Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 exhibition currently on display at the San Bernardino County Museum is being extended to early May, 2024.
Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 exhibition currently on display at the San Bernardino County Museum is being extended to early May, 2024. Credit: museum.sbcounty.gov

Last Updated on February 3, 2024 by BVN

S. E. Williams

The Black Voice News team is proud to announce its exhibit in partnership with the San Bernardino County Museum, Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50, is being extended to early May. 2024. 

The exhibition, which commenorates the publication’s 50 years of service as a source for community news and information in the Inland Empire, documents the transformation of Black Voice News from a printed community weekly newspaper to a digital solutions focused, data reporting news organization.

According to Museum staff, the exhibition has been well received and is a wonderful vehicle for students to learn about the impact of the Black community in the region as told through the eyes of the reporters who document it. 

The Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 exhibition at the San Bernardino County Museum is being extended through early May, 2024. (source: museum.sbcounty.gov)

The exhibit not only highlights the work of Black Voice News reporters as local government watchdogs but as recorders of Black life in the Inland Empire, including profiles of leaders making a difference in communities across the region, coverage of community events, mapping community assets, and reporting on the fight for social justice and racial equity.

Take a journey through time as the nation evolved in its adaptation of technology as documented by Black Voice News as part The Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 exhibition at the San Bernardino County Museum. The exhibit is being extended through early May, 2024. (source: museum.sbcounty.gov)

Part of what makes the Black Voice News unique and a valued partner in the Inland Empire is the reporting contributions of community journalists who have told the stories of their friends and neighbors over the years. Learn more through The Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 exhibition at the San Bernardino County Museum now extended through early May, 2024. (source: museum.sbcounty.gov)

Highlights of the exhibit include chronicling the power of the Black church, illustrating the impact of Black-led non-profit organizations, and documenting the legacies Black professionals, including doctors, educators, elected leaders, business owners and corporate executives.

The Black church is an essential part of the Black community and the Black Voice News has chronicled their history in the inland region in both stories and images as an important part of The Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 exhibition at the San Bernardino County Museum.  (source: museum.sbcounty.gov)

Over the years Black Voice News has maintained a spotlight on issues related to equity in the nation’s health care system and the role of Black doctors has been essential in the telling of this story as highlighted in the The Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 exhibition at the San Bernardino County Museum.  (source: museum.sbcounty.gov)

Publishing in the spirit of the Black Press, the Black Voice News not only has a duty to “plead the cause” of the Inland Empire’s Black community. “We work to deliver on this mandate by giving voice to the voiceless, serving as a beacon in the storm of injustice, defending the rights of those that have been discriminated against and unjustly treated, and all the while, keeping a vigilant eye on those who have sworn to work for the public good.”

The Power of the Press: Black Voice News @ 50 exhibition at the San Bernardino County Museum features archival print copies of Black Voice News publications. (source: museum.sbcounty.gov)

For those who have not yet done so, we encourage you to visit the exhibition and bear witness to 50 years of Black Voice News successfully pleading the cause of the Inland Empire’s Black community. 

The San Bernardino County Museum is located at 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands, CA. It is closed on Mondays but open 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Tuesday through Sunday. For more information call 909) 798-8608.Educators can personalize their school group’s field trip with a lecture experience by Black Voice News archivist Hardy Brown II. To do so, please include it in the comments when filling out a field trip and school tour inquiry form.

Stephanie Williams is executive editor of the IE Voice and Black Voice News. A longtime champion for civil rights and justice in all its forms, she is also an advocate for government transparency and committed to ferreting out and exposing government corruption. Stephanie has received awards for her investigative reporting and for her weekly column, Keeping it Real. Contact Stephanie with tips, comments. or concerns at myopinion@ievoice.com.