African American Literature

"Chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience, African American Newspapers, Series 1, features 280 newspapers from 35 states, including many rare and historically significant 19th-century titles. These titles published for or by African Americans constitute valuable primary sources for researchers exploring such diverse disciplines as cultural, literary and social history; ethnic studies and more. Beginning with Freedom’s Journal (NY)—the first African American newspaper published in the United States—the titles in this groundbreaking series include The Colored Citizen (KS), Arkansas State Press, Rights of All (NY), Wisconsin Afro-American, New York Age, L'Union (LA), Northern Star and Freeman’s Advocate (NY), Richmond Planet, Cleveland Gazette, The Appeal (MN) and hundreds of others."

Includes access to over 400 African American newspapers. "Series 3 [1976-today] is essential for navigating the arc of African American history... With its in-depth coverage of every issue involved in America’s ongoing conversation on race, the third series of Black Life in America also provides authoritative coverage of historic changes such as Barack Obama’s election and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement." This NewsBank database is updated daily.

(Mid 1980s-) A primarily fulltext collection of newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Includes news, editorials, reviews, culture and history from 200 publications. Searchable in both English and Spanish. (This is a VALE Database.)

An archiving project operated in cooperation with Google News Archive, the AFRO or Afro American Newspapers provides access to full-page images of black newspapers published in the Baltimore-Washington area between 1902 and 2003. An open source, albeit limited, alternative to Black Historical Newspapers (ProQuest), a licensed historical newspaper database to which TCNJ Library currently does not subscribe.

"Currently the collection consists of 14 newspaper titles (3400 issues) that were owned by, operated by, or intended for Black communities in Illinois, ranging in date from 1897 to 2003."

"Friend of Man is one of the most significant and little studied newspapers documenting early anti-slavery and other reform movements. The periodical is of special significance because with the exception of religion, scholars know little about the resources of social movements in rural areas such as Central New York, where Friend of Man was published."

This Marist College Library research guide lists more than 65 Historical African American Newspapers available online. Most entries are freely available, with just a handful of subscriber-only titles. Newspapers are included from every region of the country. Historical periods covered include Antebellum and Civil War Era, 1800-1865; Reconstruction, 1865-1876; Gilded Age, 1877-1899; Pre-World War I, 1900-1914, World War I-World War II, 1914-1945; and 20th and 21st Centuries.

"African American Periodicals, 1825-1995, features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations bulletins, annual reports and other genres. These diverse periodicals—which have shaped, and in turn been shaped by, African American culture—will enable new discoveries on lives of African Americans as individuals, as an ethnic group and as Americans."

Black Historical Newspapers offers primary source material from American history and African-American culture, history, politics, and the arts. It allows for study of major movements from the Harlem Renaissance to Civil Rights, and for exploration of everyday life in black America, in short the most important and widely circulated newspapers written by and for people of color throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Titles available are Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), The Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1998), Chicago Defender (1910-1975), Cleveland Call and Post (1934-1991), Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), The Norfolk Journal and Guide (1921-2003), The Philadelphia Tribune (1912-2001), and the Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002).

"Bringing together primary source documents [manuscripts and rare printed materials] from archives and libraries across the Atlantic world, this resource allows students and researchers to explore and compare unique material relating to the complex subjects of slavery, abolition and social justice." Themes explored in the documents include the Middle Passage, Slave Testimony, Resistance and Revolts, Underground Railroad, and The Abolition Movement, among others. Material types include original manuscripts, books, maps, pamphlets, paintings, and images.