Readex to Launch African American Newspapers, 1827-1998

Unique online collection will feature hundreds of titles published throughout the United States

JANUARY 21, 2009 ( NAPLES, FL) – Readex, a division of NewsBank, will release African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 in fall 2009. Featuring 270 newspapers published in 36 states—including rare and historically significant 19th-century titles—this fully searchable online collection will offer fascinating insights into African American history, culture and daily life.

Coverage in African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 spans life in the Antebellum South; the spread of abolitionism; the growth of the Black church; the Emancipation Proclamation; the Jim Crow Era; the Great Migration to northern cities, the West and Midwest in search of greater opportunity; the rise of the N.A.A.C.P.; the Harlem Renaissance; the Civil Rights movement; political and economic empowerment and more.

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 is being created from the most extensive African American newspaper archives in the United States—those of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress. Selections were guided by James Danky, editor of “African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: A National Bibliography” (Harvard University Press, 1998).

“African American Newspapers is remarkable in several respects,” says Remmel Nunn, Readex Vice President of Product Development. “Before James Danky's book, most newspaper bibliographers overlooked the titles in this collection. Many of these newspapers are therefore largely unknown and will present students and scholars with unmapped territory to explore.”

Beginning with Freedom’s Journal (NY)—the first African American newspaper published in the United States—the titles in this unique resource 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 from every region of the U.S.

“The 170 years covered in African American Newspapers may safely be said to be the most important period in the history of modern racial relations, and this collection provides a vivid snapshot of virtually every aspect of the African American experience between 1827 and 1998” adds Nunn. “ Researchers will find firsthand perspectives on notable Americans from Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as obituaries, advertisements, editorials and illustrations.”

Additionally, as the second collection in the Readex American Ethnic Newspapers series, African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 can be cross-searched with America's Historical Newspapers, including Early American Newspapers, 1690-1922 and Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980.

About Readex, a division of NewsBank
For more than 50 years, the Readex name has been synonymous with research in historical materials and government documents. Recognized by librarians, students and scholars for its efforts to transform academic scholarship, Readex offers a wealth of Web-based collections in the humanities and social sciences, including the Archive of Americana and the Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports.