Scholars estimate that some 3,000 African-American owned and operated newspapers have been produced since Freedom's Journal,* the first African-American newspaper was founded in 1827.
This selective research guide is intended to highlight a variety of print, electronic, and microform resources available for research that involves African American newspapers and journalism.
*See African American Newspapers: The 19th century in the Electronic Newspaper Collections section of this guide.
Historical Background
Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history: the Black experience in the Americas. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, c2006. 6 volumes
Lamont | REFERENCE | E185 .E54 2006
Widener | RR 4781.44.5
Includes a thorough introduction to the history of African American newspapers in the article entitled, "Journalism."
The Black Press in the Middle West, 1865-1985. Edited by Henry Lewis Suggs.
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1996.
Widener | WID-LC | PN4882.5 .B536 1996
The Black Press in the South, 1865-1979. Edited by Henry Lewis Suggs.
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1983.
Afro-American Studies | PN4882.5 .B54 1983
Widener | WID-LC | PN4882.5 .B54 1983
Grose, Charles William. Black Newspapers in Texas, 1868-1970.
Ann Arbor, Mich. : Xerox University Microfilms, 1974.
Widener | WID-LC | PN4882.5 .G76x 1974
Hutton, Frankie. The Early Black Press in America, 1827 to 1860.
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, c1993.
Widener | Harvard Depository | PN4882.5 .H87 1993 copy 2
Widener | WID-LC | PN4882.5 .H87 1993
Newspaper Columns by W.E.B. Du Bois. Compiled and edited by Herbert Aptheker.
White Plains, N.Y. : Kraus-Thomson Organization, 1986. 2 vols.
Includes the reprints of more than 500 newspaper columns written by Du Bois from 1883 through 1954 in the following newspapers; the New York Globe, New York Freeman, Pittsburgh Courier, Amsterdam News, Chicago Defender, People’s Voice, National Guardian, Chicago Globe, and Freedom.
Afro-American Studies | PS3507.U147 A6 1986
Widener | WID-LC | PS3507.U147 A6 1986
Penn, I. Garland (Irvine Garland). The Afro-American Press and Its Editors.
New York, Arno Press, 1969. (Reprint of the original 1891 ed.)
The first published study about the African American press.
Afro-American Studies | PN4888.N4 P4 1969
Lamont | PN4888.N4 P4 1969
Widener | AL 305.9.10
Potter, Vilma Raskin. A Reference Guide to Afro-American Publications and Editors, 1827-1946.
Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1993.
Provides indexes to the Place-of-Publication, Year-of-Publication, and Editor, in addition to a section entitled, “African American women journalists by 1890.”
Widener | WID-LC | PN4882.5.Z99 P68 1993x
Pride, Armistead Scott. A History of the Black Press.
Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1997.
Comprehensive, historical survey of African-American newspaper publishing from 1827 through 1997. Armistead S. Pride had been the foremost scholar and historian of the black press in the United States up until his death in 1991.
Widener | WID-LC | PN4882.5 .P75 1997
Simmons, Charles A., 1933- The African American Press : a History of News Coverage During National Crises, with Special Reference to Four Black Newspapers, 1827-1965. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1997.
The author traces the development of the Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier, Black Dispatch (Oklahoma City), and the Jackson Advocate during the periods of the Great Migration, World War II and the Civil Rights Movement.
Lamont | PN4882.5 .S57 1997
Widener | WID-LC | PN4882.5 .S57 1997
Bibliographies, Directories, and Guides
African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: a National Bibliography.
James P. Danky, editor ; Maureen E. Hady, associate editor. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998.
Currently the most exhaustive guide to newspaper holdings in U.S. libraries. Provides full bibliographic citations and locations for more than 6,000 African-American newspapers and periodicals of all types dated from 1827 to 1998.
Lamont | REF.ROOM | PN4882.5.Z99 A347 1998x
Widener | RR 4781.41.78
Campbell, Georgetta Merritt. Extant Collections of Early Black newspapers : a Research Guide to the Black press, 1880-1915, with an Index to the Boston guardian, 1902-1904. Troy, N.Y. : Whitston Pub. Co., 1981.
Widener | RR 4781.41.76
Henritze, Barbara K. Bibliographic Checklist of African American newspapers.
Baltimore, MD : Genealogical Pub. Co., c1995.
Lamont | REF.ROOM | PN4882.5.Z99 H46 1995x
Widener | RR 4781.41.42
Negro Newspapers on Microfilm; a Selected List.
Washington, Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service, 1953.
This is the guide to the microfilm collection entitled, “Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers.”
