From Frederick Douglas’ The North Star to Ida B. Wells’ The Memphis Free Press and all subsequent members of the Black press, the plight of African – Americans was chronicled and a beacon of hope was provided through the journalistic efforts and trials of the country’s heroic Black Press. I cannot begin to capture the countless ways that the Black Press acted as the vanguard and the persistent battering ram against forces of oppression in this country. What I would like to do is to act as an eyewitness to the enormous contribution that NNPA member papers made during the last thirty years where I had a bird’s eye view of their reporting.