Inside the African American Library at the Gregory School, rows of bound newspapers, reels of microfilm, and glowing screens tell the story of Houston’s Black press.
These archives preserve the history of a people who refused to be silenced, documenting the struggles and triumphs of Black lives across generations.
A legacy written in ink
The Black press in Houston began with the Houston Informer, founded in 1919 by C.F. Richardson with support from Hobart Taylor, a local Black millionaire. The weekly newspaper became a vital voice for African Americans during the era of segregation, covering issues ranging from education to voting rights. It merged with the Texas Freeman in 1930, continuing a mission of truth and justice that extended to Louisiana and Alabama before ceasing publication in the 1990s.
When Richardson left the Informer, he founded the Houston Defender in 1930. The Defender stood against disenfranchisement and inequality, urging legislative reforms and amplifying civic voices. Under the current publisher and CEO, Sonceria “Sonny” Messiah Jiles, the paper continues to highlight community priorities, from police accountability to infrastructure equity, marking its 95-year run as a mainstay of Black journalism.
Voices of empowerment and protest
In 1960, Julius P. Carter launched the Houston Forward Times to unite and uplift the city’s Black community. After Carter’s death, his wife, Lenora, and daughter, Karen Carter Richards, carried on his mission. It chronicled not only civil rights milestones but also economic advocacy, like a 1974 article about the National Black Media Coalition petitioning the FCC to demand more Black reporters on air.
Other publications captured the city’s revolutionary spirit. In the 1960s, Reverend L. Earl Hope, a prominent civil rights leader and minister in Houston, founded the Hope Development. Out of that organization, the Voice of Hope newspaper was born. It reported on police brutality, apartheid, and the Black Panther movement. Its coverage of Carl Hampton’s 1970 killing offered a raw, unfiltered view of Black political activism in Houston during a turbulent decade.
Faith and everyday life
The Negro Labor News, founded by C.W. Rice in 1931, focused on labor patterns and race relations in the workforce. Though Rice’s ties with white businessmen sometimes led to criticism from his peers, his reporting painted a complex picture of Black labor struggles during World War II and beyond.
Faith-based journalism also flourished. Reverend Floyd Nathaniel Williams, Sr. edited The Globe Advocate, a 1970s-1980s publication devoted to church news and spiritual education. Its Sunday school lessons and church directories documented Houston’s religious life while reinforcing Black moral and communal foundations.
Preserving the past
Today, archivists at the Gregory School are digitizing these publications, along with the Houston Sun, Houston News Pages, and historic high school papers, to ensure they remain accessible to scholars and the general public alike. Visitors can browse these digitized issues on the Houston Public Library’s digital archive, an ongoing project that bridges past and present.
“We have microfilm, a photographic medium used to archive miniature images of newspaper pages,” said Aleah Parsons, oral history archivist at the Gregory School. “The other format that we have is print, including newspapers, which we have in their regular format. We also have print newspapers that have been bound. Unfortunately, these newspapers are in bad condition, so they’re not really available to the public.”
For many researchers, these papers are both history and personal memoirs.
Former Houston ISD teacher Florence Carter, who attended the library’s presentation, described finding childhood photos and forgotten community stories in the Forward Times archives.
“It’s important that we identify the issues that are important to us as a race,” she said. “What have we done proactively to address issues facing Black Americans in Houston?”
