Samuel Cornish & John Russworm
The Nation's First Black Newspaper Is Published March 16, 1827, By John B. Russworm And Reverand Samuel E. Cornish.
Freedom's Journal, The First Exclusively Black-Owned, Operated, Edited And Published Newspaper In America, Was Produced In New York City And Widely Disitributed In Boston, Washington, DC, Baltimore And Even As Far Away As Haiti.
The Paper's Mission Statement Read:
"We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the publick been deceived by misrepresentation, in things that concern us dearly, though in the estimation of some, mere trifles...
The civil rights of a people being of the greatest value, it shall ever be our duty to vindicate our brethren, when opressed and to lay the case before the publick.
The interesting fact that there are FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND free persons of colour, one half of whom might peruse and the whole be benefitted by the publication of the journal; that no publication as yet, has devoted exlusively to their improvement...."
The Paper's Mantra Was "RIGHTOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION."
Freedom's Journal Did Not Last Long, Due In Large Part To A Conflict Between Editors Russworm And Cornish Over The Issue Of The Colonization Of Africa By African Americans, Which Russworm Adavocated.
The Jamaican-Born Russworm Migrated To Liberia In 1829. That Same Year, Cornish Revived Freedowm's Journal Under A Different Name, The Rights Of All.
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." --Hubert Gaddy, Jr.
