The newspaper was founded in 1964 by Jesse Lewis Sr. in order to give the local Black community a greater voice during the civil rights struggle.[1][2] Lewis wanted to provide an alternative to the News and Post-Herald, which only mentioned Black people in a negative light, and the Birmingham World, which Lewis felt only focused on discrimination.[3] The paper did not own its own printing press and sometimes struggled with getting their printer to print the paper because of its anti-segregation stance.[3] Lewis stated that he wanted the Times to be "committed to covering the fullness and totality of life, not just the controversial and political."[3]
The paper was sold to Lewis's son James in 1998 with Cheryl Eldridge staying on as the editor in chief.[4][5] In 2019 the paper was sold to The Foundation for Progress in Journalism (FPJ), a non-profit created honoring Lewis, with the aim to promote minorities advancement in journalism.[1]
