February has historically been deemed Black History Month nationwide, but it’s important to remember that we should be celebrating Black historical figures and creators every month of the year. With that in mind, one of my librarians recently discovered a list on BlackNews.com that presents the Top Black Newspapers and Web Sites found here in America (http://www.blacknews.com/directory/black_african_american_newspapers.shtml). She wrote to me and asked, “have we ever promoted our Black newspaper or periodicals? . . . I know activist Sean King is relaunching the North Star, the paper Fredrick Douglass started http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/shaun-king-the-north-star-newspaper.html.”
A fair question. As it happens, Evanston Public Library does subscribe to a couple periodicals with news. Feel free to stop by our third floor anytime to read the following:
- Chicago Defender – Originally this newspaper was the only daily Black publication in the country (when it was called the Chicago Daily Defender). These days it’s weekly. If you’re curious about it, be sure to read Ethan Michaeli’s history, The Defender : how the legendary black newspaper changed America : from the age of the Pullman porters to the age of Obama
- Ebony – Did you know that Ebony was founded in Chicago in 1945? It’s 74 years old and shows no sign of stopping, even in this era of increased digital publications.
- Jet – Originally Jet was published as a digest-sized sister publication to the better known Ebony. It’s also based out of Chicago and focuses more squarely on arts and entertainment than the other publications mentioned here.
