Boston’s Only African-American Newspaper Closes

July 10, 2009

Bob Oakes

In an undated photograph, Dr. Charles Steward stands near the entrance of The Guardian, the weekly newspaper started by his brother-in-law William Monroe Trotter. Steward and his wife, Maude, ran the paper after Trotter’s death in 1934. Maude died in 1957 and with Dr. Steward’s blessing, Melvin B. Miller started the Banner eight years later. (Banner File Photo)

The ink has dried on what could be the last edition of Boston’s only African-American community newspaper. The weekly Bay State Banner has suspended publication amidst falling advertising revenues after more than four decades in print.

Publisher Melvin Miller hopes an investor will step in and save the publication, but many people are already lamenting the loss of an important voice for the black community. The paper, with a circulation of 34,000, covered seminal events in Boston — from the school busing crisis to racially-charged issues, such as inequality and crime.

For more on what the Bay State Banner’s closure means, we spoke to Callie Crossley, a television and radio commentator and a media analyst at Harvard University.

This program aired on July 10, 2009. The audio for this program is not available.