Newspaper Articles about African American History

Nov. 3, 1868: A Contested Claim: First African-American Elected to Congress?
Feb. 3, 1870: 15th Amendment Ratified: Voting Rights for ‘Men of Color’
Feb. 25, 1870: Despite Vicious Racism, Hiram Revels Becomes 1st Black Senator
Dec. 12, 1870: First African-American Congressman Elected: Newspapers React
Dec. 9, 1872: Rough Going for First African-American Governor
April 13, 1873: Colfax Massacre: Blacks Slaughtered by White Supremacists
May 18, 1896: Separate but Equal: Supreme Court & Segregation
Feb. 12, 1909: Gruesome Race Riot Sparks Formation of NAACP
May 31-June 1, 1921: Tulsa Race Riot Terrorizes Black Neighborhood
March 19, 1941: Tuskegee Airmen Break Barriers, Leading to Desegregated Military
May 17, 1954: Supreme Court Rules Segregated Public Schools Unconstitutional
Dec. 1, 1955: Rosa Parks Arrest Sparks Montgomery Bus Boycott
Feb. 7, 1956: African American Fights Exclusion from Univ. of Alabama
Sept. 24, 1957: U.S. Army Troops Enforce Desegregation of Arkansas High School
Feb. 1, 1960: Lunch Counter ‘Sit-in’ Galvanizes Civil Rights Movement
May 3, 1963: Birmingham Police Violently Stop Protesting Schoolchildren
Sept. 15, 1963: Anguished Cry: ‘Oh Jesus, They Bombed Our Church’
March 26, 1964: Malcolm X: Eerie Premonitions of His Own Death
Dec. 14, 1964: Supreme Court Ruling Upholds 1964 Civil Rights Act
Feb. 21, 1965: Malcolm X Assassinated
Feb. 21, 1965: Malcolm X: Some Details about His Life
March 7, 1965: Alabama Police Attack Civil Rights Marchers on ‘Bloody Sunday’
March 21, 1965: MLK Leads Civil Rights March to Montgomery
March 21, 1965: More Newspaper Coverage of MLK-Led Montgomery March
Aug. 11, 1965: Watts Riots: 6-Day Rampage in Black Area of L.A.
Aug. 12, 1865: Black Reporter’s Eyewitness Account of Watts Riots
Aug. 14, 1965: Newspaper Editorializes about the ‘Injury of Innocents’ in the Watts Riots
June 13, 1967: Thurgood Marshall Nominated: First Black Supreme Court Justice
Feb. 8, 1968: Orangeburg Massacre: Police Kill Three Black Students in S.C.
April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
April 4, 1968: Contrasting Views of Dr. King’s Legacy
Oct. 12-13, 1972: Race Riot on USS Carrier ‘Kitty Hawk’
Oct. 12-13, 1972: U.S. Navy Responds to Race Riot aboard Carrier ‘Kitty Hawk’
April 8, 1974: Aaron Breaks Ruth’s Home Run Record, Speaks His Mind
Nov. 2, 1983: The Controversial Birth of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Feb. 10, 1989: First African American to Lead a Major U.S. Political Party

Click here for newspaper articles about slavery: precursor to the Civil War.