Freedom’s Journal

Freedom's Journal On March 16, 1827 Samuel E. Cornish (1795-1858) and John Brown Russwurm (1799-1851), both well-educated clergymen, began to edit and publish Freedom’s Journal in New York City. Cornish was born in Sussex county, Delaware and attended the Philadelphia Presbytery. As a youth Russwurm was educated in Canada, and became the first black man to receive a degree from Bowdoin College. The partnership dissolved when Russwurm joined the American Colonization Society in their effort to establish a black colony in Liberia. The paper ceased operations with the March 28, 1829 issue.

Although Freedom’s Journal lived a relatively short life, it is important in that it was the first American newspaper written by blacks for blacks. From the beginning the editors felt, “… that a paper devoted to the dissemination of useful knowledge among our brethren, and to their moral and religious improvement, must meet with the cordial approbation of every friend to humanity…“.

The Browse and/or Search links below are for visitors on networks with institutional access to this collection. Individuals with personal subscriptions must login at accessible.com to access the Browse and Search features.

Notes

Freedom’s Journal, New York, New York – This title is complete. March 16, 1827–March 28, 1829

Blog Posts

Subscriber Feedback

What you have is one of the most important developments in early American research since microfilm.

Dr. James P. Whittenburg,
Department of History,
The College of William and Mary

UNC libraries and their users consider Accessible Archives products to be important e-resources for supporting research in African American studies and on the history of the American South and, as a consequence, consistently have made their acquisition a priority.

Luke Swindler
Coordinator of General Collections
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill Libraries

Accessible Archives provides one of the most valuable genealogical tools I have ever used.

Barbara Renick,
Nationally known lecturer, author,
and professional genealogist

This vast reservoir of affordable and wisely chosen on-line material makes possible a great leap forward in virtually any program in American history by speeding up the search process and by greatly expanding the range of easily accessible information.

Lawrence J. Mykytiuk, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Library Science
History, Political Science,
& Microtext Librarian
Purdue University

When a student needed the exact date for Frederick Douglass’ speech ‘What the Black Man Wants,’ given at the 1865 annual meeting of the Mass. Anti-Slavery Society — was it before or after Lincoln’s assassination? – the only reference with the actual speech and date was Accessible Archives’ The Civil War. Thank you!

Edward C. Oetting
History/Political
Science Bibliographer
Arizona State University