"Unlocking access to unique content is part of the ProQuest strategy to create a total newspaper solution for libraries, serving all their news needs through a single source," said Rod Gauvin, senior vice president, ProQuest. "These new titles are invaluable for any scholar studying American history and African-American culture, history, politics, and art."

The new additions to ProQuest Historical Newspapers- Black Newspapers bring additional distinctive content to the collection.  The Baltimore Afro-American, one of the most widely circulated black newspapers on the Atlantic coast, advocated for equal rights in employment, black participation in politics, and state-funded education for African-Americans.  In the 1930s the paper began the "Clean Block" campaign to fight poverty and crime in the inner-city, a program that continues today. The Cleveland Call & Post became the predominant black newspaper in Cleveland by the late 1930s and is widely-known for its active role in organizing community support for the defendants in the Scottsboro trial.   The Norfolk Journal & Guide, led by P.B. Young, "Dean of the Negro Press," was celebrated for its quality research and writing.  It argued against restrictive covenants, rallied against lynching, and encouraged African-Americans to vote.  Its factual tone allowed the newspaper to attract advertising from local and national, white-owned businesses such as Pillsbury, Goodrich and Ford.  The Philadelphia Tribune, the oldest continuously published black newspaper in the United States, campaigned to appoint African-American citizens to the board of education, city council, and judiciary. 

ProQuest Historical Newspapers-Black Newspapers provides researchers with unprecedented access to original source material that examines major movements from the Harlem Renaissance to Civil Rights, and explores everyday life as written through the editorial perspectives of the most distinguished black newspapers from the U.S.   Other papers in the collection include Atlanta Daily World, The Chicago Defender, Los Angeles Sentinel, New York Amsterdam News, and Pittsburgh Courier.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers-Black Newspapers is cross-searchable with all newspapers in ProQuest Historical Newspapers.  The black historical newspapers are also available through the Black Studies Center, a core collection of primary and secondary resources from the foremost academic experts on the black experience.  This digital resource creates a framework for undergraduate and graduate level Black Studies courses and fills information gaps that have stymied research and study.  Black Studies Center provides a central point of access to the most sought-after documents that chronicle and analyze the black experience.