THE IMMIGRANT PRESS: Building Community, Giving Voice

The rich history of immigrant newspapers and other media in the United States has been largely neglected by media historians. These publications played a central role not only in sustaining immigrant communities but also in mediating between these communities and the larger public. Never monolithic, immigrant newspapers operated on a continuum, balancing local and home country content, the needs of new and established immigrants, and regional, religious, and political divisions in their communities. This chapter reviews the historical literature on the immigrant press and contrasts conceptions of ethnic, immigrant, and transnational, calling for more research into the relationships between immigrant media and the communities they both serve and are a part of.