Stewart, who learned much of the printing trade from his older brother, Charles, co-founded the Indianapolis Recorder with Will H. Porter.

Unlike its competitors, mainly the Indianapolis Freeman and the Colored World, the Recorder included mostly local news.

The Recorder was a four-page news organ with page one generally including national news, with a limited amount of local news.

As publisher and editor of the Recorder, Stewart served a clearinghouse function at the newspaper.

After Stewart died in August 1924, Fannie C. Stewart, his widow, became the Recorder’s owner and publisher.