CONTENTS
Transcriber’s Note: Chapter numbering in this table of contents doesn’t correspond to the chapter numbering in the text (due, it seems, to a late insertion of the preface as an extra chapter). All links go to the correct places.
| I. | [Preface—] | |
| II. | [Early Attempts (1827-1847)—] | |
| 1. | Discussion of nine pioneer papers. | |
| 2. | Biographic sketches of their editors. | |
| III. | [The Abolitionist Press (1847-1865)—] | |
| 1. | Discussion of eleven papers. | |
| 2. | Biographic sketches of editors. | |
| IV. | [The Reconstruction Period (or the Period of Freedom) (1865-1880)—] | |
| 1. | Discussion of principal papers and their editors. | |
| 2. | Statistics as to paper published. | |
| V. | [The Transition Period (1880-1900)—] | |
| 1. | Discussion of papers established that still exist. | |
| 2. | The Associated Correspondents of Race Newspapers. | |
| VI. | [The Dawn of a New Era (1900-)—] | |
| 1. | Journalism regarded as a vocation. | |
| 2. | Discussion of organization, staffs, circulation and advertisements. | |
| 3. | News service and syndicates. | |
| VII. | [Present Day Newspapers—] | |
| 1. | Discussion of mechanical equipment, news handling, etc. | |
| 2. | Circulation and staffs. | |
| 3. | Twelve best Negro newspapers. | |
| VIII. | [Daily Negro Newspapers—] | |
| 1. | Early attempts. | |
| 2. | Daily editions for special periods. | |
| 3. | Present day dailies. | |
| IX. | [Negro Magazines—] | |
| 1. | Precursors. | |
| 2. | Discussions of the development. | |
| 3. | Present day publications—characteristics, size, circulation, and aim. | |
| X. | [Journalism and Negro Schools—] | |
| 1. | High School and College papers. | |
| 2. | College courses in Journalism—Howard, Fisk, and Wilberforce. | |
| 3. | Training in printing—Tuskegee and Hampton. | |
| XI. | [A Forecast of the Future—] | |
| 1. | Development, opportunity for advancement, and achievement. | |
| XII. | [Appendix—List of Newspapers and Magazines Published Today.] | |
A History of Negro Journalism
In the
United States
CHAPTER I
EARLY NEGRO NEWSPAPERS
Freedom’s Journal
Seven years after Benjamin Lundy began The Genius of Universal Emancipation, and four years before William Lloyd Garrison started to publish The Liberator, Negro Journalism in America was born. The first publication was Freedom’s Journal[1], issued March 16, 1827. It was in form a medium-sized, neat-looking, well-printed weekly, about nine by twelve inches. Freedom’s Journal was a thorough-going abolitionist sheet, having been called into being to defend the Negro against the vile attacks of a New York editor of Jewish descent who had pro-slavery and Negro-hating tendencies. This new organ had for its motto, “Righteousness Exalteth a Nation,” and its columns were filled with long dissertations on the immorality of slavery.
John Russwurm First Editor
The editor, John Russwurm, one of the first Negroes to graduate from a college in the United States, graduated from Bowdoin College in 1826. Russwurm was born in Jamaica in 1799. He published The Journal until 1829, when he went to Liberia, where he became editor of The Liberia Herald.