March 16 – Black Press Day

nPostednon March 16, 2016

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n Onnthis date in 1827, editors John Brown Russwurm and Reverend SamuelnCornish published the first issue of Freedom’s Journal. Thisnis considered by the National Newspaper Publishers Association to benthe first black newspaper in the United States; to commemorate thendate, NNPA has declared today to be Black Press Day.
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nRusswurmnand Cornish wrote in their famous first editorial, “We wish tonplead our own cause. For too long have others spoken for us.”

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nThenNorth Star, founded by Frederick Douglass, was another importantnearly entry in African American journalism. As you can imagine,nFreedom’s Journal and The North Star were published innthe north. Many copies were handed out in secret in the South. Inpicture enslaved people secretly teaching one another to read usingnthese newspapers, or gathering around the literate ones among them tonget news.

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nFreedom’snJournal was founded by Peter Williams, Jr., and several othernfree black men who lived in New York City. They carefully chosenRusswurm and Cornish, who were already community activists, to be theneditors. The goals for the newspaper included opposing New Yorknpapers that attacked African American people and encouraged slavery –neven though slavery was gradually becoming illegal in New York, thenstate’s economy had strong ties to the South, because its textilenmills processed cotton grown in the South. Largely with labor ofnenslaved people.

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nAnotherngoal was to oppose articles in the abolitionist press. Of course,nabolitionists wanted to abolish all slavery – so that’s a goodnthing – but a lot of white journalists writing for the abolitionistnpress still described black people as being simpler, more childlikenand dependent, and inferior to white people. n

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Black press is more than newspapers.

nBlacknnewspapers were an important source of information during times ofnslavery, times of Civil War, times of Jim Crow laws, and times of thenCivil Rights Movement…and the black press is still an importantnsource of information now!

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nEvennthough many of us talk about the death of newspapers in the age ofnthe internet, Ourvillagenews.com has been established to helpnpeople find African American newspapers throughout the U.S. and tonprovide links to these newspapers’ websites and social media sites –nall in one place.

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nThenBlack Press Research Collective offers some lesson plans tonteach about Freedom’s Journal and the importance of blacknvoices in journalism.

nWatch the PBS film Soldiers Without Swords.

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nAlsonon this date: