What Was The Purpose Of The Freedom's Journal

In 1865, slavery was abolished, by the Thirteenth amendment. This Amendment brought humongous changes and a large number of problems. (Lecture 1) After the destruction of slavery, it left nearly four million African American with no property, little training, and few rights; which made the definition of freedom for African Americans the central question on the nation’s agenda. The big question of the time period was, “what was freedom for African Americans?” (Give me liberty! An American 550)

During Reconstruction, African Americans’ freedoms were very restricted. There were strict regulations on voting, relationships, employment, firearms, and other freedoms that white people had. African American faced disenfranchisement for years after being freed and becoming citizens. In What a Black Man Wants by Frederick Douglass, Douglass angrily demands the freedom to vote that every American deserved. He assesses the black man’s contribution to society and wonders why this contribution has not led to more rights. Those who were supposed to be fighting for the rights of freed slaves were not speaking up. Even the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was not fighting for the rights of the freed slaves. Because of the restrictions on voting, African Americans did not have the same power over their own lives that white people had. Disenfranchisement is just one way white people limited freedoms of freed slaves.

African American’s first legal sight of freedom came in 1799 with the Gradual Emancipation of slaves that were born on or after 1799. Many whites against slavery helped with their efforts in bring the Gradual Emancipation’s approval. The Quakers were the first to help the slaves fight for freedom. The New York Manumission Society contributed the most for the emancipation of slaves, but let’s not give all the credit to the whites. Black efforts undeniably helped in the process of gradually abolishing slavery as well.

During this time period there were many flourishing African American newspapers across the country. I chose to pick four, the Chicago Defender, the Pittsburgh Courier, the Philadelphia Tribune, and the Los Angeles Sentinel. These newspapers stretch from the East Coast to the

Blackmon provides many stories in his book about what the slaves to forced laborers went through and how they felt about the new so called “freedom” they gained. The Black Americans prior to the Emancipation Proclamation have never seen the slightest clue to what freedom could even feel like. “Some of the old slaves said they too weren’t sure what “freedom” really was”

African Americans have come a very long way from 1865; they have fought many battles to earn their place in America’s Society. From the ending of slavery African Americans have had various achievements from their suffering. Some fought, some spoke, some marched, some sat, some cried, some died, some even dreamed, but all of these things left a footprint in history. In this paper I will discuss some very important events in African American history beginning with the ending of slavery which has brought us to the America we all enjoy today.

In Hope of Liberty embodies a very thorough and complex narrative of Northern free blacks. James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton deliver to readers a detailed synthesis of several decades of information that pertains to early American history. The text ventures through social, political, and cultural movements that were occurring before the Civil War era. The Hortons not only demonstrate the importance of black’s presence throughout the text but some of the contribution and the roles that led to such a vibrant culture in America. It 's through the analysis of these wonderful sources and experience of free black Northerners, that reader and historians can have a better interpretation and revision of the building of this early nation.

The presentation of a 150 year timeline of Black newspapers: from their roots during the Reconstruction period, to their “deaths” shortly after the Civil Rights Movement through various aids proved the film’s strength. The use of actual photographers, journalists, and editors from the Black newspapers solidified this film’s sincerity; it allowed the people that actually lived through those changes and events to recount their stories. Even when it profiled different people from the past, the filmmakers used voiceovers that fit each character, facilitating the film’s narrative. These qualities elevated the movie and enhanced the understanding of it overall.

