Coherent Digital

Written by African Americans for African Americans, the newspapers provide a record of the Black experience in the segregated American South.

Articles reported on events, exposed incidents of discrimination and violence, and dispelled stereotyped portrayals of Blacks perpetuated by mainstream newspapers. There was also coverage of civic and religious events, politics, foreign affairs, local gossip, and other topics.

At a glance

full-run newspapers, manually rekeyed for exceptional search and accessibility.

6+2

6 states (Georgia, Louisiana, N. Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, W. Virginia) + D.C. and Okla. Indian Territory

William Calvin Chase, editor of the Washington Bee

Publications include

The Advocate, 1907–1912
The Athens Republique, 1921–1926
The Banner-Enterprise, 1883–1884
The Bee, 1882–1884
The Black Dispatch, 1917–1922
The Educator, 1874–1875
The Langston City Herald, 1892–1900
The Louisianian, 1870–1871
The Muskogee Cimeter, 1904–1920
The Nashville Globe, 1907–1918
The National Forum, 1910-1910
The Pioneer Press, 1911–1917
The Republican, 1873–1875
Semi-Weekly Louisianian, 1871–1872
The Tulsa Star, 1913–1921
The Western World, 1903–1904

The Charlestown Gazette rekeyed to 99% accuracy

Manually rekeyed for accuracy and accessibility

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a valuable tool for digitizing newspapers and other printed materials. However, older materials with nonstandard fonts can pose challenges for OCR technology.

Our North American collections are manually rekeyed to ensure 99% accuracy. This meticulous approach not only makes the content easy to read but also meets accessibility standards for the visually impaired. Also, we've structured the articles to enable richer text and data mining and to make citing easier.

Content highlights

The Bee

Under William C. Chase’s editorship, The Bee echoed Republican ideals, emphasized civil rights, featured social events, and carried editorials, national news, and ads. Notably, it criticized Booker T. Washington’s views on African American progress.

The Educator

William Caswell Smith and Cornelius D. Waddell founded The Educator with a mission to “train the intellectual and moral sentiments” of North Carolina’s Black youth. It is North Carolina’s first newspaper solely edited and published by African Americans.

The Pioneer Press

West Virginia’s first African American newspaper, The Pioneer Press is renowned for opposing lynching and Jim Crow laws and promoting self-improvement, religious piety, trades, agriculture, and non-discriminatory businesses.