Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.
This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO related to the Black Press and African American journalists. African-American Periodicals: a Visual Bibliography is a helpful online resource for researchers looking to discover periodicals by decade and topic. A guide to databases containing African American newspapers and magazines can be found at the USC Libraries webpages. Historic periodicals, including The Elevator and the Pacific Appeal, are included in the California Digital Newspaper Collection. Select copies of the Western Outlook, opens a new window and Oakland Sunshine, opens a new window can also be freely found on the Portal to Texas History digital collections website.
This Resource Guide highlights holdings in the following areas:
- Selected Library Material at AAMLO
- Selected Magazine and Newspaper Holdings at the Oakland Public Library
- Selected Archival Collections at AAMLO
Other collections may contain relevant materials. Please contact AAMLO (aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org) with any questions or to schedule an appointment to view materials in person.
Selected Library Materials
A History of the Black Press by Armistead Scott Pride
The Early Black Press in America, 1827 to 1860 by Frankie Hutton
Jennie Carter : a Black Journalist of the Early West by Jennie Carter
Delilah Leontium Beasley - Oakland's Crusading Journalist by Lorraine Jacobs Crouchett
A Region's Press: Anatomy of Newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area by William L. Rivers
Forty Years : Memoirs From the Pages of a Newspaper by Charlotta A. Bass
Raising Her Voice : African-American Women Journalists Who Changed History by Rodger Streitmatter
The Black Press : Soldiers Without Words [Video]
Reflections on Black History by Thomas C. Fleming
The Oakland Tribune Under Robert C. Maynard and the Alameda Newspaper Group by Nancy Anne Fong
The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service
Never in My Wildest Dreams : a Black Woman's Life in Journalism by Belva Davis
Selected Magazine and Newspaper Holdings
Available at the Oakland History Center:
- Activities Among Negroes: [Newspaper Column] by Delilah L. Beasley
- Index to "Activities Among Negroes," a Column Which Appeared in The Oakland Tribune on Sunday, October 14th, 1934-Feb. 14th 1943
Available at the Main Library Magazine & Newspapers Room (Print):
- California Voice
- Illustrated Guide [Afro-American League of Alameda County]
- The Oakland Post
- Richmond Post
- The Sacramento Observer
- The Sun-Reporter
Available at the Main Library Magazine & Newspapers Room (Microfilm):
- The Elevator
- The Oakland Independent
- Oakland Sunshine
- The Oakland Times
- The Pacific Appeal
- The Pacific Coast Appeal
- The Sun
- Western American
- Western Appeal
- The Western Dispatch
- The Western Outlook
Selected Archival Collections
Roberts Family Papers. Newspaper owner and editor, business leader, and politician Frederick Madison Roberts (1879-1952) began his career as a newspaper publisher serving as editor of Colorado Springs Light from 1908-1912. Upon his return to Los Angeles in 1912, Roberts purchased and began editing New Age Dispatch, a weekly paper he edited until 1948. The New Age was one of several African American newspapers in Los Angeles including the California Eagle, Weekly Observer, Pacific Defender, and Pacific Enterprise. In 1933, Leon H. Washington founded the Los Angeles Sentinel, a weekly newspaper, which quickly grew in popularity and remains the established African American paper of Los Angeles today.
Ruth Beckford Papers. Includes oral history interviews with Elbert Allen ("E. A.") Daly (1891-1987), long-time publisher of the California Voice. Together in 1927, Lilian and E.A. Daly purchased the California Voice, an established African American newspaper founded in 1919. The couple later purchased the Western Outlook, New Day Informer, and the Western Appeal, consolidating these three papers into the California Voice. Following Lilian Daly's passing in 1962, E.A. Daly sold his interest in the newspaper in April 1971. The Beckford Papers also include an oral history interview with Albert Butler discussing Walter George Maddox (1868-1957), founder of the Western Outlook.
E. F. Joseph Photograph Collection. Beginning the 1930s, Photographer Emmanuel Francis (E. F.) Joseph (1900-1979) worked as a photojournalist for a number of Bay Area newspapers including the California Voice, San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Post, and the Pittsburgh Courier. In addition to his newspaper work, Joseph also maintained a thriving commercial photography business photographing furniture, interior decor, funeral homes, restaurants, and industrial products for retail catalogs and newspaper advertisements, and he was the official photographer for many East Bay lodges, churches, schools, clubs, and athletic teams.
Thomas C. Fleming Papers. Journalist Thomas C. Fleming (1907-2006) began working for the San Francisco black newspaper, The Spokesman, while taking journalism classes at Chico State College. Fleming was hired as the founding editor of the African American newspaper The Reporter in 1944, which quickly merged with Carlton B. Goodlett’s newspaper The Sun, to become The Sun-Reporter. He worked as managing editor and lead reporter for the Sun-Reporter for over 33 years until his retirement in 1997 at the age of 89. The Thomas C. Fleming papers include photographs, certificates, programs, manuscripts, and newspaper clippings documenting his life and career as a journalist.
office building, circa 1970s, African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph collection, MS 189, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education Oral History Collection. The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education Oral History Project began in 1999 with the Caudwell Journals, a series of personal accounts written by journalist Earl Caldwell on his experiences working as a Black journalist. The project was expanded into an oral history project to document the experiences of other Black journalists whose careers started during the 1960s and 1970s. The project completed a total of 29 oral history interviews with Black journalists mostly working in California and New York and documents their experiences and struggles.
