CMU LibGuides: African American History: Primary Sources: Newspapers

African American Newspapers

Other libraries may have copies of other newspapers. To search other libraries use these resources:

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Contains over 48 million records, covering all materials cataloged by OCLC member libraries around the world.

Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
Contains more than 500,000 monographs in all formats and subject areas
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Researchers from CRL member libraries have access to the collections through interlibrary loan, digitized collections or by appointment in the CRL reading room. Through CRL's Digitize on Demand service, CRL member libraries may request digitization of most individual titles, volumes, or microform reels. Requests take approximately ten working days to complete.
ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers: Newspaper Digitization Projects
Find other digitized newspapers

If you want to find names of newspapers for a particular city, and the dates of publication, see:

A Reference Guide to Afro-American Publications and Editors, 1827-1946 by Vilma Potter
ISBN: 9780813806778
Publication Date: 1993-03-01
Free, online bibliography listing periodicals of African American communities
African-American Newspapers and Periodicals by James P. Danky (Editor); Maureen E. Hady (Editor); Henry Louis Gates (Foreword by)
ISBN: 9780674007888
Publication Date: 1999-02-25
This bibliography of over 6,000 entries is the indispensable guide to the stories of slavery, freedom, Jim Crow, segregation, liberation, struggle, and triumph. Besides describing many new discoveries--from church documents to early civil rights ephemera, from school records to single-mother newsletters, from artists' journals to labor publications--this work informs researchers where and how to find them (for example, through online databases, microfilm, or traditional catalogs).

Newspapers in Library Databases

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
1827-1998 (exact dates vary by newspaper) More than 270 African American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
This is a primary source-centric database that covers American history from the 19th century through the early 20th century. Search for newspapers, eyewitness accounts, and more for events such as the Civil War, women's suffrage, and the abolitionist movement. It also contains a collection of African American newspapers from 1827-1909
African American Newspapers (NewsBank) This link opens in a new window
Search and display African American newspapers culled from the Access World News database from NewsBank. Exact dates of coverage vary by title, with most ca. 2000 - present.

Black Studies Center: Abolitionist Newspapers
Primary sources from African Americans actively involved in the movement to end slavery in the United States between 1830 and 1865.
Chronicling America: African American Newspapers
Digitized newspaper project from the Library of Congress.

Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Full text articles from newspapers and periodicals published by the ethnic, minority and native press in the U.S. Coverage is from 1960 to date
Historical Newspapers: Baltimore Afro-American (1893 - 1988) This link opens in a new window
Through the decades, the newspaper fought for equal employment rights, urged African-Americanparticipation in politics, and advocated state-funded higher education for blacks. In the 1930s, The AfroAmerican launched “The Clean Block” campaign, which is still in existence today, to clean up inner-city neighborhoods and fight crime. It stationed correspondents in Europe and the Pacific during World War II, providing first-hand reports to readers.
Historical Newspapers: Chicago Defender (1910 - 1975) This link opens in a new window
1919-1975
"Founded by Robert S. Abbott on May 5, 1905, once heralded itself as "The World's Greatest Weekly." The newspaper was the nation's most influential black weekly newspaper by the advent of World War I, with more than two thirds of its readership base located outside of Chicago." Read More
Historical Newspapers: Cleveland Call and Post (1934 - 1991) This link opens in a new window
Editor William O. Walker used his newspaper to rally the masses in support of equal rights, much as civil rights leaders would decades later. Through his newspaper, Walker also promoted participation in politics, urged the establishment of legal aid societies by the African-American community, and encouraged black solidarity and self-reliance.
Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Sentinel (1934 - 2005) This link opens in a new window
The oldest and largest black newspaper in the western United States and the largest African-American owned newspaper in the U.S.
Historical Newspapers: Michigan Chronicle (1936 - 2010) This link opens in a new window
Weekly African-American newspaper based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1936 by John H. Sengstacke, owner of the Chicago Defender. The Chronicle garnered national attention in its early years for its "radical" approach to politics. It advocated on behalf of both organized labor and the Democratic Party, both unusual in an era when the union movement was often seen as hostile to Black workers and the Southern-influenced Democratic Party frequently accepted racist policies.
Historical Newspapers: New York Amsterdam News (1922 - 1993) This link opens in a new window
One of the oldest newspapers geared toward African Americans in the United States and has published columns by notable people including W. E. B. Du Bois, Roy Wilkins, and Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and was the first to recognize and publish Malcolm X.
Historical Newspapers: Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916 - 2003) This link opens in a new window
The only black newspaper to provide on-the-scene, day-to-day coverage of the Scottsboro trial, and was one of the best researched and well written black newspapers of its time. Note: No issues ca. 1918-1921.
Historical Newspapers: Philadelphia Tribune (1912 - 2001) This link opens in a new window
The oldest continuously published black newspaper in the U.S.
Historical Newspapers: Pittsburgh Courier, 1911-1950 This link opens in a new window
1919-1975 "Founded by Robert S. Abbott on May 5, 1905, once heralded itself as "The World's Greatest Weekly." The newspaper was the nation's most influential black weekly newspaper by the advent of World War I, with more than two thirds of its readership base located outside of Chicago." Read More
Documenting White Supremacy and Its Opponents in the 1920s This link opens in a new window
This primary source collection of 1920s newspapers features significant publications of the Ku Klux Klan along with the Catholic, Jewish, and African-American newspapers opposing the Klan and white nationalism in general. For CMU users, the corpus is fully downloadable for text- and datamining purposes. Contact a CMU librarian to access the corpus in this way.

African American History: Primary Sources: Newspapers

What to Know if We Have a Particular Newspaper?

African American Newspapers

Newspapers in Library Databases