Black Press Day 2025 honors the 198-year history of Black newspapers, which have provided a voice for Black Americans and amplified their stories, holding institutions accountable and ensuring that Black communities are represented accurately.
Black press
Posted inNational
NNPA launches ‘Missing & Black 2025’ campaign to address disparities in coverage of missing Black people
The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has launched the Missing & Black 2025 campaign to address the disparity in media coverage of missing Black individuals and increase visibility and resources for these cases.
Posted inOpinion
Trump threatens to rewrite Black history
The Black Press is our last line of defense against Donald Trump’s campaign to erase history and reshape it to suit his authoritarian ambitions, making it more crucial than ever to preserve Black history and the truth.
Posted inOpinion
Black Press, NAACP, and Lawmakers Warned America—Now Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda is Reality
Donald Trump’s administration has implemented several policies aligned with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, including reinstating harsh immigration policies, rolling back civil rights protections, and gutting diversity programs, despite his previous denials.
Posted inLocal & State
MSR Innovator: The influence of Wallace ‘Jack’ Jackman
Wallace “Jack” Jackman, co-publisher of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder newspaper, has made significant contributions to the Black community through his entrepreneurial spirit.
Posted inNews
MSR in the turbulent ‘60s and ‘70s
Cecil E. Newman’s Minneapolis Spokesman and St. Paul Recorder were instrumental in chronicling the African American experience during the 1960s and 1970s.
Posted inSister Spokesman Highlights
Sister Spokesman’s ‘Tea, Treats, and Tops’: A sophisticated success
Sister Spokesman held its final edition of the year, a 90th Anniversary Legacy High Tea, which welcomed a capacity crowd.
Posted inArts + Culture
‘The Niagara Movement’: a documentary on the early battle for civil rights
The Niagara Movement, formed in 1905 by W.E.B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter, was named for the Niagara Falls location of the first meeting and the ‘mighty current’ of protest.
Posted inFeatured
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder ushers in 88 years of serving the community (photos)
Founded on August 10, 1934, MSR this year officially marks the beginning of its 88th year of operations.
Posted inFeatured, Local & State, National, News, Sports
Hall of Fame honor catches Hallman by surprise
Charles Hallman stands alone as the first writer inducted to the USBWA Hall of Fame who writes for the Black Press.
Posted inOpinion
Black history, Black print and you
‘The Black Press not only carries our history and stories, continuing the work of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, but our press has extended our stories to the digital world.’
Posted inFeatured, Local & State, News
Corporations fail to honor pledges to Black media
‘They don’t care enough about our community to be honest about it, and they know that nobody’s going to call them out on it.’
Posted inFeatured, Local & State, Opinion
The problem with the Minneapolis police has decades-deep roots
A look at Minneapolis’ decades-deep problem with police and the efforts to chronicle and fight bigoted misconduct.
Posted inFeatured, News
Hennepin Gallery exhibit highlights MSR’s 85 years
‘Minnesota-Spokesman Recorder: Celebrating 85 Years’ will showcase the power of legacy of the Black Press and evoke a rich tableau of Black life in the Twin Cities.
Posted inLocal & State, National, News
Is newsprint on its way out?
With the surprising news that the Chicago Defender, a storied Black newspaper, has announced it will stop printing newspapers, we ask the question: is print dead or alive?
Posted inNational, News
Justice Department reopens Emmett Till murder case
In a Justice Department statement on July 13, the reason given for reopening the Till investigation was related to, “receiving new information.” However, the Justice Department did not detail exactly what the new information was. According to USA Today, the decision was revealed to Congress in a February report, but it is unclear what the Justice Department is prepared to act on.
Posted inNews
Remembering Nell Dodson Russell: reporter, columnist, truth-teller
It is frustrating that many important women and minorities in journalism have never received the recognition they deserved. A good place to start changing this is with the career of Nell Dodson Russell, who spent more than a decade writing for the Minneapolis Spokesman (today the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder). She was born Nellie Ellen Dodson in […]
Posted inSports
Halley Harding, a trailblazing sportswriter
As I was doing research for another piece, I stumbled upon the name Halley Harding. My curiosity eventually convinced me to ask: Who is he and why should we know more about him? William Claire (Halley) Harding was born in Kansas City, Missouri and reportedly was an “athlete vagabond” as a young adult during the […]
Posted inNews
NNPA’s Chavis receives promise of first press interview with President Trump
Omarosa Manigault, recently named assistant to the president and director of communications in the Office of Public Liaison for the Trump Administration, has promised the first press interview with President Trump to Benjamin Chavis, president/CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, according to sources who attended a private meeting with the Trump transition team Jan. […]