Newspaper founded by Black Arizona State Representative now on the Arizona Memory Project

PHOENIX – From 1971 to 1973, Horace Eddy Owens represented Maricopa County in the Arizona Legislature. Three years later, he co-founded the Arizona Black Dispatch with three others to replace the defunct Phoenix Black Dispatch. A headline on the first issue stated, “Arizona Black Dispatch Will Assist Black Businesses,” and said the weekly paper intended to be “…a useful and informative paper for the black community.” The newspaper included local and National News Service stories that focused on events impacting the Black community in addition to coverage on local churches and events, sports, community members and local businesses.

“The Arizona Black Dispatch provides a unique opportunity to revisit Phoenix’s Black community in 1976, a year that saw both local elections and a U.S. Presidential election,” said Sativa Peterson, National Digital Newspaper Program grant project director and news content program manager for the State of Arizona Research Library. “It appears the State of Arizona Research Library is the only institution in the world with the Arizona Black Dispatch in its holdings.”

Researchers can view 33 issues of the Arizona Black Dispatch from 1976 on the Arizona Memory Project indefinitely and on any digital device at http://go.azsos.gov/azbkdispatch.

For questions about this or any digital collection, or for cultural institutions interested in sharing collections on the Arizona Memory Project, contact [email protected]. 

-30-