Microforms (Lamont) INDEX Film NC 273
Widener | AL 305.9.5
News Media Directory. 58th ed.
New Providence, NJ: R.R. Bowker, 2008
Volume 1: Newspaper Directory.
Provides listings of currently published African-American newspapers arranged by state.
Widener | RR 681.47 - Latest edition
Pride, Armistead Scott. A Register and History of Negro Newspapers in the United States, 1827-1950.
Widener | WID-LC | E185.5 .P872x 1950a
Thompson, Julius Eric. The Black Press in Mississippi, 1865-1985: a Directory.
West Cornwall, CT : Locust Hill Press, 1988.
Widener | WID-LC | PN4882.5.Z99 T56 x, 1988
Electronic Newspaper Collections
Individual titles within the following electronic collections are also listed within the E-Resources section of the Harvard Libraries web site.
African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century
This searchable collection includes the full text of the following titles:
The Christian Recorder, Philadelphia, Penn. (African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1861-1902) (Completed through Dec. 1876)
Frederick Douglass Paper, Rochester, New York (1851-1859) (Completed through August 1855)
The Colored American (Weekly Advocate), New York, New York (January 7, 1837 - December 25, 1841)
*Freedom's Journal, New York, New York (March 16, 1827 - March 28 1829)
The National Era, Washington, D.C. (January 7, 1847 - March 12, 1860) (Completed through March 1860)
The North Star, Rochester, New York (December 3, 1847 - April 17,1851)
Provincial Freeman, Chatham, Canada West (1854-1857)
*The first African American newspaper published in the United States
Black Panther Party Newspaper - Selected issues 1968-1980
Ethnic NewsWatch
Ethnic NewsWatch is a searchable full-text collection of newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press from 1960 to present. Among the titles included are the Bay State Banner (Boston), Chicago Defender, the New York Amsterdam News, Baltimore Afro-American, Call and Post, Indianapolis Recorder, New Pittsburgh Courier, Oakland Post, and the Philadelphia Tribune.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Atlanta Daily World 1931-2003
Chicago Defender 1905-1975
Los Angeles Sentinel 1934-2005
New York Amsterdam News 1922-1993
Pittsburgh Courier 1911-2002
Microfilm Collections
African American Newspapers on Microfilm
This is a historic film collection, primarily made up of Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a collection of more than 200 African-American newspapers owned and copied by the Library of Congress (LC) from the mid-1800s to the mid-1950s. Please note that not all titles are shelved in the Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room. Call numbers starting with NB and NC can be found in the Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room. Other call numbers can be found in Government Documents and Microforms, Lamont Library. Check the HOLLIS catalog to confirm a specific location.
The Guardian. (Boston, Massachusetts)
While not available at Harvard, the weekly newspaper founded and edited by William Monroe Trotter, A.B. 1895, A.M. 1896, is available on microfilm at the following libraries:
Boston Public Library
Microtext Department
McKim Building, 1st Floor
617-536-5400, ext. 2018
Available issues: [Jul 26, 1902-Aug 6, 1904]; Jan 7,1939-Apr 20, 1957
Congregational Library and Archives
14 Beacon St. Boston, MA 02420
617-523-0470
Available issues: 1903-1904; 1906-1913 (some gaps)
Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers.
Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress.
Widener | Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room | Film NC 273 (several guides to this collection are listed below)
This twelve-reel microfilm collection of scattered issues of mostly 19th century African American newspapers was filmed in 1947 by the Library of Congress for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies, under the direction of Armistead S. Pride, Director of the School of Journalism of Lincoln University.
To see a list of the individual titles within the collection, search for the title, "Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers" in the HOLLIS Catalog,
Negro Newspapers on Microfilm; a Selected List.
Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service, 1953.
Widener | Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room | INDEX Film NC 273
This guide to the microfilm collection, “Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers,” lists all titles by state and city.
A Reel Guide to Miscellaneous Negro newspapers.
[Cambridge, Mass. : V.C. Cunningham, 1985]
Widener | Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room | INDEX Film NC 273.1
In this guide, the titles within the “Miscellaneous Negro Newspapers” collection are listed by reel number.
Hoover Institution Supplement to the Underground Newspaper Collection [microform].
Ann Arbor, MI, USA : University Microfilms International, [198-?]
