While African-American book publishers have been active in the United States since the second decade of the 19th century, the 1960s and 1970s saw a proliferation of publishing activity, with the establishment of many new publishing houses, an increase in the number of titles published, and significant growth in the number of African-American bookstores. African-American commercial book publishers released a total of 154 titles in the period 1970–74, a dramatic rise from the previous high of 21 titles published during the five-year spans of 1935–39 and 1940–44. Institutional and religious publishers also increased their title output, rising from 51 titles in the years 1960–64 to 240 titles in 1970–74. Concomitantly, there was a widening in the scope of publishing objectives on the part of African-American book publishers, who began to release titles that not only advanced their particular ideologies but dealt with topics unrelated to Black Americana or Africana. Such diversity is emblematic of the increasingly important role in American culture and society of African-American book publishers.
General
Many factors, including the rising literacy rate among African Americans and the greater numbers of African Americans enrolled in institutions of higher learning, created an increased demand for books and thus contributed to this surge in publishing activity. By 1969, only 3.6% of African Americans were reported illiterate, and by 1970, 357,000 African Americans were attending a college or university. The 1960s and 1970s also saw increasing levels of professional employment and economic prosperity, and witnessed a growing consciousness of African-American history and culture. As well, a series of legislative acts at the federal level, including the Library Services Act (1956), the Library Services and Construction Act (1963), and the Elementary and Secondary School Act (1965), led to greater investment by the U.S. Government in education and libraries. Occurring alongside these educational and economic gains were the political advances ushered in by the civil rights movement: the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which officially prohibited much overt discrimination and abolished legal segregation in employment, schools, federally-assisted programs, and public accommodations; the 1965 Voting Rights Act; and the 1968 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed housing discrimination.
Spurred on by the social and cultural advances of the late-1950s and 1960s, and an increased demand for books by and about African-Americans, the period 1960–80 saw the largest increase in new African-American book publishers in the 20th century. The number of titles released by African-American book publishers rose dramatically, and these works addressed an increasingly diverse range of subjects. The significance of their role as intermediaries in the circulation of ideas within society was of primary importance to many African-American book publishers, and the intellectual and literary products which they fostered were integral to American culture.
Taken together, these political, economic, and educational advances created opportunities for a growing number of African Americans to engage in book publishing, an enterprise of great cultural import. Books are a primary medium for the transmission of ideas, and thus book publishers can be seen as serving as crucial intermediaries between the authors whose works they publish and the society in which such works, and the ideas they contain, circulate.
Commercial publishing
Given that most African-American book publishers were small in size, and faced considerable difficulties in raising capital, acquiring the experience and expertise necessary to engage in publishing, and having their books reviewed by the relevant media outlets, the cultural significance of their endeavors was decisive. Many African-American commercial book publishers "did not enter book publishing with the expectation of making a profit, but rather to publish books documenting and portraying the Black American and African experience and to open publishing opportunities for Black writers".