New York State Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman spearheaded legislation to officially recognize Black Press Day, which has been held annually on March 16 for almost 200 years.
“Today we recognize an institution that has been the heart of our nation’s conscience — the Black Press,” said Zinerman on the assembly floor.
Zinerman’s resolution was a part of the Black Legislative Task Force’s agenda. It also honored Black-owned and currently operated publications in the state: New York Amsterdam News (1909), the Buffalo Criterion (1925), Harlem Community Newspaper (1995), Our Time Press (1996), the New York Beacon (1981), New York Daily Challenge (1972), New York Carib News (1981), and the Blaque/OUT Magazine (2020).
“We have Black-centered, electronic and print media available to us all. There was a time in this country where that was not afforded to many Black people,” said Senator April N.M. Baskin, from Buffalo.
Black Press Day commemorates the first Black newspaper, called the Freedom’s Journal. It was published in New York City in 1827 by a group gathered by Bostin Crummell, Reverend Samuel Cornish, and John Russwurm.
The objective was to discuss the socioeconomic, systemic racism and political challenges Black communities have faced in the country. At the time major media outlets often attacked and belittled Black people in print, refused to run Black obituaries, and wouldn’t report on major disasters that impacted Black neighborhoods. This radical reporting sparked a wave of Black newspapers. There were 40 in operation by the 1920s and 1930s, including the Amsterdam News.
New York Amsterdam News political reporter Ariama C. Long at the podium. 
State Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman held a press conference in Albany to speak about the importance of the Black Press on March 19. 
Members of the New York Amsterdam News and the Buffalo Criterion with electeds on the Black Legislative Task Force.
While Black voices were actively silenced, the Black Press spoke boldly and led the charge against slavery, segregation, and racial injustice. Black journalists and publications championed landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, and extensively covered the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1941, representatives from 22 publications decided to form the National Negro Publishers Association (N.N.P.A.). The N.N.P.A., now the National Newspaper Publishers Association, comprises over 200 Black newspapers in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands.
Black journalists remain underrepresented in mainstream media, comprising just 6% of all reporters, while Black media continues to publish up to six times more coverage on critical issues such as systemic racism, health disparities, voting rights, economic justice, and police reform than traditional news outlets. The Black press remains essential in the current U.S.
political climate, reinforcing its role as the fourth estate that holds power accountable, said electeds.
“Often dubbed the fourth branch of government,” said Queens Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson, “it’s called that because it brings out the stories that are important to our communities. It should be and must be uplifted. We’ve heard of the adage, ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’ We know with Black press we’re looking for a few good stories, looking to tell a history, to combat the erasure that’s historically been happening in our communities.”
Assemblymember Brian Cunningham noted that it’s crucial to not only recognize the labor of Black journalism but to fully fund the state’s Black publications.