Media, Foreign Language

Historical Roots

Historians marked the beginning of ethnic media in the United States at the turn of the 19th century with media targeting the three dominant minorities at the time: Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Archives reveal that newspapers existed for Native American tribes such as the Cherokee. The Cherokee Phoenix represented a bilingual publication offered in English and in a language relying on an 86-character alphabet developed in 1812. Documents also indicate that the first Hispanic publication, El Misisipi, was founded in New Orleans in 1808 and was offered in English and Spanish for Hispanic immigrants. The first Chinese-language newspaper, The Oriental, was first printed in San Francisco in 1855.

Beyond a press created for dominant ethnic groups, the 19th century constitutes the determining moment for foreign-language media. By the late 19th century, few settled immigrants failed to have the opportunity to read about their respective countries. The emergence of such publications, primarily available in larger metropolitan areas, coincided with respective immigration waves.

For instance, the flagship Courrier des Etats-Unis, first published in 1828 out of New York, served the French-speaking population during the 19th century. Moreover, several local French papers appeared in U.S. states neighboring Canada. German immigrants in New York browsed the pages of Staats-Zeitung (1834) and New Yorker Volkszeitung (1878), while those living in Chicago read Arbeiter-Zeitung (1877). Italian expatriates discovered Il Progresso Italo-Americano (1879), a publication later replaced by America Oggi at the beginning of the 20th century. Throughout the midwest, from Minneapolis to Detroit, St. Louis, and the east coast, historians identified several papers devoted to Norwegian immigrants, Dutch settlers, the Polish, and Russians.

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