List of African-American newspapers in Delaware

This is a list of African-American newspapers that have been published in the state of Delaware. It includes both current and historical newspapers.

Wiliam Howard Day, editor of Our National Progress.

Front page of The Advance of Wilmington from September 22, 1900, with endorsements in national, state and local races.

Alice Dunbar Nelson, co-owner and publisher of the Wilmington Advocate.

The first known African-American newspaper published in Delaware was Our National Progress, which from 1869 to 1875 was published simultaneously in Wilmington and other cities in the Mid-Atlantic states,[1] and was "viewed by some as the only national Black paper in the corridor between Washington and New York."[2] Other notable Delaware papers include The Advance (1899–1901),[3] and the Wilmington Advocate, which noted poet and journalist Alice Dunbar Nelson operated from 1920 to 1922.[4]

The majority of such newspapers have been published in Wilmington, the state's capital. However, for much of its history Wilmington's African American population was too small to support even one such newspaper at a time.[5] Irvine Garland Penn, who tabulated the African-American newspapers in circulation in 1880 and 1890 in The Afro-American Press and Its Editors, did not list a single Delaware newspaper for either year.[6] For much of the late 19th and early 20th centuries when no African-American paper operated, news of the community was shared in a column in one of Wilmington's white weeklies, the Sunday Morning Star.[5]

Newspapers

City	Title	Beginning	End	Frequency	Call numbers	Remarks
Dover	People's Beacon	1945[7]	?[7]	Irregular[7]	LCCN sn88053145 OCLC 18868801	Published by the Delaware People's League.[7]
New Castle	Delaware Observer	1968[8]	1988?[8]	Monthly newspaper[8]	LCCN sn88053124 OCLC 18785990
New Castle	North Star	1981[9]	?[9]	Monthly[9]
Wilmington	The Advance	1899[3]	1901[10]	Weekly[10]	ISSN 2637-8213, 2637-8205 LCCN 2014254333, sn86058063 OCLC 879705302, 13353313	Free online archive
Wilmington	Wilmington Advocate	1920[4]	1922[4]	Weekly[11]		Published by Alice Dunbar Nelson and husband Robert Nelson.[4] No known copies survive, although some printing plates do.[12]
Wilmington	Arrow	1958[13]	1960?[13]	Monthly newspaper[13]	LCCN sn88053094 OCLC 18302146
Wilmington	The Defender (1965–1967)[14] / The Delaware Defender (1962–1965)[15] / The Delaware Valley Defender (1967–1980s)[16]	1962[17]	1985?[17]	Weekly[17]	The Delaware Defender: LCCN sn88053027 OCLC 17742854 The Defender: LCCN sn88053028 OCLC 17742994 The Delaware Valley Defender: LCCN sn88053134 OCLC 18784587
Wilmington	The Delaware Reporter	1940[18]	?[18]	Weekly[18]	LCCN sn88053110 OCLC 18801770	Published by J. Alexis DuBois.[18] Billed as “Delaware’s only Negro newspaper.”[18]
Wilmington	The Delaware Spectator	1972[19]	1976[19]	Weekly[19]	LCCN sn87054000 OCLC 17247954	Approximately 10% in Spanish.[19]
Wilmington	The Delaware Star (1976–1978)[20] / The Delaware Valley Star (1978–1984)[21]	1976[22]	1984[22]	Monthly 1976–1978; biweekly, 1978–1980; weekly, 1980–1984[22]		Delaware Star: LCCN sn88053030 OCLC 17742879 Delaware Valley Star: LCCN sn89099207 OCLC 19233230
Wilmington	Focus	1930[23]	?[23]	Weekly[23]		Billed as “Delaware’s only Negro newspaper.”[23]
Wilmington	Front Page	1944[24]	?[24]	Weekly[24]	LCCN sn88053112 OCLC 18801764
Wilmington	Wilmington Herald Times	1941[25]	?[25]	Weekly[25]	LCCN sn88053136 OCLC 18785987
Wilmington	Our National Progress	1869[1]	1875?[1]	Weekly[1]	LCCN sn83032133 OCLC 10213663	Published by C.M.Brown.[1] Edited starting in 1870 by William H. Day.[26] One issue survives.[27]
Wilmington	The People’s Pulse	1968[28]	1970[28]	Monthly[28]	LCCN sn88053032 OCLC 17742923	Published by Peoples Settlement Association & United Neighbors for Progress Publications.[29]
Wilmington	The Sower: A Christian Newspaper	1984[30]	?[30]	Monthly newspaper[30]		Published and edited by Ralph Morris.[30]
Wilmington	Twilight	1890s		Weekly[31]

See also

• List of African-American newspapers and media outlets
• List of African-American newspapers in Maryland
• List of African-American newspapers in New Jersey
• List of African-American newspapers in Pennsylvania
• List of newspapers in Delaware

Works cited

• Dalleo, Peter T. (2014). "African American Abolitionist and Kinship Connections in Nineteenth-Century Delaware, Canada West, and Liberia". In De B’Béri, Boulou Ebanda; Reid-Maroney, Nina; Wright, Handel Kashope (eds.). The Promised Land: History and Historiography of the Black Experience in Chatham-Kent's Settlements and Beyond. University of Toronto Press. pp. 149–175. JSTOR 10.3138/j.ctt6wrgjz.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Danky, James Philip; Hady, Maureen E., eds. (1998). African-American newspapers and periodicals : a national bibliography. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674007888.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Patton, Venetria K.; Honey, Maureen, eds. (2001). "Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935)". Double-take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813529301.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Penn, Irvine Garland (1891). The Afro-American Press and Its Editors. Willey & Company.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

References

1. "About Our national progress. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1869-1875". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
2. Dalleo 2014, p. 169.
3. "About The advance. [online resource] (Wilmington, Del.) 1899-19??". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
4. Patton & Honey 2001, p. 145.
5. Woolard-Provine, Annette (2003). Integrating Delaware: The Reddings of Wilmington. University of Delaware Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780874137842.
6. Penn 1891, p. 114.
7. "About People's beacon. (Dover, Del.) 1945-19??". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
8. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 189, ¶ 1969.
9. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 430, ¶ 4474.
10. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 8, ¶ 84.
11. James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S. (1971). Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 2. Harvard University Press. p. 615. ISBN 9780674627345.
12. "Alice Dunbar-Nelson and the Wilmington Advocate". University of Delaware Special Collections. 2014-10-25. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
13. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 49, ¶ 505.
14. "About The Defender. (Wilmington, Del.) 1965-1967". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
15. "About The Delaware defender. (Wilmington, Del.) 1962-1965". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
16. "About The Delaware Valley defender. (Wilmington, Del.) 1967-198?". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
17. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 190, ¶ 1972.
18. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 189, ¶ 1970.
19. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 190, ¶ 1971.
20. "About The Delaware star. (Wilmington, Del.) 1976-1978". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
21. "About The Delaware Valley star. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1978-1984". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
22. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 190, ¶ 1974.
23. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 231, ¶ 2416.
24. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 243, ¶ 2542.
25. "About Wilmington herald times. (Wilmington, Del.) 1941-19??". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
26. Penn 1891, p. 110.
27. Dalleo 2014, p. 175.
28. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 460, ¶ 4793.
29. "About The People's pulse. (Wilmington, Dela.) 1968-1970". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
30. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 532, ¶ 5552.
31. Afro-American Encyclopedia: Or, the Thoughts, Doings, and Sayings of the Race. Haley & Florida. 1895. p. 131.