Microforms (Lamont) | Film S 953.5
Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Film S 953.5 = Guide
Includes publications of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
UMC Library Underground Newspaper Collection [microform]
Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri, ; [Ann Arbor, MI : [Distributor], University
Microfilms, 1963-1985]
Microforms (Lamont) | Film S 953.6
Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Film S 953.6 = Guide
This collection is from the newspaper holdings of the University of Missouri at Columbia and includes
the following African-American news publications:
Black Liberator(Chicago)
February- December 1969 - Reel 34
Voice of the Black Community (Decatur)
May 15- June 21, 1968 - Reel 14
Newspaper Indexes
Antebellum Black Newspapers: Indices to New York Freedom's Journal (1827-1829), The Rights of All (1829), The Weekly Advocate (1837), and The Colored American (1837-1841).
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, c1976.
Widener | RR4781.41.75
Antislavery Newspapers and Periodicals: Annotated Index of Letters. Edited by John W. Blassingame and Mae G. Henderson. Boston : G.K. Hall, c1980-c1984. 5 volumes.
Each volume contains an annotated list of chronologically arranged letters appearing in selected 19th century abolitionist and reform journals and newspapers. An "Index of Correspondents" is included within each volume.
Vol. 1-Philanthropist, 1817-1818; Tennessee Emancipator, 1820; Abolition Intelligencer, 1822-23; Genius of Universal Emancipation, 1821-39; African Observer, 1827-1828; and the Boston (Ma.) Liberator, 1831-1845.
Vol. 2 – Liberator, 1846-1865; New York Anti-Slavery Record, 1835-38; New York Human Rights, 1835-38; Observer,1835-38.
Vol. 3 – Friend of Man, 1836-42; Pennsylvania Freeman, 1836-54; Advocate of Freedom, 1838-41; and the New York American & Foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter, 1840-46.
Vol. 4 – National Anti-Slavery Standard, 1840-1860
Vol. 5 – National Anti-Slavery Standard, 1861-71.
Widener | WID-LC | AI3 .B55
Afro-American Studies | E449.Z99 A55 1980x
Black Newspapers Index (1977 to the present).
Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, 1987-
Widener | Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room | INDEX Film 30.5
Indexing includes feature articles, editorials, obituaries, commentaries, sports articles, business and financial news, and reviews of books, art exhibitions, dance, movies, music, restaurants, theater, television. Excludes society announcements, self-help columns, meeting notices, horoscopes, advertising, television schedules, comic strips, and general weather reports.
The following newspapers are indexed:
Afro American (Baltimore) (Available in full-text from April 2003-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
American Muslim Journal (Chicago)
Amsterdam News (New York) (Full text available from 1922-1993)
Chicago Defender (Full text available from 1905-1975)
Call & Post (Cleveland) (Available in full-text from 1992-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
Daily World (Atlanta) (Full text available from 1931-2003)
Journal & Guide (Norfolk, Va.)
Los Angeles Sentinel (Full text available from 1934-2005)
Michigan Chronicle (Available in full-text from 1994-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources: an Index to Names and Subjects.
Compiled by James de T. Abajian. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1977.
Widener | WID-LC | E185.96.Z99 A22, x F 3 vols.
Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources : an Index to Names and Subjects. First supplement. Compiled by James de T. Abajian. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1985.
Widener | WID-LC | E185.96.Z99 A22 x, Suppl. 1 F 2 vols.
Campbell, Georgetta Merritt. Extant Collections of Early Black newspapers: a Research Guide to the Black Press, 1880-1915, with an Index to the Boston Guardian, 1902-1904.
Troy, N.Y. : Whitston Pub. Co., 1981.
Widener | RR4781.41.76
In Black and White : a Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles, and Books Concerning More than 15,000 Black Individuals and Groups. Mary Mace Spradling, editor. 3d ed.
Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co., c1980.
Widener | RR4781.41.57
Afro-American Studies | E185.96.Z99 S67 1980x
International Index to Black Periodicals Full Text
The International Index to Black Periodicals Full Text includes current and retrospective bibliographic citations and abstracts from over 150 scholarly and popular journals, newspapers, and newsletters from the United States, Africa and the Caribbean. In addition, there is full-text coverage of over 20 core Black Studies periodicals (1998 forward).
While this is predominantly an index to journals, the following newspapers are indexed:
Chicago Defender (1998 – )
New Pittsburgh Courier (1999- )
New York Amsterdam News (1998-)
The Washington Afro-American Newspaper (1999-)
The Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. Brooklyn, N.Y. : Carlson Pub., 1992. 5 vols.
Formerly a card file created by Ernest Kaiser at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Kaiser Index is a subject guide to more than 170,000 references to periodical literature, newspaper articles, newsletters, and pamphlets.
Afro-American Studies | E185 .K25 1992x
Schlesinger | Ref. | 016.973 S369k
Widener | RR 4781.41.67
Newspaper Clipping Files
The Hampton University Peabody Newpaper Clipping File, 1873-1940.
