àprovides substantive, multi-dimensioned interpretations of texts and images that gave voice and influence to people marginalized by mainstream society. àThis collection of essays is a welcome addition to the historiography of the black press.
(Journalism History) From the antebellum years, when abolitionist Frederick Douglass gained prominence, through the Harlem Renaissance . . . black publications have always flourished. This scholarly collection tracks their history.
(Library Journal) This volume is new evidence of the persistent vitality of the black press over more than 170 years. The thirteen essays cover a span from David WalkerÆs Appeal (1829), a pioneering antislavery tract, to Internet editions of black newspapers.
(CJR) With the essays gathered here, Vogel eloquently demonstrates that the early black pressÆs contribution to African American life and culture and mainstream American culture extended beyond slavery and elite African American issues. . . . This volume will help the reader gain a fuller understanding of not just African American culture but also the varied cultural battles fought throughout the U.S.Æs history. The collection begins in the 1820s with the first print publication, and ends in the twenty-first century with online black presses. . . . The volume combines history, culture, and theory in assessing the value, responsibilities, and challenges of the black press and other ethnic publications, past, present, and future.
(Choice) Ambitious and wide-ranging, a number of the essays in The Black Press reflect the best and most innovative interpretive strategies in African American and Black diaspora studies.
- Kevin Gaines (University of Michigan) The work of historical recuperation provided by The Black Press is especially valuable not only for what it tells us about the evolution of black culture in the United States, but also for what it reveals about the undercurrents of American culture at key moments in history.
- Eric J. Sundquist (Northwestern University)
