African-American newspapers

African-American newspapers are newspapers in the United States that cater to primarily African-American audiences. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-American periodical called Freedom's Journal in 1827. During the antebellum South, other African-American newspapers sprang forth, such as The North Star founded by Frederick Douglass. As African Americans moved to urban centers around the country, virtually every large city with a significant African-American population soon had newspapers directed towards African Americans. Today, these newspapers have gained audiences outside African-American circles. However, in the 21st century these papers (like newspapers of all sorts) have shut down, merged, or shrunk in response to the dominance of the Internet in terms of providing free news and information, and providing cheap advertising.

Most of the earliest African-American publications, such as Freedom's Journal, were published in the North and then distributed, often covertly, to African Americans throughout the country. Blacks' ability to establish many environments and black neighborhoods in the North led to the first wave of publications. By the 20th century, daily papers appeared in Norfolk, Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C..

Some notable black newspapers of the 19th century were Freedom's Journal (1827-29), the Colored American (1837–41), the North Star (1847-1860), the National Era, The Frederick Douglass Paper (1851–63), the Douglass Monthly (1859–63), and the Christian Recorder (1861-1902) In the 1860s, the newspapers the Elevator and the Pacific Appeal emerged in California as a result of black participation in the Gold Rush. In the late 19th century, the main reason that newspapers were created was to uplift the black community. Many black people sought to assimilate into larger society and Northern blacks felt that it was their duty to educate Southern blacks on the mores of Victorian society. The African-American newspaper titled "The American Freedman" was a New York-based paper that served as an outlet to inspire African-Americans to use the Reconstruction period as a time for social and political advancement. This newspaper did so by publishing articles that reference African-American mobilization during the Reconstruction period that had not only local support, but had gained support from the global community as well. Many African-American newspapers struggled to keep their circulation going due to the low rate of literacy among African Americans. Many freed African-Americans had low incomes and could not afford to purchase subscriptions but shared the publications with one another.

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