Black Travelers: Explore Culture, Adventure & Connection
- Freedom’s Journal, first Black-owned newspaper of record, launched March 16, 1827, and circulated across states, DC, Haiti, Europe, and Canada.
- Freedom’s Journal published editorials denouncing slavery and lynchings, advocated voting rights and repatriation, and celebrated Black achievements and vital community records.
- Although it folded in 1829, it spawned at least 40 similar papers and launched the long-standing Black Press; archives are digitized on wisconsinhistory.org.
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Sick and tired of having to constantly read racist commentary in the mainstream press of the United States, free Black Americans Rev. Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm started their own paper – Freedom’s Journal.
First published on March 16, 1827 in New York City — the same year New York State abolished slavery – the four-page weekly was the first Black-owned newspaper of record in the United States. At its zenith, Freedom’s Journal circulated in 11 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Europe, and Canada.
In addition to covering general news and current events, Freedom’s Journal included editorials denouncing slavery, lynchings and challenged the racist attacks against Black people that appeared in other newspapers.
The paper also contained articles advocating for voting rights, repatriation of Blacks to Africa, covered international news, celebrated Black achievements, offered biographies of prominent African Americans and published vital record listings of births, deaths and marriages in the African-American New York community.
Although Freedom’s Journal folded in 1829, shortly before Russwurm emigrated to Liberia, its two-year existence helped spawn at least 40 similar papers over the next four decades and kicked off the long standing, time-honored tradition of the Black Press in America.
To learn more about Freedom’s Journal, you can check out the digitized archive of all 103 issues of the paper on wisconsinhistory.org, as well as other sources linked above and below.
Sources:
See the full story on the original site
