The paper was founded as the Selma Courier on November 2, 1827, by Thomas Jefferson Frow.

[5] During the civil rights movement, the Times-Journal attempted to provide balanced reporting, unlike many other Southern newspapers of the era.

Journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, in their book The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, wrote: "Selma had something most other venues of civil rights activity did not: a local newspaper that visiting reporters could depend on.

The Selma Times-Journal saw the historic importance of the story and took its responsibility seriously, providing detailed accounts that reporters found reliable.

"[7] Kathryn Tucker Windham, a writer and storyteller, was a journalist and photographer with the Times-Journal in the mid-20th century, writing the column "Around our House" from 1950 to 1966.