by Julie Winch
The Birth of the Black Press (1827)
In 1827, a group of black community leaders in New York City began publishing Freedom’s Journal. Their immediate goal was to refute racist attacks upon them in the mainstream press, but their longer-term goal was to ensure that black people had their own newspaper that would reflect their needs and concerns. The man they chose as the paper’s editor was John Brown Russwurm, one of the first black men to receive a college degree. Freedom’s Journal enjoyed an extensive circulation and had agents throughout the North and in the West Indies. The following address “To Our Patrons” appeared on page 1 of the first edition of the paper and speaks to the bold agenda of its founders. Freedom’s Journal survived for almost two years before Russwurm’s defection to the American Colonization Society, coupled with financial problems, forced its editorial board to suspend publication.
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 which concern us dearly . . . We are aware that there are many instances of vice among us, but we avow that it is because no one has taught its subjects to be virtuous; many instances of poverty, because no sufficient efforts accommodated to minds contracted by slavery, and deprived of early education have been made, to teach them how to husband their hard earnings, and to secure to themselves comforts.
Education being an object of the highest importance . . . we shall . . . urge upon our brethren the necessity and expediency of training their children, while young, in habits of industry, and thus forming them for becoming useful members of society . . .
The civil rights of a people being of the greatest value, it shall ever be our duty to vindicate our brethren, when oppressed, and to lay the case before the publick. We shall also urge upon our brethren, who are qualified by the laws of the different states, the expediency of using their elective franchise . . .
We trust also, that through the columns of the freedom’s journal, many practical pieces, having for their bases, the improvement of our brethren, will be presented to them . . . Useful knowledge of every kind, and every thing that relates to Africa, shall find a ready admission into our columns; and as that vast continent becomes daily more known, we trust that many things will come to light, proving that the natives of it are neither so ignorant nor stupid as they have generally been supposed to be. And while these important subjects shall occupy the columns of the freedom’s journal, we would not be unmindful of our brethren who are still in the iron fetters of bondage. They are our kindred by all the ties of nature; and though but little can be effected by us, let our sympathies be poured forth, and our prayers in their behalf, ascend to Him who is able to succour them . . .
In the spirit of candor and humility, we intend by a simple representation of facts to lay our case before the publick, with a view to arrest the progress of prejudice, and to shield ourselves against the consequent evils. We wish to conciliate all and to irritate none, yet we must be firm and unwavering in our principles, and persevering in our efforts . . .
In conclusion, whatever concerns us as a people, will ever find a ready admission into the freedom’s journal . . . And while every thing in our power shall be performed to support the character of our Journal, we would respectfully invite our numerous friends to assist by their communications, and our coloured brethren to strengthen our hands by their subscriptions, as our labour is one of common cause, and worthy of their consideration and support.
the editors
Source: Freedom’s Journal, March 16, 1827
David Walker on the Nature of Black Freedom (1829)
Originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, David Walker (ca. 1796–1830) was free because his mother was free, although his father was probably a slave. As a young man, Walker lived for a time in Charleston, South Carolina before moving to Boston around 1825, where he married, opened a used-clothing store, and soon established himself as a member of the city’s activist black elite. Among other things, he was the local agent for the pioneering black newspaper Freedom’s Journal, and a founding member of the Massachusetts General Colored Association. He is best remembered as the author of An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829). The Appeal, with its forthright condemnation of slavery and racism, enraged white Southerners. Walker used his contacts in the seafaring community to smuggle copies of his pamphlet into the South, where he hoped they would get into the hands of both the slaves and the free blacks. When Walker died from tuberculosis the year after the Appeal was published, rumors swirled that he had in fact been murdered for daring to speak out.
Men of colour, who are also of sense, for you particularly is my appeal designed. Our more ignorant brethren are not able to penetrate its value. I call upon you therefore to cast your eyes upon the wretchedness of your brethren, and to do your utmost to enlighten them . . . Do any of you say that you and your family are free and happy, and what have you to do with the wretched slaves and other people? So can I say, for I enjoy as much freedom as any of you, if I am not quite as well off as the best of you. Look into our freedom and happiness, and see of what kind they are composed! They are of the very lowest kind—they are the very dregs!—they are the most servile and abject kind, that ever a people was in possession of! If any of you wish to know how free you are, let one of you start and go through the southern and western States of this country, and unless you travel as a slave to a white man (a servant is a slave to the man he serves) or have your free papers, (which if you are not careful they will get from you) if they do not take you up and put you in jail, and if you cannot give good evidence of your freedom, sell you into eternal slavery, I am not a living man . . . And yet some of you have the hardihood to say that you are free and happy! May God have mercy on your freedom and happiness!!
Source: Peter P. Hinks, ed., David Walker’s “Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World” (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), 30–31.
