The Weekly Challenger newspaper has documented the history of St. Petersburg, Florida's African American community since the paper was established by Cleveland Johnson Jr. in 1967. In 2013 an agreement between the USF St. Petersburg campus Poynter Library and the Johnson family allowed the library to become the home for existing print issues of The Weekly Challenger. Since 2016 the library and newspaper have worked in partnership to create the Weekly Challenger Newspaper Digital Archive.
Links to The Weekly Challenger archive and additional resources:
- Weekly Challenger Chronology & Tampa Bay African-American History Research Guide
- A recording of Ethel Johnson's memories of St. Petersburg.
- A short film created for The Weekly Challenger's 50th Anniversary celebration.
- Highlights from The Weekly Challenger's 50th anniversary event.
Not all of the older newspapers are in our holdings. Please note that there is a six-month delay before recent issues are added to the archive.