Black Newspapers and Political Participation
Presented by:
Brian Beach
Department of Economics
Vanderbilt University
Friday, October 3, 2025
12:00 pm-1:15 pm
Taylor-Hibbard Seminar Room (Rm103)
The late 19th century saw the emergence of the Black press, with roughly 3000 newspapers opening between 1865 and 1920. We apply natural language processing techniques to over 20 million newspaper pages to show that Black newspapers offered a unique perspective on politics and one that was more aligned with the Republican Party. We assess the impact of these newspapers by comparing electoral outcomes in counties where a Black newspaper opens in time to cover a presidential election to those where a Black newspaper opens right after the relevant election. Results from a stacked difference-in-differences design indicate that Black newspaper openings helped garner support for the Republican Party. Balance tests and event studies help validate the parallel trends assumption that underpins our research design.