Library Guides: Black Press in the U.S.: Black Press Databases

Black Press Databases

The following databases allow you to perform full-text searches across multiple Black American newspaper and periodical publications

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
A subset of the America's Historical Newspapers Collection from Readex, which includes African American newspapers from around the United States, including the New Orleans Daily Creole, New Orleans Tribune, Weekly Louisianian and the Weekly Pelican.
African American Periodicals 1825-1995 This link opens in a new window
African American Periodicals, 1825-1995, features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations bulletins, annual reports and other genres.
Historical Black Newspapers This link opens in a new window
This is a custom collection of Historical Black Newspapers which allows researchers to access full text articles in the: Atlanta Daily World, 1931-2010; Baltimore Afro-American, 1893-2010; Chicago Defender, 1909-2010; Cleveland Call and Post, 1934-2009; Los Angeles Sentinel, 1946-2010; New Journal and Guide (Norfolk, VA), 1921-2010; New York Amsterdam News, 1922-2010; Philadelphia Tribune, 1912-2010; and Pittsburgh Courier, 1955-2010. Individual titles may also be searched separately.

Independent Voices - Black American Collection
Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals. The Black American sub-collection of Independent Voices includes: The BAD Times (Fayetteville, AR, 1971-72); Black Americans for Democracy News (Fayetteville, AR, 1972-75); Black Dialogue (San Francisco, CA, 1965-70); Freedomways (New York, NY, 1961-1985); Grassroot Struggle (Austin, TX, 1982-84); Times - Black Americans for Democracy (Fayetteville, AR, 1976-77); and Muhammad Speaks (Chicago, IL, 1961-1975).

Individual Black Press Titles

The following databases allow you to search text and browse images of individual Black press titles:

The Crisis Archives (NAACP)
The Crisis, founded by W.E.B. Du Bois as the official publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910, is a journal of civil rights, history, politics, and culture.

Ebony Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
EBSCO's Ebony Magazine Archive covers civil rights, education, entrepreneurship and other social topics with an African-American focus. It includes more than 800 issues providing a broad view of African-American culture from its first issue in 1945 through 2014.

Essence Magazine Archive
First published in 1970, Essence is an American monthly lifestyle magazine covering fashion, beauty, entertainment, and culture, geared at a Black female audience. This archive provides full-page digital reproductions from 1970 to 2005.

JET Magazine Archives This link opens in a new window
Jet was originally a weekly published as a sister publication to Ebony Magazine by John H. Johnson beginning in 1951. It was published weekly and covered art, fashion, entertainment, culture and news related to the African-American community. EBSCO's full-text archive is searchable from cover to cover and offers essential historical content, much of which is not available on any other EBSCO full-text product. Articles and cover pages are fully indexed and advertisements are individually identified, ensuring researchers and readers can quickly and accurately locate information.
Chicago Defender (1909-2010) This link opens in a new window
The Chicago Defender is a historic African-American weekly daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois. This database offers full page and article images with searchable full text of every available issue from 1909 through 2010.

New York Amsterdam News
Tulane has digital access to 1922-1993 through Proquest, and 1996-present through EBSCO.

Databases That Include Black Press

The following text-searchable databases include African American newspapers and periodicals, but are not exclusively comprised of them. Use each database's publication search or browse function to see if specific titles are included in the database.

For Louisiana Black press included in each of these databases, jump to the Louisiana section.

America's Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Contains early American newspapers published between 1690 and 1980, including titles from all 50 present states and the Hispanic American Newspapers collection. Tulane subscribes to several series in this collection with Black newspapers, including but not limited to the African American Newspapers series.
History Commons This link opens in a new window
Accessible Archives is a historical newspaper and primary source database with strengths in early U.S. History and the history of slavery and abolition. Tulane has access to: African American Newspapers parts I-XII, Charleston South Carolina Gazette, Pennsylvania Gazette, The Liberator Folio I – VII, Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective, and the Virginia Gazette, as well as Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman, Twelve Years a Slave, and more. From February 1-March 1, 2024, Tulane also has access to a TRIAL of African American Newspapers in the South.
American Civil War, 1855-1868 This link opens in a new window
EBSCO's American Civil War, 1855-1868 collection includes periodicals published between 1855 and 1868. African American Periodicals that form part of this collection are: Anglo-African Magazine; The American Freedman; The Freedmen's Advocate; The Freedmen's Bulletin; The Freedmen's Journal; The Freedmen's Record; The National Freedman; The New York Principia; The Pennsylvania Freedmen's Bulletin and American Freedman; The Principia; Radical Abolitionist; and Western Freedmen's Bulletin.
Access World News - Historical and Current This link opens in a new window
Access World News provides digital access to many current Black newspapers, with archives from the early 21st century through today's news. The database includes: Chicago Defender, New Pittsburgh Courier, Los Angeles Sentinel, Atlanta Daily World, Baltimore Afro-American, and the Philadelphia Tribune. To access and search within individual publications, search the newspaper title in the A-Z Source List.
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Black Thought and Culture is a collection of non-fiction writings by major American Black leaders—teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—covering 250 years of history. Includes digitized issues of The Black Panther magazine from 1967-1980.

Digital Collections

The following platforms include digitized African American newspapers, but do not have a text-searchable database interface. However, you can download individual issues and do a Control+F search for specific terms.

Chronicling America - African-American Newspapers
More than 280 U.S. newspaper titles digitized through the Library of Congress Chronicling America project.