My library offers it for free here in IL, with the use of a library card, just like for Heritage Quest. Much of it is very old newspapers, they range from 1690-1977, as well as historical books & document and a few other types of records. One of the problems is the way it does searches, it's too broad a range to locate things. The other thing is, I think it is not a great tool if you're limited to just African American research, it's just not set up that way. The things I've found is when I stumble across something about someone else, I almost never find anything about the name I'm looking for.
Frankly, I wouldn't even bother with it if it weren't free, I certainly wouldn't pay for it.

Deloris