Microforms (Lamont) | Microfiche W 3167
Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Microfiche W 3167 = Guide
This unique collection reproduced on microfiche includes more than 55,000 articles taken from nearly 100 African American newspapers, few of which are available in any library collections. The accompanying printed guide indexes the clippings under some 560 subject categories covering a wide range of political, economic, and cultural aspects of African American life. The collection is particularly strong in reporting on the rural South.
Schomburg Center Clipping File, 1925-1974 [microform]. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
The Schomburg Clipping file, arranged into two sections covering 1924-1974, and 1975-1988, is composed of periodical and newspaper clippings selected from the vertical file archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the Research Collections of the New York Public Library. The collection contains one million newspaper and periodical clippings, typescripts, pamphlets, broadsides, programs, menus, etc., arranged under 6,950 subject headings relating to African-American activities. Some material in the file predates 1925, though most is from 1925 through 1974.
Microforms (Lamont) | Microfiche W 3045
Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Microfiche W 3045
The Schomburg Center Clipping File. Part II, 1975-1988. [microform].
Microforms (Lamont) | Microfiche W 3045.2
Microforms (Lamont) | INDEX Microfiche W 3045.2
Tuskegee Institute News Clippings File. [microform].
Tuskegee Institute, Ala.: Division of Behavioral Science Research, Carver Research Foundation, [Sanford N.C. : Microfilming Corporation of America, 1981] 252 reels.
Microforms (Lamont) | RR | Film A 331
Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Tuskegee Institute News Clippings File.
Editor John W. Kitchens. Tuskegee Institute, Ala.: Tuskegee Institute, c1978.
Microforms (Lamont) | Index Film A 331
The Tuskegee Institute News Clippings File consists of 252 reels of press cuttings and other materials relating to African Americans compiled from more than 300 major American national dailies, leading American south-eastern dailies, African-American newspapers, magazines, religious and social publications, and non-US newspapers covering the years 1899 to 1966. The collection was originally collected by the Tuskegee Institute Department of Records and Research in Tuskegee, Alabama, and is a major legacy of the eminent African-American sociologist, Dr. Monroe Nathan Work, Director of the Tuskegee Institute Department of Records and Research. The majority of the items in the collection date from 1910 to 1966, and they cover a variety of topics including: civil rights, discrimination, economic conditions, lynchings, race relations, riots, sports, health, and politics.
The collection is divided into three main series:
Series I: Main File:
This is the major portion of the collection, containing 310 linear feet of mounted clippings, on 220 reels, dating from 1900 to 1966.
Series II: Miscellaneous Files:
This series includes 52 linear feet of mounted clippings in addition to selected other materials, on 29 reels, dating from 1899 to 1966. The series contains the following sub-series:
- Lynching, 1899-1966 (reels 221-236);
- Necrology, 1912-1966 (reels 237-240);
- Slavery, 1914-1945 (reel 240);
- Emancipation Celebrations, 1913-1965 (reel 240);
- Theatrical: Individuals, Troupes, etc, 1912-1939 (reel 241);
- Theatres and Motion Pictures, 1912-1939 (reel 241);
- Towns and Settlements, 1911-1966 (reel 242);
- Cartoons, 1901-1946 (reel 242);
- Inventions, 1911-1961 (reel 242);
- Historical Data, 1912-1966 (reels 243-244);
- Soldiers, 1918-1920 (reel 244);
- Music, Poetry, and Art, 1911-1946 (reels 245-247);
- Music, 1947-1966 (reels 247-249);
- Art and Artists, 1949-1966 (reel 249);
- Extension Work, 1916-1942 (reel 249).
Series III: Negro Yearbooks and Finding Aids:
Series III, on three reels, contains ten editions of the Negro Yearbook, edited by Dr. Work. Despite its name, only ten or eleven editions of the Yearbook were ever published; the first in 1912, the last in 1952. (One other may have been published for 1916-1917, but was not held in the Tuskegee Institute Archives.) Also included on part of the final reel are the entire reel notes for the microfilm collection as well as all the extant filing catalogues.
Newspaper Related Manuscript Collections
The Claude A. Barnett Papers: the Associated Negro Press, 1918-1967. [microform]
Edited by August Meier and Elliott Rudwick.
Contents : pt. 1. Associated Negro Press news releases, 1928-1964 (83 microfilm reels) -- pt. 2. Associated Negro Press organizational files (24 microfilm reels) -- pt. 3. Subject files on Black Americans, 1918-1967 (ser. A-K on 91 microfilm reels). Notes : Microfilm of original papers in: Archives and Manuscripts Dept. of the Chicago Historical Society.