An African-American Shipowner Visits Charleston (ca. 1830)
One of the people white abolitionist Samuel J. May met on a visit to New Bedford, Massachusetts, was black merchant and shipowner Richard Johnson (1776–1853). In a long career at sea, Johnson had risen “from cabin boy to captain.” When the episode he recounted to May took place, he was sailing on one of his own vessels. He and the white captain did not anticipate any trouble when they put into Charleston for a few days, but almost immediately Johnson found himself facing arrest. South Carolina’s infamous Negro Seamen’s Act required that all black crew members entering the port be jailed until their ship departed. However, the law assumed that the only black men on board a vessel would be sailors, cooks, or stewards. The authorities did not know how to deal with a black man who actually owned the vessel.
Mr. Johnson, a few years ago, freighted a small vessel for the West Indies, and went with her as supercargo. On his return, he found occasion to put into the port of Charleston, S.C. The cook of the vessel, and one of the sailors, being colored, were immediately thrown into prison. And the “officers of Justice” were proceeding to deal likewise with Mr. Johnson, when several gentlemen who were acquainted with him . . . interfered. They insisted, that according to the language of the law, the magistrates had no authority to commit Mr. Johnson, he being neither cook, sailor, nor stevedore. The Mayor demurred some time, because as he said, such a man might do more harm among the slaves, than if he had not risen from the menial situation, to which the free blacks are normally condemned. Nevertheless, as Mr. J. and his counselors appealed to the law, and also gave bonds for his good behavior, the honorable Mayor was obliged to leave him at liberty; but admonished him that if he ever came to Charleston again, he should not be protected by the letter of the law.
Source: Liberator (Boston), April 24, 1835
Maria W. Stewart’s Speeches (1832–1833)
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Maria Miller (1803–1879) was orphaned at age five and bound out as a servant. After her term of indenture ended, s
he continued working as a domestic. Eventually she moved to Boston, and in 1826 she married James W. Stewart, a much older black businessman. As the wife of one of Boston’s wealthiest men of color, Maria Miller Stewart enjoyed a comfortable existence, but in 1829 her husband died and his white executors cheated her out of her inheritance. The following year she lost her friend and mentor, David Walker. Deeply spiritual, with a tremendous love of learning and a growing commitment to abolition and social reform, Stewart began writing and lecturing. Her willingness to defy the conventions of gender as well as race, to speak to “promiscuous” audiences (i.e., men as well as women) and to criticize black men for what she regarded as their failings aroused opposition within the black community. In 1833, Stewart left Boston for New York City, where she became a teacher. As the first excerpt shows, Stewart believed young black women should have better access to education and more job opportunities. The second excerpt is from a speech Stewart gave at Boston’s African Masonic Hall that no doubt irked many of the men in attendance.
I have asked several individuals of my own sex, who transact business for themselves, if, providing our girls were to give them the most satisfactory references, they would not be willing to grant them an equal opportunity with others? Their reply has been—for their own part, they had no objection; but as it was not the custom, were they to take them into their employ, they would be in danger of losing the public patronage. And such is the powerful force of prejudice—Let our girls possess what amiable qualities of soul they may—let their characters be fair and spotless as innocence itself—let their natural taste and ingenuity be what they may—it is impossible for scarce an individual of them to rise above the condition of servants. . . . As servants, we are respected; but let us presume to aspire any higher [and] our employer regards us no longer. I do not consider it derogatory, my friends, for persons to live out to service . . . and I would highly commend the performance of almost any thing for an honest livelihood . . . [but most] of our color have dragged out a miserable existence of servitude from the cradle to the grave . . . O, ye fairer sisters, whose hands are never soiled . . . Had we the opportunity that you have had, to improve our moral and mental faculties, what would have hindered our intellects from being as bright, and our manners from being as dignified as yours?
Source: Liberator (Boston), November 17, 1832
I would ask, is it blindness of mind, or stupidity of soul, or the want of education, that has caused our men who are 60 or 70 years of age never to let their voices be heard nor their hands be raised in behalf of their color? Or has it been for the fear of offending the whites? If it has, O ye fearful ones, throw off your fearfulness and come forth in the name of the Lord . . . If you are men, convince them that you possess the spirit of men . . . Have the sons of Africa no souls? Shall the chains of ignorance forever confine them? Shall the insipid appellation of “clever negroes” or “good creatures” any longer content them? . . . It is true, our fathers bled and died in the revolutionary war, and others fought bravely under the command of Jackson, in defence [sic] of liberty. But where is the man that has distinguished himself in these modern days by acting wholly in the defence of African rights and liberty? . . . Talk, without effort, is nothing; you are abundantly capable, gentlemen, of making yourselves men of distinction; and this gross neglect, on your part, causes my blood to boil within me . . . Cast your eyes about—look as far as you can see—all, all is owned by the lordly white, except here and there a lowly dwelling which the man of color, midst deprivations, fraud and opposition, has been scarce able to procure . . . We have pursued the shadow, they [whites] have obtained the substance; we have performed the labor, they have received the profits.
Source: Liberator (Boston), April 27, 1833
John Remond, a Salem, Massachusetts caterer, used the sighting of a sea serpent off the New England coast to appeal to potential customers. Philadelphia’s Serena Gardiner emphasized her respectability and that of her establishment. While Gardiner offered accommodation to genteel African Americans, in South Carolina tailor turned hotelier Jehu Jones boasted of the splendors of his establishment to white planters and their families eager to escape the summer heat. In Boston, William and Thomas Jinnings understood the need to be as versatile as possible when it came to the inventory in their store and the skills they mastered. Black people in communities large and small looked for economic opportunities wherever they could find them and appreciated the importance of a good newspaper advertisement.
