Student hits Racism within Boston School

This article title reflects persistent efforts by Black newspapers and magazines to pressure the federal government on passing legislation formally outlawing the practice of lynching.

Make Lynching Federal Crime

Southern Negroes Mobilize to Secure their Voting Rights

This headline reflects the dominant thrust of early Black newspapers towards the abolition of slavery - a subject that dominated Black journalism up until the American Civil War.

Abolition of Slavery

This photograph shows participants in a silent protest parade held in New York in July 1917. Around 10,000 African Americans participated in this protest, which was organised by the NAACP following the East St. Louis massacre.

Silent Protest Parade in New York City

Negro Exodus

This article charts the growth of Black business enterprise since the start of the twentieth century, providing a summary of national Black business exploits. Black newspapers and magazines, in addition to being important Black businesses in their own right, were vital to the health of other Black commercial and business enterprises - promoting their services and influence through editorial and advertising content.

Negro Business Enterprises in the United States

This article by Black journalist E. B. Henderson celebrates the prevalence of Black sports stars and argues that their success is a "powerful foe of intolerance." An increase in sports-specific coverage was one part of the departmentalization of Black newspapers during the early decades of the twentieth century, as they grew larger and more commercially successful.

Athletic Performances Often Under-Estimated

This article reports on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Berea College v. Kentucky, which upheld a Kentucky state law prohibiting the coeducation of Black and white students.

Jim Crowism Spreading

This article covers the murder of Lawrence Brown and subsequent efforts by Brown's father to claim damages from the State of South Carolina following his lynching.

Damages for Lynching

This extract from an article by Arthur Huff Fauset reflects on the emergence of a "New Negro," characterized by "an independence, a daring...[and] beginning to love the color of his skin."

The New Negro

This article covers the experience of Howard University student John H. Moody, who was among the many students to participate in the Freedom Rides of 1961. Sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Freedom Riders set out to test the non-enforcement of Supreme Court decisions such as Boynton v. Virginia (1960) which had ruled segregated public transport as unconstitutional.

Freedom Rider Declare's He's Undaunted By Dixie Tyranny

This image, taken by New York World Telegram and Sun photographer Dick De Marsico, shows street scenes in the aftermath of the shooting of Black teenager James Powell by a white police officer in July 1964. Powell's death sparked a week of rioting in Harlem, New York; one of many violent confrontations between Black urban communities and predominantly white police forces during the 1960s.


The Fatal Shooting of Powell Stirred Negro Rioters

This headline documents the violence faced by many Freedom Riders during the summer of 1961 as they sought to test the failure of Southern states to address the Supreme Court's ruling of segregation on public buses as unconstitutional.

Freedom Riders Beaten By Mississippi Mob

The Miami Times was founded in 1923 by Sigismund Reeves, a Bahamian immigrant.  The paper played an important role in chronicling the civil rights movement in Florida.

Miami Times [1923-]

This article reflects a growing interest in shared diasporic experiences between Africans and African Americans during the 1960s. The content of Black newspapers and magazines, which reflected and helped to promote this trend, was the latest chapter in a longstanding history of transnational solidarity and activism.

Africans, American Negroes Uniting in Fight Against Bias

This letter from a Chicago Defender reader pushes back on Black leaders who advised against northward migration, outlining their own reasons for why they believed migration could provide new opportunities for Black workers.

Migration

The Pittsburgh Courier, founded in 1910, remains one of America's most prominent Black weekly newspapers. It is perhaps most closely associated with its "Double V" campaign during World War II, which called for victory abroad against fascism and victory at home against racial discrimination and segregation.

Pittsburgh Courier (1910-)

Missouri's largest Black newspaper, the St. Louis American has been in continuous publication since the late 1920s. It was founded by Nathan Young, a local judge, with support from a group of local Black businessmen. Nathanial Sweets assumed control around a year after its founding and spent close to 50 years as its owner-publisher. 

St. Louis American (1928-)

Headlines such as these were used to raise awareness of the inhumanity and barbarity of the slavery system in the United States.

Horrors of Slavery

The Jackson Advocate was founded in 1938 and remains one of the most significant Black newspapers based in the US South. Notable contributors include its founding publisher Percy Greene, and Charles Tisdale, who operated the publication between 1978 and his death in 2007.

Jackson Advocate (1938-)

This article honors Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture. It praises the Haitian Revolution as a landmark historical event and presents L’Ouverture as an exemplar of Black leadership and moral character.

Toussaint L'Ouverture

This article is characteristic of a broader emphasis on the importance of education by the antebellum Black Press. For pioneering Black editors such as John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, greater educational opportunities for Black people - centered on improving literacy rates - were a critical tool for racial uplift and self-empowerment.

Education, No. 1

This article pushes back against criticisms of Black Power within the mainstream white press and large sections of the Black Press.

