Newspapers

The Atlanta Daily World had the first black White House correspondent and was the first black daily in the nation in the 20th century.

The most widely circulated black newspaper on the Atlantic coast. It was the first black newspaper to have correspondents reporting on World War II, foreign correspondents, and female sports correspondents.

The Chicago Defender has been a leading voice of the black community well beyond Chicago. This database offers downloadable PDFs from each issue in published for the entire run of the newspaper, from 1910 to 1975.

The Cleveland Call & Post promoted participation in politics, urged the establishment of legal aid societies by the African-American community, and encouraged black solidarity and self-reliance.

From its earliest beginnings when it urged African-Americans not to “spend your money where you can’t work,” the Los Angeles Sentinel has exposed prejudice, promoted social change, and empowered the black community.

The New York Amsterdam News captured the vibrancy and cultural richness of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, advocated for the desegregation of the U.S. military during World War II, and fought against discriminatory employment practices and other civil rights abuses in the 1960s. Today, the New York Amsterdam News continues to deliver local, national, and international stories of interest to its multicultural readership.

The Norfolk Journal and Guide became one of the best researched and written newspapers of its era, with a circulation of more than 80,000 by the 1940s. It argued against restrictive covenants, rallied against lynching, encouraged blacks to vote, supported improvements to city streets and water systems, and more.

The oldest continuously published daily black newspaper in the U.S., The Philadelphia Tribune was founded by Christopher James Perry. His paper conveyed ideas and opinions about local and national issues affecting blacks in the post-emancipation period, and today continues to serve the country’s fourth largest African-American community.

The Pittsburgh Courier was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Features newspapers published by or for African Americans in 35 states from 1827 to 1998. Funded by the Dr. Gerald W. Walton Endowment.

Full-text articles from newspapers and periodicals published by the ethnic and minority press in America.