Free Blacks in Business in Antebellum America
Nothing Like The Serpent
The public are hereby informed, that a more palatable fish than a Sea-Serpent will make his appearance on Monday next, at the new establishment in Front Street, and will not come alone, but in such quantities as may best suit purchasers. The supposition is that few of my customers can swallow a serpent, and but few that are not fond of swallowing an oyster. Now know ye,
Gentlemen of Salem and vicinity, that an oyster establishment will be opened on Monday next . . . where the best of Oysters and good attendance will be provided.
Let them be roasted, stew’d or fried,
Or any other way beside,
You’ll well be serv’d, or ill betide
john remond
Source: Salem Gazette, September 2, 1817
Sullivan’s Island Establishment
For the accommodation of visitors the Proprietor has purchased a Carriage and a pair of very gentle Horses, to take Ladies and Gentlemen up to the east end of the Island; and a Horse and Gig, also for the use of his friends.
Having spared no expense to make the Establishment as comfortable as possible, and to make the charges as low as the very high expense of the Establishment will admit, [he] has placed the different charges as follows:
For Boarding, per week, for one person $14.00
For Dinner for one person1. 25
For Supper ditto 0.50
For Bed ditto 0.50
For Breakfast ditto 0.50
Children half price
Servants ditto
ice cream every day
jehu jones
Source: City Gazette and Daily Advertiser (Charleston, South Carolina), July 19, 1817
Genteel Private Boarding House
mrs. serena gardiner, who formerly kept a private boarding-house at No. 19, Powell-street, has removed to No. 13, elizabeth-street; where respectable persons of color can be accommodated with Boarding, and also with separate apartments if required. A share of patronage is respectfully solicited.
Source: Liberator (Boston), May 9, 1835
removal—w. s. & t. jinnings respectfully announce to their friends and the public that they have removed to the spacious store, No. 100 Court Street, adjoining Blaney’s Grate Factory, where they now carry on the regular business of a clothing and variety store on an entirely new plan.
Their stock will consist of every variety of curious and fancy articles—also Watches and Jewelry, Guns, Swords, Pistols, &c. Surgical, Mathematical, Nautical and Musical Instruments, Carpenter’s tools—also a large number of rare and interesting Prints, an assortment of military equipment, such as Caps, Belts, Silk Sashes, Coats, &c., together with a first rate assortment of new and second [hand] fashionable Clothing, Stocks, Collars, Bosoms, Suspenders, Handkerchiefs, Gloves and Hosiery, constantly on hand at low prices.
Source: Liberator (Boston), May 12, 1837
Thomas Jinnings, Practical Surgeon Dentist
All dental operations, from cleansing teeth to inserting them on gold plate, skillfully executed. Teeth plugged in a manner superior to any plan ever before practiced in this country, by which the original shape of the tooth can be perfectly restored. All operations warranted. At Dr. Mann’s office, No. 16 Summer Street, Boston.
Source: Colored American (New York), August 22, 1840
On the Impact of Prejudice (1837)
In 1837, in an effort to understand the impact of racial prejudice in the North, white aboli
tionist Angelina Grimké contacted several well-educated and articulate African-American women whom she knew through various antislavery organizations and asked them to share with her what prejudice meant in their everyday lives. Sarah Louisa Forten, one of the daughters of wealthy Philadelphia businessman James Forten, responded, describing her own experiences and her awareness that even among white abolitionists there were subtle undercurrents of racism. Forten was an accomplished writer. Using the pen-name “Ada,” she composed poetry for antislavery newspapers like William Lloyd Garrison’s Liberator. She was a founding member of the interracial Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society and she had a deep admiration for many of the white people she encountered through her antislavery work. Even so, she realized that a commitment to ending slavery did not always translate into a rejection of racial prejudice.
In reply to your question—of the “effect of Prejudice” on myself, I must acknowledge that it has often embittered my feelings, particularly when I recollect that we are the innocent victims of it—for you are well aware that it originates from dislike to the color of the skin, as much as from the degradation of Slavery—I am peculiarly sensitive on this point, and consequently seek to avoid as much as possible . . . mingling with those who exist under its influence. I must own that it has often engendered feelings of discontent and mortification in my breast when I saw that many were preferred before me, who by education—birth—or worldly circumstances were no better than myself—their sole claim to notice depending on the superior advantage of being white—but I am striving to live above such heart burnings—and will learn to “bear and forbear” believing that a spirit of forbearance under such evils is all that we as a people can well exert . . .
Even our professed friends have not yet rid themselves of it [prejudice]—to some of them it clings like a dark mantle obscuring their many virtues and choking up the avenues to higher and nobler sentiments. I recollect the words of one of the best and least prejudiced men in the Abolition ranks. Ah said he—“I can recall the time when in walking with a Colored brother, the darker the night, the better Abolitionist was I.”