The Conversation - Black papers' take on America's history

Since the birth in 1827 of Freedom’s Journal, the nation’s first Black-owned newspaper, Black editors have told a different story of America than the one most of us have read about.

But over the years, their reporting and opinions documenting their country's shortcomings in achieving racial equality have been either lost, forgotten or overlooked by historians.

For the past several years, Donovan Schaefer and his research team at the University of Pennsylvania have reviewed Black newspapers going back to the 1870s. They have unearthed an invaluable resource in setting the record straight on what Black people saw and experienced throughout American history.

One such topic was the emergence of Confederate memorials and the myth of the Lost Cause at the turn of the century. In 1925, for instance, the Pittsburgh Courier called a Confederate carving in Georgia “a living monument of the cause to which white Southerners have dedicated their lives: human slavery and color selfishness.”

Fearless and bold, Black newspapers spoke truth to power at considerable risk — and their contributions to the nation’s history go far beyond their meager budgets and limited circulations.

Other stories for Black History Month:

• Sociologist Elijah Anderson on Du Bois’ study of Philadelphia
• How ‘Good Times’ broke ground on 1970s TV
• Legacy of race-based water fountains in South still looms