Freedom’s Journal

Lovie Buie

Ms. Biondo

25 August 2016

                                        Freedom’s Journal

The state of New York’s last slaves were freed in 1827. Soon after, African Americans all over starting to come together to tell a story that will be remembered for generations to come. Freedom’s Journal was the first African American owned newspaper in the United States. The newspaper was founded by many free African American men in New York City. One of which was Rev. Peter Williams Jr.. The first copy of Freedom’s Journal was published on March 16th, 1827 and was put out of business in 1829 by a new newspaper called The Rights of All. The Rights of All was published by Samuel Cornish, also the former senior editor for Freedom’s Journal. (Martin)

Although millions of people in the south were still enslaved in the year 1827, the newspaper Freedom’s Journal was created for the hundreds of thousands of slaves freed in the North. The founders of the newspaper chose Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm as junior and senior editors. According to the nineteenth-century African-American journalist, Garland Penn, Cornish and Russwurm's objective with Freedom's Journal was to oppose New York newspapers that attacked African Americans and encouraged slavery. Mordecai Noah wrote articles that degraded African Americans as well as other editors who also wrote articles that mocked blacks and supported slavery. Freedom’s Journal wasn’t created defend African Americans as much as a desire within the black community to create a forum that would express their views and advocate for their causes. (Martin)

According to its publisher Samuel Cornish, “Freedom's Journal provided its readers with regional, national, and international news and with news that could serve to both entertain and educate.” It was made to to improve conditions for the over 300,000 newly freed black men and women living in the North. The newspaper informed readers of what was going on in the worldby featuring articles on such countries as Haiti and Sierra Leone. As a paper of record, Freedom's Journal published birth, death and wedding announcements. To encourage black achievement it featured biographies of renowned black figures such as Paul Cuffee, a black Bostonian who owned a trading ship in which black people worked on, Touissant L'Ouverture and poet Phyllis Wheatley. The paper also printed school, job and housing listings. (Garland)

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