The following book review was written by Bobbi King:

African American News in the Baltimore Sun, 1870–1927
by Margaret D. Pagan. Genealogical Publishing Co., 2021. 98 pages.

Ms. Pagan has researched through and curated newspaper articles from the Baltimore Sun spanning the years 1870 to 1927 providing an overview and insight into local, national, and international events that shaped the African American communities during a time of social and political upheaval. Although published in Baltimore, the newspaper had expanded coverage to include news from all along the Eastern Seaboard, from Florida to New England, and a few other states.Each newspaper article is dated and the event described. Some examples:Aug 14, 1890   Private John Gordon of the 25th Infantry won the department gold medal as the leader of ten marksmen on the Army’s Department of Dakota team.

Apr 07, 1915    Pullman sleeping car porters went on the witness stand before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations and told of how much the tipping system meant to them. They testified that their salary of $27.50 per month could not pay expenses on the road without the tips they receive, to say nothing of paying rents and maintaining families.

Oct 06, 1924    The Colored World Series between the Negro National League champion, the Kansas City Monarchs, and the Eastern Colored League champion, the Hilldale Club, was played at the Maryland Baseball Park in Baltimore. Of the ten games played four different cities, the Monarchs won in Chicago. (The article lists the names of the players.)

There are over 800 newspaper articles cited, with an extensive index listing more than 1000 names and events. Included are articles about meetings of Baltimore’s Brotherhood of Liberty, precursor to the Niagara Movement and the NAACP, as well as coverage of the efforts to install Black teachers in the segregated schools of Baltimore.

This is an important addition to the genre of compilations that document the African American experience in the late 19th and early 10th centuries. It offers an historic portrait of communities grappling with the complexities of race, identity, and freedom in post-Civil War America.

African American News in the Baltimore Sun is available from the Genealogical Publishing Co. (the publisher) at: https://bit.ly/43GP7bZ and from amazon.com at: https://bit.ly/3TGoi2Z.