Widener | Newspaper Microfilm Room | Film A 684
Widener | Newspaper Microfilm Room | INDEX Film A 684 = Guide
The John Henry McCray Papers, 1929-1989 [microform].
Wilmington, DE : Scholarly Resources., [1998]
Widener | Newspaper Microfilm Room | Film A 990
Widener | Newspaper Microfilm Room | INDEX Film A 990 = guide
John Henry McCray was an African-American journalist and political activist, from Columbia, S.C.
These papers, correspondence, and photographs reflect McCray's involvement with the Lighthouse and Informer and other newspapers as editor, columnist, and distributor; his work with the Progressive Democratic Party which he helped found in 1944, and his efforts to register black voters; his indictment and libel trial, 1950, in Greenwood County, S.C., for criminal slander in an article on the execution of Willie Tolbert, Jr.; as well as his journalistic coverage of lynchings and other racial incidents and the NAACP.
Journal Articles
(A Harvard ID and PIN are needed to access the database and articles in this section)
America: History & Life
America: History & Life, the best single source for finding scholarly articles relevant to all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history and culture, is a very good source for references to articles and dissertations related to African American newspapers and journalism.
Selected Journal Articles
Black Newspapers and the Black Protest Movement: Their Historical Relationship, 1827-1945
Author(s): Charlotte G. O'Kelly
Source: Phylon (1960-), Vol. 43, No. 1. (1st Qtr., 1982), pp. 1-14.
Black Newspapers and the Black Protest Movement, 1946-1972
Author(s): Charlotte G. O'Kelly
Source: Phylon (1960-), Vol. 41, No. 4. (4th Qtr., 1980), pp. 313-324.
The Development of African-American Newspapers in the American West: A Sociohistorical Perspective
Author(s): Gayle K. Berardi; Thomas W. Segady
Source: The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 75, No. 3/4. (Summer - Autumn, 1990), pp. 96-111.
The Editorial Policy of Negro Newspapers of 1917-18 as Compared With That of 1941-42
Author(s): Lester M. Jones
Source: The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 29, No. 1. (Jan., 1944), pp. 24-31.
Further Research Recommendations
HOLLIS CATALOG
For further explorations, use the following subject headings to browse in the HOLLIS Catalog.
African American journalists
African American newspapers
African American press
African Americans - Press coverage
African Americans and mass media
African Americans in mass media
African Americans - [State] - [City] - Newspapers; For example, African Americans-Illinois-Chicago-Newspapers
American Newspapers - [State]; For example, American Newspapers-Mississippi
Editorials – [State]
Journalism – [State]
Press and politics
Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
CRL is a consortium of North American universities, colleges, and independent research libraries. The consortium acquires and preserves print and digital resources for research and makes them available to member institutions through interlibrary loan and electronic delivery. Affiliates of FAS (Faculty of Arts & Sciences) at Harvard can borrow CRL material through the Interlibrary Loan Division in Widener Library.
CRL has retrospective holdings of some African-American newspapers that Harvard does not own, and maintains current subscriptions to either newsprint or microfilm editions of the following titles (listed under their current titles). To view the record of CRL's holdings for each title in boldface listed below, type the title into the CRL Catalog.
Alabama - Birmingham Birmingham World
Florida - Jacksonville Florida Star
Indiana - Indianapolis Indianapolis Recorder
Louisiana - Shreveport Shreveport Sun
Maryland - Baltimore Afro-American (Available in full-text from April 2003-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
Massachusetts - Roxbury Bay State Banner (Available in full-text from 1965-1979; and 1992-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
Michigan - Detroit Michigan Chronicle (Available in full-text from 1994-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
Missouri - Kansas City Call
North Carolina - Durham Carolina Times
Ohio - Cleveland Call and Post (Available in full-text from 1992-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
Pennsylvania - Philadelphia Philadelphia Tribune (Available in full-text from 1991-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
Tennessee - Memphis Tri-State Defender (Available in full-text from 1959-1989 and 1990-current through the Ethnic NewsWatch database)
Documentary Film: The Black Press - Soldiers without Swords.
Soldier without Swords, produced and directed by Stanley Nelson, is the first documentary to provide an in-depth examination of the history and contributions of African-American newspapers.
Documenting the Black Press in America - by Thomas P. Battle, Ph.D.,
An article about the Black Press Archives (Howard University) by the Director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University.
National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)
The nation's largest organization of journalists of color.
National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
The National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America, is a 62-year-old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers from across the United States.