Major Digitized African American Newspapers
The first known African American newspaper was Freedom’s Journal (New York, N.Y. : 1827), and since then there has been an active black press in the United States. This page is a guide to finding African American newspapers and periodicals in the Library. Click here to view a complete list of African American newspapers at the University of Illinois Library.
For the major, digitized African American newspapers of the twentieth century, the best place to begin is:
- ProQuest Historical Black NewspapersThe major black newspapers of the twentieth century. Click here to see a complete list. Part of ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Other Digital Collections
- African American Newspapers, Series I and II: 1827-1998A wide ranging collection that complements our largest collection of digitized African American newspapers, ProQuest Historical Black Newspapers. While ProQuest Historical Black Newspapers covers the major, metropolitan black newspapers of the twentieth century, African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 provides access to a broader range of publications, especially the black press of America's smaller cities, and the few extant issues of the earliest black newspapers, most of which were previously available only on microfilm or in smaller digital collections scattered around the Internet. Click here to view a complete title list for African American Newspapers Series I and II. Part of America's Historical Newspapers and the Archive of Americana.
- African American Newspapers: The Nineteenth CenturyNine major African American newspapers of the nineteenth century, including Freedom's Journal (the first African American newspaper ever published), the Christian Recorder, the Colored American, Douglass' Monthly, Frederick Douglass' Paper, the National Era, the North Star, the Provincial Freeman, and the Weekly Advocate. Click here to view a complete title list for African American Newspapers: The Nineteenth Century.
- African American Periodicals, 1825-1995About 170 periodicals published by, for, or about African Americans. Part of the Archive of Americana.
- African American Newspapers in Chronicling AmericaA subset of Chronicling America (a joint project of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress) which is trying to digitize historically significant American newspapers.
- Ethnic News Watch1959-present. Newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from ethnic, minority and native presses.
Article Indexes
- International Index to Black Periodicals (1900-present) and Marshall Index (1940-1946)Identifies articles on all aspects of Black studies, in journals from North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. Part of the Black Studies Center. Includes the Marshall Index, which covers 1940-1946. Indexes publications from 1902-present. In the current version of Black Studies Center, the International Index to Black periodicals and the Marshall Index have been combined into a single browsable file called "Black Literature Index," and are no longer separately searchable.
- Index to Periodical Articles by and about Negroes byCall Number: 325.2605 INDPublication Date: 1950-1972Continued by: Index to periodical articles by and about Blacks (see below).
- Index to Periodical Articles by and about Blacks byCall Number: 325.2605 IND1Publication Date: 1973-1983Continues: Index to Periodical Articles by and about Negroes (see above).
Continued by: Index to Black Periodicals (see below). - Index to Black PeriodicalsCall Number: 325.2605 IND1AISBN: 0899-6253Publication Date: 1984-1999Continues: Index to Periodical Articles by and about Blacks (see above).
Continued by: G.K. Hall Index to Black Periodicals (see below). - G.K. Hall Index to Black PeriodicalsCall Number: 325.2605 IND1AISBN: 1539-8307Publication Date: 2000-2004Continues: Index to Black Periodicals (see above).
- Index to Black Newspapers byCall Number: 016.0713 IN2ISBN: 0149-7502Publication Date: 1977-1986Continued by: Black Newspapers Index (see below).
- Black Newspapers IndexCall Number: 016.0713 IN21ISBN: 0149-7502Publication Date: 1987-2007Continues: Index to Black Newspapers (see above).
- Analytical Guide and Indexes to the Crisis byCall Number: 325.2605 CRINDEXISBN: 083717175XPublication Date: 1975Although Crisis has been digitized, this index remains a useful research tool.
Reference Sources
- African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: A National Bibliography byCall Number: Q. 015.73035 Af83ISBN: 0674007883Publication Date: 1998Arranged alphabetically by title, with a geographic index, as well as an index of editors and a subject index. Known locations are indicated.
- Check List of Negro Newspapers in the United States, 1827-1946 byCall Number: 071 B81CPublication Date: 1946
Expanded by Vima Raskin Potter in A Reference Guide to Afro-American Publications and Editors, 1827-1946 with place and year of publication, and an index to editors.
- Bibliographic Checklist of African American Newspapers byCall Number: Q. 016.0713 H395BISBN: 0806314575Publication Date: 1995Arranged by state and city, shows known locations for individual newspapers.
- Extant Collections of Early Black Newspapers: A Research Guide to the Black Press, 1880-1915, with an index to the Boston Guardian, 1902-1904 byPublication Date: 1981Arranged alphabetically by state and city of publication, with holdings information.
- Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources: An Index to Names and Subjects byCall Number: Q. 016.9293 AB1BISBN: 081610056XPublication Date: 19773 vols.
- Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources: An Index to Names and Subjects. Supplement. byCall Number: Q. 016.9293 AB1Bsup.Publication Date: 1985-2 vols.
- "The Black Press in Illinois"Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 68, no. 4 (September 1975): 344-52. Arranged by city of publication. Does not indicate where, if anywhere, the newspapers are held.