by A.man.I

Sure it’s technically Black history month, but one month is hardly enough time to dedicate and remember all of those who’ve paved the way for us. Plus, American history is Black history, but that’s all I’m going to say about it.

I’m going to dedicate this month to the first Black newspaper ever published in the U.S. It was called Freedom’s Journal, and was published by Samuel Cornish and John B. Russwurm. It debuted on March 16, 1867, and the motto was “Righteousness Exalteth a Nation.”

I learned about the newspaper last semester when I was researching the role newspapers played in the abolition movement for a journalism history class at Georgia State. If you’re interested in learning more, you should check out “Freedom’s Journal: The First African-American Newspaper” by historian Jacqueline Bacon Lexington.

Like many of the independent writers (should I say bloggers) today, a lot of the early newspaper publishers worked for little and had to scrape by. They were often financed by donations from the community, and sympathetic whites.

It was more a labor of love, obligation, and a desire to counter the many mistruths that were being spread by the “mainstream” press about the Black community (It makes you think that some things really haven’t changed a whole lot).

Check out the link below to see how the Freedom’s Journal looked:

Freedom’s Journal Vol. 1.

Check the Wisconsin Historical Society for more issues of the paper.

by A.man.I

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