List of African-American newspapers in Montana

This is a list of African-American newspapers that have been published in the state of Montana.

First page of the first issue of The Colored Citizen from September 1894.

Montana's first such newspaper was The Colored Citizen, published in Helena in the fall of 1894.[1] During this period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the African-American population of Montana fluctuated between 1000 and 1500 people.[2]

Montana has the unique position of being entirely surrounded by states (Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota) that have never had an African-American newspaper.[3] The state's early Black press accordingly covered a particularly wide geographic sweep, and many of Montana's early African American papers carried news from communities in other Western states.[4] Some other states' newspapers returned the favor: the Seattle Northwest Enterprise ran a column of Montana news from the 1920s to 1960s.[5]

Newspapers

City	Title	Beginning	End	Frequency	Call numbers	Remarks
Butte	The New Age or Montana New Age[6]	1902[7]	1903?[7]	Weekly[7]	ISSN 2326-9669, 2326-9650 LCCN 2013218599, sn84036148 OCLC 828631031, 11076647	Available online Carried local news from California, Utah, Washington, and Idaho in addition to various Montana cities.[8]
Fort Harrison	Knocker	1902[9]	?			Known only through mentions in other papers.[9]
Helena	The Colored Citizen	1894[10]	1894[11]	Weekly[10]	ISSN 2326-9693, 2326-9685 LCCN 2013218600, sn84036198 OCLC 828631189, 11254796	Available online Edited by J.P. Ball Jr., son of James Presley Ball.[12] Carried local news from Billings and Seattle as well as Helena.[13] Published from September 3 to November 6, 1894, shutting down after the 1894 Montana elections.[14]
Helena	The Montana Plaindealer	1906[15]	1911[15]	Variable: weekly, monthly, or irregular[16]	LCCN sn84036199 OCLC 11254801	Available online Edited and published by Joseph Blackburn Bass, who earlier published the Topeka Call and later edited the California Eagle.[17]
Helena	Reporter	1899?[18]	1901[18]	Twice monthly[18]
Missoula	Everybody	1959[5]	1987[5]

See also

• List of African-American newspapers and media outlets
• List of newspapers in Montana

Works cited

• Abajian, James De Tarr (1974). Blacks and Their Contributions to the American West: A Bibliography and Union List of Library Holdings Through 1970. G. K. Hall. ISBN 9780816111398.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Berardi, Gayle K.; Segady, Thomas W. (1990). "The Development of African-American Newspapers in the American West: A Sociohistorical Perspective". The Journal of Negro History. 75 (3/4): 96–111. doi:10.2307/3031501. JSTOR 3031501.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)
• Junne, George H. (2000). Blacks in the American West and Beyond--America, Canada, and Mexico: A Selectively Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313312083.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Pride, Armistead Scott; Wilson, Clint C. (1997). A History of the Black Press. Howard University Press. ISBN 9780882581927.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Smith, Jessie Carney (2012). Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9781578593699.

References

1. Smith 2012, p. 409.
2. Berardi & Segady 1990, p. 110.
3. Pride & Wilson 1997, p. 105.
4. Abajian 1974, p. 391.
5. Junne 2000, p. 406.
6. Berardi & Segady 1990, p. 111.
7. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 406, ¶ 4229.
8. Abajian 1974, p. 391, ¶ 4243.
9. Abajian 1974, p. 391, ¶ 4244.
10. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 162, ¶ 1685.
11. "About The Colored citizen. [online resource] (Helena, Montana) 1894-1894". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
12. "Newspapers". Montana Historical Society. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
13. Abajian 1974, p. 391, ¶ 4245.
14. Pride & Wilson 1997, p. 109.
15. Danky & Hady 1998, p. 373, ¶ 3892.
16. Abajian 1974, p. 391, ¶ 4246.
17. Lang, William (2007-01-21). "Joseph Blackburn Bass (1863-1934)". Retrieved 2020-01-09.
18. Abajian 1974, p. 392, ¶ 4247.

External links

• Montana Historical Society resource page