Benjamin V. Williams Papers. Journalist and television reporter Benjamin Vernon Williams (1927-2012) began working as a reporter first for the Bay Area Daily Record and then at the Sun-Reporter. At the Sun-Reporter, veteran news reporter Thomas Fleming acted as a mentor for the young reporter. His position at the Sun-Reporter was unpaid and Williams enrolled at San Francisco State University, where he continued to take classes in journalism eventually earning his degree in June 1962. He was offered his first paid position as a journalist in 1963, when Gale Cook, city editor at the San Francisco Examiner, offered him a position at the newspaper. When he was hired at the San Francisco Examiner, he was the first African American journalist at the newspaper. After joining KPIX in 1966, he became the first African American television reporter in Northern California. In 1972, he was promoted to weekend anchorman and in 1975 became Oakland News Bureau Chief. He worked for KPIX for over 25 years until his retirement in 1990.
Erna P. Harris Papers. Journalist and peace activist Erna P. Harris (1908-1995) started her own newspaper, The Kansas Journal, in 1936. In 1941, she moved to Los Angeles and was hired as a reporter for the Los Angeles Tribune. She wrote an editorial column for the Tribune, "Reflections in a Crackt Mirror," where she regularly wrote about controversial issues such as questioning the constitutionality of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Oakland Post Photograph Collection. The Oakland Post Photograph Collection consists of 11,797 photographs appearing in the Oakland Post newspaper between 1963-2005. The Oakland Post newspaper was founded by attorney Thomas L. Berkley (1915-2001) and wife Velda M. Berkley in 1963. Published weekly, the newspaper was dedicated to covering the major issues confront African Americans in Oakland - education, civil rights, crime, employment, and the fight against racism. The newspaper became the largest African American newspaper in Northern California with a circulation over 55,000 and was the central paper of the Post Newspaper Group which included five Bay Area newspapers including the Richmond Post and the Spanish language newspaper El Mundial. In 1972 the newspaper moved its business offices and printing facilities from Berkeley, California to 630 20th St. in Oakland, California. Following Thomas Berkley’s death, the newspaper was purchased by Paul Cobb in 2004.
Reginald Pearman Photograph Collection. Photojournalist Reginald A. Pearman worked as a staff photographer for the Oakland Tribune, Washington Post, and the Associated Press and over his career was a regular contributor to Time Magazine, National Geographic, and the New York Times. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for his coverage of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The Reginald Pearman photograph collection includes 614 photographic prints and negatives taken by Pearman when he worked as a photojournalist in the 1980s for the Oakland Tribune newspaper.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Oral History Collection. Features an interview with Geraldine “Jerri” Lange, pioneering Bay Area TV broadcaster, producer, and print journalist, discussing her media career.
Black Panther Black Community News Service Collection. The Black Panther Black Community News Service Collection consists of 420 newspapers published by the Black Panther Party between 1967-1980. Each issue was between 16-28 pages and featured a range of articles and op-eds on the activities of the party, black power, police brutality, communism, and party leadership. The back of each issue featured artwork from artist and Black Panther's Minister of Culture Emory Douglas. Beginning on March 13, 1971, the newspapers were re-named The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service.
The Flatlands Newspaper Collection. The Flatlands newspaper was an independent newspaper printed in Oakland from 1966-1968[?] and focused on issues related to poverty, education, housing, police brutality, and politics in East and West Oakland. The newspaper’s slogan was “tell it like it is and do what is needed” and advocated for government accountability and reform for those affected and displaced by housing developments and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). The newspaper’s staff included Alexandra Close and Darrow Bishop, a staff photographer, Lynn Phipps, and a 14 person editorial board of Curtis Lee Baker, Vera Bumcrot, Mark Comfort, Gloria Comfort, Urban Dennis, Gene Drew, Bill Goetz, Pauline Goetz, John George, Bill Lowe, Jerry Leo, Jack Ortega, Agnes Woods, and Ralph Williams.
Bayviewer Magazine Collection. The Bayviewer (1967-?) magazine collection consists of 21 issues of the Bayviewer and Lennie's Bayviewer magazine, a political and social magazine focused on the African American community in the San Francisco Bay Area. The magazine regularly featured advertisements by black-owned business and articles on local fashion trends, entertainment venues, politics, social organizations.
The Combination Magazine Collection. The Combination (1963-1978?) was an African American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California by editor and publisher Brackeen McCarty, owner of the Bay Area Printing Company. The magazine featured photographs and short articles on African American social organizations, entertainment, local politics and advertisements of African American-owned businesses such as Jenkin’s Bar-B-Q, Ray’s Club, and local barbershops.
Commemorator Newspaper Collection. The Commemorator newspaper was a newspaper printed in South Berkeley from 1990-2013 by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party and focused on promoting the goals of the Black Panther Party as outlined in its Ten Point Program. The newspaper served to teach the history, goals, and principles of the Black Panther Party, as well as report community news mostly related to living wage employment, violent crime, and adult literacy. The newspaper editorial staff included Melvin Dickson, Clifford Cody, and Leroy Dupree.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection. Selected items include
- Elevator Publishing Company articles of incorporation (1885)
- Indexes and biographical sketches of Delilah L. Beasley (1871-1934)
- Campaign literature documenting the Independent Progressive Party of California and Charlotta Bass (1874-1969)
- Oral history interviews with the family of Thomas L. Berkley (1915-2001) and employees of the Oakland Post
- Select volumes of the California Voice, Oakland Sunshine, the Sun-Reporter, and others
Additional Information
Search the library using the catalog.
Consult AAMLO's finding aids in the Online Archive of California.
We are working to create new resource guides. Have an idea for a new guide? Contact us at aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org.