In Defense of 'Black Power'

Article by Marvel Cooke, a pioneering Black female journalist and civil rights activist, which reflects on the development of the "Negro Negro Movement" during the 1920s.

The 'New Negro' of the 20s

The Negro Spokesman served the Black community of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, for around 20 years. Operating primarily at the local level, its name reflected the broader ambitions of the Black Press to function as a "voice for the race."

Negro Spokesman (1938-1958)

This letter to the editor uses a baseball analogy to make the case for Black equality. It argues that segregation and continued political disenfranchisement has left Black Americans "stranded on the bases," and that "we have waited long enough...we want a homer."

Democracy, War, and the Negro

This article celebrates the launch of Freedom's Journal as the first Black-owned and operated newspaper in the United States.

For The Freedom's Journal

The Richmond Planet was founded in Richmond, Virginia, in 1882, and published until 1938, when it merged with the Richmond Afro-American. The Planet is most closely associated with John Mitchell, Jr., who served as its editor and publisher from 1884 until his death in 1929.

Richmond Planet (1882-1938)

This article emphasises the role of Black women in fostering and leading Black radical activism. 

Women Long Ago Paved the Way to Black Power

During the years following World War II, editorial cartoonists in the Black Press became increasingly outspoken on the need for civil rights agitation and their frustrations with the slow pace of change.

Complete Record of Civil Rights Bills Passed by the 84th Congress

The Weekly Anglo-African, along with its sister publication the Anglo-African Magazine, began publication in 1859 on the brink of the American Civil War. Echoing the sentiments of earlier abolitionist Black papers, the Anglo-African declared that "we need a Press—a press of our own." Variations of the paper continued publication until 1865.


Weekly Anglo-African (1859-1865)

This article by Mabel Travis Wood argues for a greater acknowledgement of Black contributions to contemporary American music and composition.

Negro's Contribution to Musical Art

Grinding Poverty Blamed for Riots

South Keeps Up War on Rights Fighters

This article outlines the desire of Black Americans for full equality under the law.

What We Want

This article frames the abolitionist fight as a spiritual and moral crusade, portraying slavery as a force of darkness and urging readers to engage in ongoing, vigorous intellectual resistance to defeat it.

Abolitionists of Western New York, Awake!

This poem, written as a heartfelt plea, calls on the conscience of the American public to recognize the suffering of enslaved people and take action. 

Slave Petition

Article documenting the athletic prowess of Black track and field star Jesse Owens, aka the "Cleveland Flash."

Jesse Owens

This article condemns the 1906 Atlanta Massacre, where white mobs attacked and killed dozens of Black residents and destroyed Black-owned property. Like many other race riots and massacres during the "nadir", the Atlanta massacre was fuelled by white newspapers publishing lurid and misleading accounts of alleged sexual assaults by Black men.

The Atlanta Massacre

Boston's New School Plan

Drawings of Frederick Douglass remained commonplace in Black newspapers during the 1890s despite his advancing years, a testament to his enduring influence as one of the nation's premier Black activists and public spokesmen.

Frederick Douglass

The Atlanta Daily World, founded as a weekly in 1928 and converting to daily publication several years later, is one of the few Black newspapers to successfully maintain a daily publication schedule, compared to the weekly format favoured by the majority of Black papers. Founded by W. E. Scott, the paper made its most significant strides under his brother C. A. Scott, who assumed control after W. E. Scott was killed in 1934. It remains one of the most influential Black newspapers in the country.

Atlanta Daily World (1928-)

This article highlights the athletic exploits of female track and field athletes such as Tidye Pickett, who became the first Black woman to represent the United States at the Summer Olympics in 1936.

Tuskegee Girl Wins National Broad Jump Title

The Detroit Tribune was founded in 1935 as "the leading Negro newspaper in Michigan." During the middle decades of the twentieth century, the Tribune was a key voice for Detroit's rapidly expanding Black community.

Detroit Tribune (1935-1966)

This article reflects the importance of the Black American press in documenting events in newly independent African nations. Many African leaders sought to cultivate close ties with Black newspapers and magazines such as the Chicago Defender and EBONY, believing that coverage in such publications could elevate their international profile.

New African Nations Ask Support of Negro Press

The Black Man Has Become A Power In World Affairs

The Afro-American was founded in 1892 in Baltimore, Maryland. It is historically associated with the Murphy family, headed by John H. Murphy Sr., who purchased the paper shortly after its founding. During the 1920s the Afro-American's reach became increasingly ambitious as it emerged as one of the nation's premier Black newspapers. This included the addition of local editions in cities such as Washington, D C., Philadelphia, and Richmond.

