February is Black History Month! We cover a lot of local newspaper history in our print shop exhibit at the Sacramento History Museum and we thought we would take this opportunity to discuss early African American newspapers in our city. The first Black-owned newspaper in California was the “Mirror of the Times, which was published in San Francisco in October 1856. Sacramento would not have an African American published newspaper until 1906. That newspaper was “The Forum,” published at 6th and P Streets at Shiloh Baptist Church by Rev. J. Gordon McPherson. Only one edition was published, however. The next African American newspaper in Sacramento was the Western Review in 1914 but ceased publication in 1920. The Sacramento Outlook published from 1942 until 1962. The paper was sold to William H. Lee, Geno Gladden, and John W. Cole to form a new newspaper. The Sacramento Observer first published its newspaper on November 22, 1962. The Sacramento Observer has won more than 600 awards, in...