Doni Glover Show: Black Press Day is March 16, 2023

March 16th marks 196 years since the first copies of "Freedom's Journal" hit the streets of New York City in 1827

Freedom’s Journal, established the same year that slavery was abolished in New York, was the first African American-owned and operated newspaper in the United States. In its early years, it distributed more than 800 copies throughout 11 states and the District of Columbia. It reached as far as Canada, Haïti, and the United Kingdom for an annual subscription cost of $3.00. The newspaper was founded on March 16, 1827, at 5 Varick Street in Lower Manhattan, New York, by Jamaican-born John Brown Russwurm, Bowdoin College’s first African American graduate and only the third Black person to graduate from an American college. Cofounder Samuel Eli Cornish, born in Sussex County, Delaware, and a graduate of the Free African School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also founded Shiloh Presbyterian Church, the first Black Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, in 1822. – Black Past

The newspaper was founded on March 16, 1827, at 5 Varick Street in Lower Manhattan, New York, by Jamaican-born John Brown Russwurm, Bowdoin College’s first African American graduate and only the third Black person to graduate from an American college. Cofounder Samuel Eli Cornish, born in Sussex County, Delaware, and a graduate of the Free African School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also founded Shiloh Presbyterian Church, the first Black Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, in 1822. (SOURCE: BlackPast.org)

(BALTIMORE – March 7, 2023) – It all started with Freedom’s Journal in 1827.

In 1829, David Walker’s Appeal served as notice that slavery would not be tolerated any longer.

Then, Frederick Douglass founded and edited The North Star, his first antislavery newspaper, beginning December 3, 1847. The motto of the newspaper was, “Right is of no sex—Truth is of no color—God is the Father of us all, and we are brethren.” It was established in Rochester, NY.

These first publications did not last long, but it doesn’t matter. They got the ball rolling, and for their efforts – we are forever grateful.

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196 years later, the world has expanded far beyond the print of the early days. Press and media include radio, television, and the internet. While technology has changed the game, the 47.2 million Black people in America still have a litany of challenges.

And it is left to the members of today’s Black Press to keep those issues in the forefront, advocate for these issues ‘like it’s nobody’s business,’ and hold elected officials accountable.