Early South African Black Press

Early South African Black Press

The South African Early Black Press emerged in the 1830s, and were a sector of the print media in South Africa targetting the marginalised black, coloured and Indian communities under colonialism and apartheid. Scholars describe it as "the oldest, most extensive (both in terms of the number and variety of publications) collection of [protest-cum-resistance press] in subSaharan Africa (Switze, 1998).

Couzen's lists three major periods for the Early South African Black Press between 1836 and 1960, based on a descriptive bibliography compiled by Switzer and Switzer (1979) of 712 such publications (Couzens, 1984: 1). The first was a missionary controlled press. The second, "the period from 1884 to 1932 when black newspapers were largely independent though often struggling to survive". The third, was from "1932 when whites exert increasing influence on the black newspapers".

This website houses copies of a handful of issues from 16 titles: Umteteli Wa Bantu, Abantu Batho, Izwi Labantu, Izwi La Kiti, Izwi Lama Afrika, The Kaffir Express, The Territorial Magazine, The Cape Standard, The Comet, The Sun, The Workers' Herald, The Clarion, The Nation, Die Banier, African Leader.