Black Newspapers and the Black Protest Movement: Their Historical Relationship, 1827-1945

Abstract

BLACK NEWSPAPERS in the United States historically have been closely related to the black protest movement. The black papers began in the context of the abolitionist movement and their continuance has been dependent on their presentation of the situation of black people, and advocacy of changes in the oppressive aspects of that situation. However, a great many changes have occurred in the black setting, the black protest movement and the black press. This article is a study of the changes in these three phenomena and their interrelationships with particular attention to the responses of the black press to the black protest movement from the founding of the first black paper in 1827 until the end of World War II. Pre-Civil War and Civil War Periods. Even during slavery some black people agitated for change. The black press itself began during this period with the establishment of Freedom's Journal in New York City. From the beginning, it was associated with northern urban blacks and, in this earliest period, the press was aimed toward whites. At this time the literate population among blacks was so small and its financial resources so slim that the support of whites was necessary.' The bestknown black papers during the Civil War and pre-war period were those associated with Frederick Douglass, the militant black abolitionist: the North Star and later Frederick Douglass' Paper. Even Douglass had a difficult time keeping the press operating; neither of his papers were self-supporting. During this period most blacks were enslaved, illiterate and unable to take advantage of a black press or to participate in a social movement to protest their situation. The little activity that did occur in the way