Despite the the troubled times before the Civil War, the first African-American newspapers came into existence Freedom's Journal the first African American periodical was started by Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwarm in 1827. Freedom's Journal became the model for African-American papers throughout the United States to speak out for freedom, rights, inform the community of events affecting the African-American community, and to make a profit. However, since only a small number of e African-Americans and white abolitionists were able to support the paper, Freedom's Journal paper ended its circulation in 1830. Other African-American newspapers were created during the antebellum South. Significantly, The North Star, founded by Frederick Douglass, like Freedom's Journal had a short life.
With permission this guide was adapted from the one created by Elizabeth Clarke of Marist College.
This guide provides a list of historical African American Newspapers available online as part of digitization projects at libraries and historical societies as well as digitization projects done by Google. The content is available for free, though it is at the discretion of the institution providing the content.
Availability of Newspapers
Many of these newspaper links do not contain the full print run of the paper, but what the digitizing institution has as part of their collection or what has been completed so far. There may be more content to follow or there may not, but this guide will be updated with additional newspapers, issues, and dates as they become available. Each newspaper's webpage provides specific information about what content they have available online
