By Victor Trammell

Photo credits: The Philadelphia Tribune

The Philadelphia Tribune is the United States’ oldest continually published African-American newspaper.

On November 22, 1884, the newspaper was established. The first copy was released by Christopher J. Perry. The Philadelphia Tribune has dedicated itself to the social, political, and economic improvement of African Americans in the Greater Philadelphia area throughout its existence.

The Tribune served as the “Voice of the Black Community” for Philadelphia at a period when African Americans were fighting for equality. V. P. Franklin, a historian, said that the Tribune “was (and is) an important Afro-American cultural institution that embodied the predominant cultural values of upper-, middle-, and lower-class Black Philadelphians.”

The paper’s headquarters were located at 520 South 16th Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the early twenty-first century. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, it is published. Tribune Magazine, Entertainment Now, Sojourner, The Learning Key, and The Sunday Tribune are all published by the Philadelphia Tribune. The Philadelphia–Camden Metro Area, as well as Chester, are served by the Tribune.

Since 1995, the Tribune has won the John B. Russwurm Award for “Best Newspaper” in the nation seven times.