Afro-American (1892-)

The Black Panther Community Newspaper was the mouthpiece of the Black Panther Party and, for a brief period, one of the most widely circulated Black newspapers in the United States. It played a key role in publicizing the Party's ideology and activism, linked the civil rights struggle in the United States to activism across the Black diaspora.

The Black Panther (1967-1980)

Boston Students Support Sitdowns

This poem by celebrated Black writer Langston Hughes, reprinted in the Afro-American from Opportunity magazine, relays frustrations over poor pay and the desires of Black people to push back against their oppressors.

Pride

This photograph, taken by Russell Lee in Steele, Missouri, shows a small group of Black women outside a community store.

Negro women in front of ten cent store

This article mocks the anxieties of white Southern newspapers as to the impact of Black migration and revels in the Defender's notoriety as an "agitator."

Read This, Then Laugh

The landmark Supreme Court ruling in the 1954 "Brown v. Board of Education" case, along with subsequent appeals and connected legal battles, were extensively covered in the Black Press.

U.S. Supreme Court Condemns 'Separate But Equal' Doctrine

This photograph of Richard Wright taken by Black photographer Gordon Parks in May 1943. It was taken several years after the publication of Wright's debut novel, Native Son, which established him as one of the country's premier Black writers.

Richard Wright

Photograph of Black nationalist leader Malcolm X taken by New York World staff photographer Ed Ford in early 1964.

Malcolm X

For close to four decades, the Washington Bee served the capital's growing Black community. William C. Chase, a local lawyer and businessman, assumed control of the newspaper before the end of its first year in print. Under Chase's leadership, the Bee became closely associated with the Republican Party.

Washington Bee (1884-1922)

This 1971 poster was created by the New York Committee to Free Angela Davis, a prominent Black feminist and left-wing activist as part of an ongoing legal campaign against her. After being held in jail for more than a year, all charges against Davis were dropped.

Free Angela Davis Now!

King Leads 25,718 in Boston Rain

This article discusses the public reaction to Black Power, suggesting that despite rhetorical differences, the goals of Black Power activists were not radically different from those of established mainstream civil rights actors.

King and Carmichael?

This photograph of Josephine Baker, a celebrated Harlem Renaissance actress, dancer, and civil rights activist, was taken by Carl Van Vechten in 1949. 

Portrait of Josephine Baker, Paris

Eye-catching headlines such as this one helped to cement Malcolm X's reputation as a militant Black leader and, in the eyes of federal authorities, "the most dangerous man in America."

'Get Guns' Says Malcolm X

Barbers Face Stiff Penalty For Hiking Fees for Negros

Article discussing the involvement of Black New Yorkers in recent elections for both local and national office. This extract is significant for featuring an early written example of the phrase "stay woke!" which has become part of modern speech and activist language.

Harlem Negroes Waking Up

School Committee Head Says Fleeing Whites Cause More Segregation In Schools of Boston

This photograph documents the scale of destruction caused by the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921, when white mobs razed the Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, OK.

Part of a District Burned in Race Riots, Tulsa

This photograph, taken by Orlando Fernandez, shows activists Bayard Rustin and Cleveland Robinson in conversation outside of 170 west 130 Street in Washington, D.C. Rustin, as Deputy Director, and Robinson, as Chairman of the Administrative Committee, were both key organizers of the 1963 March on Washington.

In front of 170 West 130 Street

Headline for article outlining the historic role of Black women in shaping Black radical activism

Today's Militant Movement Indebted to Black Women

Antebellum Black newspapers revelled in their status as "truth-tellers" for Black communities, explicitly framing their importance against the lies of mainstream white publications.

The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

During World War II, Black women became key workers in the US war economy.

Negro Women Welders

Article relaying comments made by the conductor Leopold Stokowski, the head of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which champion the role of Black musicians in the development of Jazz.

American Negro Given Credit For Jazz Music

This editorial cartoon criticizes the hypocrisy of "Uncle Sam," a stand-in for the US government, over its treatment of Black soldiers returning from World War I. Despite millions of Black Americans registering for the draft and more than one-third of a million actively serving, Black veterans were denied war benefits and returning Black soldiers were met with discrimination and violence.

Boy, You've Saved the World!

This article criticizes the newly enacted segregation laws in Jacksonville, Florida, mandating race separation on streetcars. By the first decade of the twentieth century, the Jim Crow system had become formalized in many southern states.

An Epidemic Of Insanity

This article is a firsthand account from a Black woman travelling through Mississippi, denouncing the inhumane and degrading conditions of segregated train cars in the South.

Jim Crow Cars Assailed

Boston Found Guilty of School Segregation

The Broad Ax (1895–1931) was originally published out of Salt Lake City, Utah, by Julius F. Taylor. He relocated the newspaper to Chicago, Illinois, several years after its founding. Like many other Black newspapers that began publication during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Broad Ax featured an eye-catching masthead - a reflection of how Black publishers were embracing new visual and printing technologies.


