Discussing the history of Sacramento’s African American owned newspapers.

February is Black History Month! Since our museum, especially our print shop exhibit, has gained a large following on social media, we thought we would discuss early African American newspapers in Sacramento.

The first Black-owned newspaper in California was the “Mirror of the Times, which was published in San Francisco in October 1856. Sacramento would not have an African American published newspaper until 1906. That newspaper was “The Forum,” published at 6th and P Streets at Shiloh Baptist Church by Rev. J. Gordon McPherson. Only one edition was published, however.

The next African American newspaper in Sacramento was the Western Review in 1914 but ceased publication in 1920. The Sacramento Outlook published from 1942 until 1962. The paper was sold to William H. Lee, Geno Gladden, and John W. Cole to form a new newspaper. The Sacramento Observer first published its newspaper on November 22, 1962. The Sacramento Observer has won more than 600 awards, including the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s Russwurm Trophy for the country’s best African American newspaper 6 times.

Larry Lee, son of William H. Lee, has followed in his father’s footsteps continuing The Observer, which has been in business for over 60 years.

In this video, Jared discusses the history of Sacramento’s African American owned newspapers and letterpress prints “The Sacramento Observe” using 15 line wood type made by the Hamilton Wood Type Company in the 1880s. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press.

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