New African American Newspaper Collection!

Posted on by Sherri Camp

African American Newspaper Archive from Newsbank The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library is pleased to announce we have added a new resource to our database of newspapers available online.

We now have African American Historical Newspapers from more than 35 states to choose from. They range in dates from 1827-1998 and depict all areas of African American life in the United States. This collection is based upon James P. Danky’s monumental bibliography: African American Newspapers and Periodicals: A National Bibliography (Harvard, 1998).

Some of the important facts you will find in this group of newspapers include:

  • Life in the Antebellum South
  • Growth of the Black church
  • The Jim Crow Era
  • The Great Migration
  • Harlem Renaissance
  • Civil Rights movement
  • Political and economic empowerment, and more.

Two other collections included in this database are, first, the Afro-Americana Imprints, 1535-1922: From the Library Company of Philadelphia. It is an accumulation that began with Benjamin Franklin and steadily increased throughout its entire history—this unique online resource will provide researchers with more than 12,000 printed works.  It was created from the Library Company’s acclaimed Afro-Americana Collection.

And finally, the African American Periodicals, 1825-1995. It 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 as well as other genres.

To search our database collections, use our RESEARCH IT link to find our Genealogy Databases. There you will find the complete list of databases offered at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library or click on our Genealogy Databases.

 

As a veteran genealogist, I love teaching and sharing digital family history and genealogy techniques and helping people solve genealogy problems. Being the Genealogy Librarian at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library is so much fun! I work to promote a greater knowledge of family, history, and heritage.