went on to establish the Baltimore Times, the Advocate-Verdict (in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), and the Washington Sun, where he also served as editor. He was made president of the National Negro Press Association in 1920. In 1922 Wilson was elected Grand Exalted Ruler of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, of the world, the first African-American association of its kind. He also founded and edited the Washington Eagle, the publication of the Elks Grand Lodge. He helped to organize the Federated Organization of Colored People, and he was a delegate to the World Conference on Human Rights in 1947.

Source:
Chabot, Bruce Guy . “Wilson, J. Finley.” American National Biography. February 2000. http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-03278.html. 28 March, 2005.

 Who’s Who in Colored America . Ed. Thomas Yenser. 5 th ed. Thomas Yenser: New York, 1940. pg. 576.