Afro-American Studies 293E - S- The Afro-American Press

The role of minority journalism in the American past and present. Notable editors and newspapers in the 160-year history of the black press, and their contribution to the major issues of their times. The black press is a critical but often ignored aspect of African American history and culture. It has been central to community formation, protest and advocacy, education and literacy, and economic self-sufficiency. This course will examine the history and the role of the press, in abolition and civil rights spanning two centuries. The course will profile early writers and journalists like David Ruggles, founder of the first African American bookstore, Fredrick Douglas, WEB DuBois, and Ida B. Wells. We will explore how the Black press exposed the horrors of slavery and lynching inspired millions to travel from southern towns migrating with promises of opportunity, and a better quality of life. The course will also trace the 21st-century challenges faced by the Black press, the contributions of Black women like Nikole Hannah Jones, and how social media has influenced a resurgence in black media content producers. The course includes guest lectures by working journalists, podcasters, and media producers and is project-based without any course prerequisites.