African American newspapers

African American newspapers are those newspapers in the United States that seek readers primarily of African American descent. These newspapers came into existence in 1827 when Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-American periodical called Freedom's Journal. During the antebellum South, other African American newspapers sprang forth, such as The North Star founded by Frederick Douglass. As African Americans moved to urban centers around the country, virtually every large city with a significant African American population soon had newspapers directed towards African Americans. Today, these newspapers have gained audiences outside of African American circles.

Contents

History

Origins

Most of these publications like Freedom's Journal's (1758–1799) were published in the north and then distributed, often covertly, to African Americans throughout the country. Blacks' ability to establish many environments and black neighborhoods in the North led to the first wave of publications. By the 20th century, daily papers appeared in Norfolk, Kansas City, and Washington D.C.

19th century

In the late 19th century the main reason that the papers were created was for economic stability, and not for uplifiting. However, African Americans found both through African American Papers that were aspiring to fight oppression.

Modern day

There were many black publications, like those of Marcus Garvey and John H. Johnson. These men broke a wall that let black people in the society, not only as criminals, but as successful human beings. The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder is Minnesota's oldest Black Newspaper and the United States oldest ongoing minority publication second only to The Jewish World.

The future of African American newspapers

Many Black newspapers that began publishing in the 60's, 70's, and 80's went out of business because they could not attract enough advertising and economic decline. As of 2002, 2000 Black newspapers remained.

As of 2010 however, there has been a resurgence of online African American news organizations, most notably Black News, The Grio, and Black Voices. With the decline of print media and proliferation of internet access, more and more black news websites are popping up every day.

List of African American newspapers in the United States

List of African American online news organizations in the United States

See also

External references