As mentioned before, freedom was basically a lie, mainly because it did not have a direct or specific meaning in society. For some people freedom meant the absence of slavery, but for other people it also implied rights for the former slaves or at least equality. During the Reconstruction, the word ‘’freedom’’ became the main source of conflict and emerged new kinds of relations between the black and white southerners, but still with a lack of equality. At the same time, these relations were formed between blacks and the nation, with a new sense of unity, faith and hope. In document 1 of chapter 1: ‘’William Howard Day, an African American Minister, Salutes the Nation and a Monument to Abraham Lincoln. 1865’’, the word choices made by Day were fundamental on the description of the new nation: ‘’ We come to the National Capital-our Capital-with new hopes, new prospects, new joys, in view of the future and the past of the people...’’. Many African Americans including Day, saw the country as a whole entity, emphasizing it by calling the Capital ‘’their’’ Capital. In addition to that, the Civil War left the citizens with a new sense of equality, since it was fought by a mixed army, with white and colored men: ‘’To the white and colored soldiers of this war, led on as they were by our noble President and other officers...’’. Day represented the voice of a large

“In 1831, Garrison founded The Liberator, a militant abolitionist newspaper that was the country’s first publication to demand an immediate end to slavery. On the front page of the first issue, he

Garrison’s initiation into journalism began when he was apprenticed to Ephraim W. Allen, the editor of the Newburyport Herald, at the age of 13. Garrison served as an apprentice to Allen for seven years, and his time with the Herald led Garrison to publish his own newspaper, the Newburyport Free Press. Despite the failure of the Newburyport Free Press two years later in 1826, Garrison continued his work in the newspaper industry as the editor of the National Philanthropist in Boston. The National Philanthropist was William’s first foray into reform, and the newspaper advocated for the temperance movement. Not only was the National Philanthropist Garrison’s entry into social reform, but the Bostonian paper also served as the gateway to the cause of anti-slavery. This gateway would be William’s meeting with Benjamin Lundy in 1828, the editor of the anti-slavery Genius of Emancipation. Garrison became the editor of the Genius of Emancipation, and during his employment, he became cognizant of the injustices of African American slavery. While writing for the cause of African American liberty, he joined the American Colonization Society (“Garrison, William Lloyd”). The Society called for the resettlement of free blacks to Africa on the basis of their “notoriously ignorant, degraded and miserable” character (Faragher 442). It became clear to William that the

The African Americans were given their own freedom as well after being free from Britain. The diversity had become denser and so trade had flourished, and America had become more social. In Document F, it would state, "In 1790, the first U.S. census counted 13,059 free blacks in New England, with another 13,975 in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Strictly speaking, none of them was "free," for their lives were proscribed politically, economically, and socially. While white indentured servants often became respected members of their communities after their indentures ended, free blacks in the North rarely had the opportunity to rise above the level of common laborers and washerwomen, and as early as 1760 they had formed ghettoes in the grimy alleys and waterfront districts of Boston and other Northern towns" This would show how the indentured servants became members of the community and had not been looked down from the rest of the other people. And how America was the land of the free and was not discriminating other people based on their race or ethnicity.  To sum up, the people of races were not judged and were accepted by the

In the 1830’s to 60’s, tension was building up in the United States. The country was fighting with itself over the controversial topic of slavery- until it exploded into a civil war. During these times, states were split into south and north. Southern states allowed slavery, while Northern states were free states- The Abolitionist movement first sought to abolish slavery, and get rid of racial discrimination immediately. However, this did not work- in 1862, the Civil War started, which split the entire country in two over the issue. Abolitionists, people who opposed slavery, were continuing to work to try to continue their plan to end slavery. Some, like William Lloyd Garrison, wrote newspapers, like the Liberator. Well known speakers like Frederick Douglass and Lucy Stone supported the movement, as did many. Abolitionists were also known to protect fugitive slaves after the Fugitive Slave Act, passed in 1850, which meant slaves within the Northern states could be prosecuted and brought back to the Southern states,

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895): escapes from slavery and becomes an abolitionists; also publishes a weekly antislavery newspaper, The North Star.

Our history backtracks similarly as the administration of Andrew Jackson. The daily paper started distribution in 1829 and was known as The Planter°s Gazette. It turned into the Montgomery Advertiser in 1833 and rose as the main daily paper of the new Confederate states by 1861.After the Civil War, Major William Wallace Screws, a Confederate veteran, turned into the proofreader and started to lead the distribution toward article unmistakable quality in