There are several types of reference sources that can assist with African American newspaper research. These resources provide biographical, circulation, and other information about African American newspapers and the Black press.
Newspaper bibliographies and union lists. Bibliographies include title, dates, place of publication, as well as a paper's focus. Union lists present lists of newspapers in geographic order according to place of publication, and specify which institutions hold collections of those newspapers with dates of their holdings. These can be especially useful for tracking title changes throughout a newspaper's history.
Newspaper indexes list articles classified by subjects, names, or other items found in a newspaper. They can be used to find citations that will lead to specific issues and page numbers for articles.
Newspaper histories document the progress of newspaper publishing. Some newspapers have a published history compiled by the newspaper itself or by independent historians. Other works cover the history of the printers and printing of newspapers in a state, county, or region more generally, and provide more condensed histories of the editors, journalists, and evolution of the newspapers in a specific area.
Newspaper directories identify newspaper titles published in specific locations or time periods.
Below is a sample of the reference sources related to African American newspapers in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room and in other collections within the Library. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Some resources are available digitally through HathiTrust and links are provided in catalog records when applicable.
African-American Newspapers and Periodicals by 
An Annotated Bibliography of Mary McLeod Bethune's "Chicago Defender" Columns - 1948-1955 by 
Bibliographic Checklist of African American Newspapers by 
Black Entertainers in African American Newspaper Articles, 1909-1950 by 
Black periodicals and newspapers : a union list of holdings in libraries of the University of Wisconsin and the Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin by Check List of Negro Newspapers in the United States, 1827-1946 by Extant Collections of Early Black Newspapers by Negro Newspapers on Microfilm: A Selected List by 
Newspapers and Periodicals by and about Black People by A Reference Guide to Afro-American Publications and Editors, 1827-1946 by 
Antebellum Black Newspapers by Black newspapers index by Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses, and Other Sources by Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources by Index to Black newspapers by A Reference Guide to Afro-American Publications and Editors, 1827-1946 by Baltimore Afro-American by 
The Defender by 
Freedom's Journal by Black Arkansas newspapers, 1869-1975 : a checklist by Black press information handbook by 
Directory of Afro-American Resources by Finder binder. African-American updated print media directory by The Negro entrepreneur by A Survey of Black Newspapers in America by The African-American mosaic : a Library of Congress resource guide for the study of Black history and culture by 
African American History in the Press, 1851-1899 by 
The African American Newspaper by The Afro-American press and its editors by 
American Diary: a personal history of the Black press by 
Black Journalists by Black literature, 1827-1940 by 
The Black Newspaper and the Chosen Nation by 
Black Newspapers and America's War for Democracy, 1914-1920 by The Black Press, 1827-1890: The Quest for National Identity by 
The Black Press, U. S. A. by 
The Black Press and the Struggle for Civil Rights by 
The Black Press in the Middle West, 1865-1985 by 
Chasing Newsroom Diversity by 
A History of the Black Press by In Black and White by 
Journalism and Jim Crow by The Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986 by The Negro in the Philadelphia Press by The Negro Newspaper by The Negro press in the United States by Origins of the Black Press by 
Perspectives of the Black Press by Forty years: memoirs from the pages of a newspaper by Who's who in the American Negro press by 
