History of Black Newspapers

     The first newspaper to be published in America was Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick; it was published by Benjamin Harris in 1690; this paper only ran for one issue since in this paper, he critiqued the colonial governor, and there was no constitution or freedom of the press at the time so the governor closed down the paper only days after it was published. Following the closure of the newspaper, no other paper appeared in the colonies until 14 years later when The Boston News-Letter opened up in 1704; this paper actually stayed afloat, and it became a catalyst for the future papers to follow after that influential newspapers like the Boston Gazette, the New York Gazette, and the New-England Courant by the time the revolutionary war started there were already 37 different newspapers being published. You might be wondering why any of this is relevant to the history of Black Newspapers. I am trying to show you how long white people, primarily white men, have controlled the media market. Even before America was a nation, the only newspapers you read would be edited and published by a white man. This is huge because if one race or even demographic is allowed to have a monopoly on the media, then whatever you read will be from the lens of a white man; no matter how impartial one could like to be at that time, their bias would most likely show.

    Black viewpoints in the media were absolutely needed back then. Until the 19th century, black people were constantly vilified in the media. They were only shown in newspapers if they committed a crime or a considerable controversy surrounding their name; they would never be portrayed as people or law-abiding citizens. As mentioned, the first continually published newspaper in America happened in 1704; the first-ever black newspaper was not published until 1827, and it was called Freedom's Journal. Freedom's Journal was started by John Wilk and other free black men. Freedom's Journal was a weekly newspaper that, in complete honesty, did not
 do much different than other newspapers of that era. The significant difference between this newspaper and others is that it treated African Americans as people; they regularly posted local birthdays and praised certain people for their help in the community. Sadly however, this paper did not last very long; their primary audience was African American people; the problem with this is the majority of African Americans at this time were enslaved, and even the ones that were free could barely read or write. Then the ones that could read probably did not make enough money to afford a weekly newspaper. In the end, a tiny portion of the population even wanted to read Freedom's Journal, so the newspaper closed its doors in 1829 only a couple days after celebrating being open for 2 years.

    After the closure of Freedom's Journal, the market for black newspapers expanded but not at the rate that one would expect. When Freedom's Journal closed its doors in 1829, only 25 black newspapers opened up between then and the start of the Civil War, which occurred in 1861. The most prominent of these 25 newspapers was Frederick Douglass' North Star; this was an immensely influential newspaper for its time, and I recommend that you read the North Star blog I posted because I go more in-depth about it there. The main reason for this lack of interest was why Freedom's Journal could not stay afloat; there was no audience. African Americans still were enslaved and had no rights; many could not read, so the people the newspaper was made for could care less for it. All of this changed, however, with the Civil War. When the Union eventually won in 1865, they passed in December of that same year the 13th amendment, which banned the practice of slavery in the United States, except as a punishment for a crime. After the passing of this act, many African Americans wanted to communicate with each other and build a community. With this in mind, many of them learned how to read and write, leading to the Black Newspaper industry explosion.

    Reconstruction was perfect for the black newspapers and the black community overall. The federal government helped protect many black publications and helped enforce some laws that allowed black people to integrate into society easier. However, once Reconstruction ended, the protection that the federal government gave them also went away; this led to a massive rise of white supremacy and effectively led to many of the black publications being made in the north for many years.

One of the most influential black newspapers ever was made in Chicago in 1905. The name of this newspaper was called The Chicago Defender; it was written by Robert S. Abbott. Abbott originally wanted to be a lawyer, but after graduating from law school, no firms wanted to hire a black lawyer. He started The Chicago Defender with a 25-cent investment in his boardinghouse. He used The Chicago Defender to help highlight the injustices that African Americans were facing, and he used the newspaper as a parody of what life was like. This newspaper was also one of the first to cover the lynchings occurring across the United States; it also described the lynchings with gory details and provided pictures of the event so all of America could see the inhumane activities that many African Americans were subjected to. He also helped facilitate the Great Migration, when many African Americans from the south traveled north to help find more economic success and face fewer racial hardships. To help the Great Migration, Abbot would write about the many advantages of living in the north but mostly Chicago. He would also post times trains leave for Chicago and jobs available in Chicago.  The success of this paper helped Abbott become the first African American newspaper millionaire, and The Chicago Defender was the most prominent black newspaper for years until The Pittsburgh Courier eventually took its spot.

    Now The Pittsburgh Courier was founded in 1907 by a former Heinz company guard, Edwin Nathaniel Harleston. Unlike The Chicago Defender, this paper was unsuccessful because of its founder; it became successful because of Robert Lee Vann. Vann, just like Abbott, was also a lawyer and used his law training to help get the Courier formally incorporated in 1910. Also, in that same year, Harleston actually left the paper, and that, led to Vann becoming the editor. The Courier vastly differed from other black newspapers because they covered many viewpoints, not just the African American side. This led to them having around 15 columnists at its height.  The newspaper-crowing achievement, however, came in 1942 when they made the Double V Campaign. In 1942 the Courier was already the largest weekly black newspaper, an achievement they earned in 1938. So at this time, the USA had freshly entered the war, and a litany

of newspapers were commenting on whether it was a good idea. Most white newspapers were entirely into the war. They had been encouraging people to sign up since the attacks of Pearl Harbor, while many African American publications were not against the war. Still, they were against African American men signing up for the war since they felt they should not fight for a country that did not care for them. The Philadelphia Courier was one of the few African American publications that actually wanted people to enlist, so they invited the Double V campaign, which meant victory overseas and victory at home, which mean to conquer racism at home since they thought if they proved their "worth" during the war people would have no choice but to respect them. This was a very successful campaign for the newspaper, with songs, hairstyles, and even handshakes coming out to help further push the Double V agenda.  Sadly, however, the Double V Campaign did not work how they wanted it to; when many African American men returned home from war, they were rarely thanked for their service and were just subjected to the same racial prejudice they had experienced before the war.

    Black newspapers were thriving for much of the 1900s, with many more newspapers being released, like the Atlanta Daily World, the first daily African American newspaper, The Afro-American, The Amsterdam News, The Journal and Guide, and The California Eagle.  It was not until the 1960s that Black newspapers started seeing a decline; ironically enough, their decline directly correlated with the rise of the Civil Rights Movement. This is because there were riots every other week during the Civil Rights movement, and many white reporters were afraid to go to them for cover for fear of being attacked. So many white newspapers started hiring more black journalists to cover the movement and get pictures of the riots. African Americans could also know "see" people like themselves in the newspapers. Also, during these times, many African American newspapers started getting more ads from prominent companies, but with these ads came limitations with what they could publish. With those limitations, many people in the African American community started seeing some of these publications as sellouts; many went out of business in the 60s and the consecutive decades. While African American newspapers are less prominent than they were over 100 years ago, minority voices are still needed. Everyone needs an outlet for their voice, and all perspectives on a topic should be valued regardless of the platform's size.