African American News in the Baltimore Sun, 1870-1927

 African American News in the Baltimore Sun, 1870-1927.

Margaret D. Pagan.

Founded in 1837, the Baltimore Sun published numerous articles characterizing local, national, and international events relating to and impacting people of color. Beginning with the year 1870, Mrs. Pagan has scoured the newspaper for all such accounts and summarized their contents through 1927. To quote the historian Donna T. Hollie, who wrote the Foreword, "The author has selected articles for this publication which provide an expansive overview of experiences chronicling the African diaspora. For example, the reader will learn of the evolution of 'Jim Crow' regarding housing and interstate travel. Also included are summaries covering sports, lynchings, entertainment, and political, educational, economic, and religious activities. The accomplishments of well-known activists such as Frederick Douglass, and lesser-known ones such as Henry Highland Garnet, both Maryland born, are detailed."

Mrs. Pagan has also included references to marriage license applications and obituaries, the latter sometimes providing details about the decedent's family and organizational connections. Among the more than 800 entries, researchers will find references to meetings of Baltimore's Brotherhood of Liberty, the precursor to the Niagara Movement and founding of the NAACP, and efforts to install Black teachers in Baltimore's segregated schools for African Americans. This work includes a comprehensive index to names and events referenced in the chronology.