194 Years of the Black Press
Written by Yasmeen Mayes. Edited by Natalie Jenkins.
For 194 years, the Black press has been a gold mine of Black history. Made by and for Black Americans in the United States, it has been a relentless defender of African Americans and recorded some of the most detailed moments in history. Black newspapers consistently published the struggle, progress, and achievements of Black people in the American news landscape at a time when they were invisible. These newspapers were also successful in empowering political participation and action among Black Americans.
Throughout history, Black journalists and publishers understood their role in reporting the news and helping Black Americans through pivotal moments in history including the antislavery movements, the Great Migration, and the Civil Rights movement.
Post-civil war, the literacy rates for African Americans surged and at its highest, the Black press’ readership was about ten million nationwide.
The Black press found its place in the history of American life on March 16, 1827, with the founding of Freedom’s Journal, the nation’s first Black-owned and operated newspaper. Freedom’s Journal was a weekly four-column newspaper and was founded in the state of New York during a meeting with a group of free-born African Americans. The newspaper began as a way to amplify the views of African Americans and change the narrative published in print newspapers that routinely disparaged and attacked Black citizens.
Samuel E. Cornish and John Russwurm served as the newspaper’s founding editors. They were intentional about reporting the struggles of Black Americans and serving as a resource for African Americans overcoming slavery in search of a better life. In their first editorial, Cornish and Russwurm wrote, “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long have the public been deceived by misrepresentations, in things that concern us dearly.”
The founding editors were also strong advocates for literacy and were hopeful that a Black newspaper would empower African American communities to value reading, writing, and self-improvement. All of the issues of Freedom’s Journal are archived, digitized, and can be read online at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Freedom’s Journal set the tone for Black liberation and was a model for the thousands of Black newspapers that emerged after its founding.
From 1827 to the start of the Civil War in 1861, two dozen Black-owned newspapers were founded. Several prominent Black newspapers founded in the 19th and early 20th centuries that contributed to the milestones of the Black press included The North Star (1847), The Christian Recorder (1852), The California Eagle (1879), Philadelphia Tribune (1884), Memphis Free Speech & Headlight (1888), Baltimore Afro-American (1892), and the Chicago Defender (1905).
These newspapers were critical in painting a more nuanced image of Black American life, identity, and culture as well as playing a large role in the fight for the right to vote.
Using the funds from a speaking tour in Great Britain in 1847, Frederick Douglass, an African American abolitionist and one of the most notable figures in the 19th century, began publishing The North Star. The publication quickly became the most influential African American newspaper. Its readership grew beyond the Black American community and was read by presidents and members of congress who used the paper to stay up to date on the antislavery movement. The newspaper condemned slavery and fought for the liberation of women and other groups facing oppression. The newspaper’s motto was, “Right is of no Sex — Truth is of no Color — God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren.”
The goals of the newspaper, described by Frederick Douglass, were clear: “The object of The North Star will be to attack slavery in all its forms and aspects; advocate Universal Emancipation; exact the standard of public morality; promote the moral and intellectual improvement of the colored people; and to hasten the day of freedom to our three million enslaved fellow countrymen.”
The paper’s name was iconic and paid tribute to the symbol of freedom used to guide African Americans escaping slavery to Northern cities. It was first published in Rochester, New York, and was circulated to 4,000 subscribers across America, Europe, and the West Indies. It was later renamed Frederick Douglass’ Paper in 1851 and ceased publication in 1863. A present-day version of the newspaper exists and explores issues of social justice and civil rights. It is led by journalists Shaun King, Benjamin P. Dixon, and historian Keisha N. Blain, who serves as the multimedia platform’s editor-in-chief.
In the 1900s, Robert Sengstacke Abbott, a lawyer, newspaper editor, and one of America’s self-made Black millionaires, founded the Chicago Defender which grew to have the highest circulation of any Black American newspaper.
The Defender took bold political stances and had a large impact on the Great Migration. It aggressively encouraged African American families to pack their bags and migrate from the South to Northern industrial cities for better economic opportunities. This mission was born as a result of the destruction of cotton fields in the south and violent lynchings.
Black newspapers being a source of information and empowerment for Black Americans did not come without resistance and objection. With Black families fleeing southern states, it left economies hurting from the loss. Government officials along with white journalists harassed the Defender in an attempt to prevent the relocation of thousands of Black Americans.
There are countless moments that showcased the Black Press as a persistent defender of human rights and Black history. The Boston Guardian’s editor, Monroe Trotter, took a pledge to “hold a mirror up to nature” and protested President Woodrow Wilson’s segregation of employees in the federal government. The White House Historical Association reported that “In a meeting with Wilson, Trotter directly challenged the president for permitting the segregation of black and white government clerks. Angered by this confrontation that questioned his integrity, President Wilson declared himself ‘offended’ and had Trotter removed from the White House.”
The Boston Guardian and Monroe Trotter gave the iconic Ida B. Wells, a Black journalist, feminist, and abolitionist, a platform to support in her anti-lynching crusade efforts and often cited her statistics in news stories.
In The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords, a 1999 film dedicated to chronicling the history of the Black Press and its role in shaping the Black identity, African-American journalist Vernon Jarrett was interviewed and powerfully captured why the Black Press was born out of necessity:
“We didn’t exist in the other papers. We were neither born, we didn’t get married, we didn’t die, we didn’t fight in any wars, we never participated in anything of a scientific achievement. We were truly invisible unless we committed a crime. And in the Black Press, the negro press, we did get married. They showed us our babies when born. They showed us graduating. They showed our PhDs.”
Beloved magazines like Ebony (1945) and Jet (1951–2014) were started in Chicago by John H. Johnson who is widely known as the most prominent African American publisher in American history. These magazines became legendary in the Black community and published stories about the Black experience and culture.
Today, there are more than 200 Black publications across the United States that continue the essential work of ensuring the Black voice remains a part of the American conversation.
In a recent summer that called for a reckoning of racism in America, some believe we have truly reached our boiling point. Black journalists now stand at the center of a movement to push mainstream media to tackle racism head-on in every corner of our institutions. With an eye for carrying on the legacy of those who came before them, they continue the fight to protect and uplift Black Americans.
This is the fifth story in an eight-part Black History Month series, Celebrating our Past, Present, and Future featured in the publication The Chronicles of Black History and Culture.