Broad Ax (1895-1931)

This illustration offers readers an artistic depiction of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. By the dawn of the twentieth century, Tuskegee was one of the nation's most important Black colleges. Its fortunes were closely linked to that of its figurehead, Booker T. Washington, who used Tuskegee to advance his model of industrial education.

The Tuskegee Institute

Foreign news, particularly with regards to Africa and the West Indies, was a prominent part of the Journal's coverage from its inception. This coverage reflected a broader interest in Black life beyond the United States within antebellum Black newspapers.

Foreign News

The Tulsa Star (1913-1921) was founded as the Muskogee Star, but changed its name soon after its founding after relocating to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The paper was an important voice for Tulsa's growing Black community throughout the World War I era, before its dramatic demise during the Tulsa massacre of 1921.

Tulsa Star (1913-1921)

This headline in the Michigan Chronicle was part of a lengthy Black Press campaign leading up to and in the aftermath of the 1963 March on Washington, which emphasised the event's importance and potential impact.

Nation to Feel Impact of March

This article details remarks made by celebrated Black artist Aaron Douglass at a New York social club event. Echoing the sentiments of contemporaries such as Langston Hughes and Archibald Motley, Douglass calls for "an artistic renaissance among the Negroes of this country."

Aaron Douglass Urges Artistic Renaissance

This article emphasis the range of Black cultural and literary endeavors that flourished during the interwar period and contributed to a "Renaissance" of Black arts and letters during this period.

Tell Us Of The Negro

It was rare to see images or illustrations on the front pages of Black newspapers during the antebellum period, with economic pressures restricting the ability of Black publishers to develop visual content. This image, which appeared on the front page of "Frederick Douglass' Paper" in 1854, is one notable exception.

Ball's Great Daguerrian Gallery of the West

This article presents a statistical breakdown of the Negro population in the Western Hemisphere as reported by the Anti-Slavery Reporter. Statistical data of this kind, which often appeared on the pages of antebellum Black newspapers, reflected the interest of their editors in linking the fortunes and demography of Black Americans to Black communities in other Western nations.

The Negro Population of the Western World

Mary McLeod Bethune, pictured here with students at the Daytona Normal and Industrial School in Florida, was a leading Black educator and activist. She would later be appointed as the director of the National Youth Administration's Division of Negro Affairs, becoming the first African American woman to head a federal agency.

Mary McLeod Bethune with a Line of Girls from the School

This headline relates to a protest before the City Council Committee for Police and Jail by Black residents of Baltimore, who were vocalizing their opposition to a housing segregation bill.

Determined Protest Against Segregation

Commemorating events such as Emancipation Day and Juneteenth was a way for Black Americans to celebrate their progress since the slavery era. As this article demonstrates, Black business development was a particular source of pride for Black journalists and their communities.

The Day We Celebrate

Blacks in Boston Facing Race Riot

This article decries the East St. Louis race riots during the Summer of 1917, which resulted in the deaths of at least 75 people.

The East St. Louis Riots

This article defends the importance of Black-owned newspapers in the face of criticism that such publications reinforce racial divisions.

Colored Newspapers

Boston Mayor Admits City is 'Racist'

The Colored American (1893-1904), was published in Washington, D. C. by Edward Elder Cooper. Marketing itself as a "national Negro newspaper," the American was part of a new wave of more commercial and increasingly nationally-oriented Black newspapers that emerged during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Colored American (1893-1904)

This letter to the editor praises the Chicago Defender for encouraging Black Southerners to migrate north in search of better treatment and opportunities. Although the Defender was initially ambivalent about northwards migration, it would quickly become an influential booster of Black migration out of the South. 

Exodus Like Emancipation

Whites Boycott Boston Schools

Boston School Bias

This article title demonstrates the efforts of Black newspapers to frame racial segregation as an explicitly moral concern - as a question of good and evil.

The Evil Influences of Jim-Crowism

Freedom's Journal, founded by John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish in 1827, was the first Black-owned newspaper in the United States. It's plea that "we wish to plead our own cause" became a foundational mantra for many subsequent Black periodicals.

Freedom's Journal (1827-29)

Black newspapers became key boosters of Black arts and culture during the interwar period.

Exhibits of Negro Art Thrill

The Chicago Defender (1905-) remains one of the nation's most prominent Black newspapers. Founded by Robert Abbott in 1905, the Defender transformed itself from a local concern into the "world's greatest weekly" in less than fifteen years.

Chicago Defender (1905-)

This article exposes the poor working and living conditions experienced by Black women within the Texas prison system. The article alludes to the convict lease system that disproportionately impacted incarcerated Black men and women during the decades following the Civil War.
