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Posts tagged as ““Freedom’s Journal””

BHM100: Celebrating “Freedom’s Journal,” the 1st Black-Owned Newspaper in the U.S.

BHM100: Celebrating “Freedom’s Journal,” the 1st Black-Owned Newspaper in the U.S.

By goodblacknews on February 28, 2026

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GBN Founder and Editor-in-Chief

Sick and tired of having to constantly read racist commentary in the mainstream press of the United States, free Black Americans Rev. Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm started their own paper – Freedom’s Journal.

First published on March 16, 1827 in New York City — the same year New York State abolished slavery – the four-page weekly was the first Black-owned newspaper of record in the United States. At its zenith, Freedom’s Journal circulated in 11 states, the District of Columbia, Haiti, Europe, and Canada.

In addition to covering general news and current events, Freedom’s Journal included editorials denouncing slavery, lynchings and challenged the racist attacks against Black people that appeared in other newspapers.

The paper also contained articles advocating for voting rights, repatriation of Blacks to Africa, covered international news, celebrated Black achievements, offered biographies of prominent African Americans and published vital record listings of births, deaths and marriages in the African-American New York community.

Although Freedom’s Journal folded in 1829, shortly before Russwurm emigrated to Liberia, its two-year existence helped spawn at least 40 similar papers over the next four decades and kicked off the long standing, time-honored tradition of the Black Press in America.

To learn more about Freedom’s Journal, you can check out the digitized archive of all 103 issues of the paper on wisconsinhistory.org, as well as other sources linked above and below.

Sources:

GBN’s Daily Drop: “Freedom’s Journal,” the 1st Black-Owned Newspaper in the U.S., Founded 195 Years Ago #OnThisDay (LISTEN)

GBN’s Daily Drop: “Freedom’s Journal,” the 1st Black-Owned Newspaper in the U.S., Founded 195 Years Ago #OnThisDay (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Today’s GBN Daily Drop podcast is about Freedom’s Journal, the first Black-owned newspaper founded in 1827 #onthisday by Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm. It’s based on the Wednesday, March 16 entry from the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022:

You can follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website (transcript below):

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Wednesday, March 16th, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing. It’s in the category of Black Firsts we call, “It’s About Time”:

Fed up with reading racist commentary in the 19th century mainstream press, Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm started their own paper – Freedom’s Journal.

Founded March 16, 1827, in New York City — the same year New York State abolished slavery — the four-page weekly was the first Black-owned newspaper in the United States.

It denounced slavery and lynchings, advocated for voting rights, covered international news and celebrated Black achievements.

Although Freedom’s Journal folded in 1829, shortly before Russwurm emigrated to Liberia, its two-year existence helped spawn at least 40 similar papers over the next four decades and kicked off the long standing, time-honored tradition of the Black Press in America.

To learn more about Freedom’s Journal, you can check out the digitized archive of all 103 issues of the paper on wisconsinhistory.org, as well as other sources provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.

If you like these Daily Drops, please consider following us on Apple, Google Podcasts, RSS.com, Amazon, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a rating or review, share links to your favorite episodes, or go old school and tell a friend.

For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

Sources:

[Photo: Samuel E. Cornish, l, John B. Russwurm, r, via uniquecoloring.com]