THE BLACK PRESS AND THE FIGHT FOR EQUALITY

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2023

Abstract

The Black press was founded as a response to White society that subjugated Blacks. Beginning with Freedom’s Journal, the first Black newspaper published by and for race members in 1827, and continuing with such publications as Frederick Douglass’s The North Star, first published in 1847 during abolition, and Robert S. Abbott’s Chicago Defender that launched in 1905, the Black press in America has been a vehicle of advocacy and protest, served as a bulletin board that highlighted race accomplishments and countered misrepresentation, and illuminated and dissected vital news and information. Throughout the history of the medium, Blacks have relied on this prominent institution to provide an alternative perspective and direction to help them navigate their social, political, educational, and economic plight. Combatting White supremacy has been a mission that continued into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Today, approximately 200 Black publications are members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and continue to be a voice for Blacks. This chapter tackles the nuances of the Black press’s presence throughout American history, specifically beginning with the Abolitionist, Civil War, and Reconstruction Eras and continuing through the Civil Rights Movement and the fight for equal rights that has expanded to modern-day coverage inclusive of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Routledge Companion to American Journalism History

First Page

82

Last Page

91

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