Maya Angelou, Chicago Defender April 9, 1968, p.12
February 2, 2015
The Libraries recently added a subscription to the full historical archive of the Chicago Defender. The Chicago Defender was the most influential African-American newspaper of the 20th century. With the majority of its readership outside the Chicago region, it served as the de facto national black newspaper in the U.S. Covering 1910-1975, the Chicago Defender archive allows you to follow history through the lens of an important primary source. In the Defender you will find coverage of topics such as:
- the progress of civil rights struggles from the Jim Crow era through protest and desegregation, including coverage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, housing and transportation, and the debate about the integration of Major League Baseball.
- international events, such as apartheid in South Africa and Stephen Biko’s Nobel Peace Prize nomination, often overlooked by other newspapers
- music, art, literature, theater, and popular culture, from the Harlem Renaissance to Pulitzer and Tony nominations for Maya Angelou.
- local news, obituaries, and politics
Researchers in disciplines as disparate as history, journalism, political science, communication, music, literature, film studies, sociology, and theater will find relevant material to support their work. The Defender is just one of a series of newspaper archives the Libraries have added in the last year, including the Times of London, America’s News from NewsBank, and a new interface for Gale’s 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. Watch for trials of more newspaper collections, coming up in March.
Ernie Banks predicts Cubs will win this Season, Chicago Defender, March 16, 1963