Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper

by Jacqueline Bacon

Overview

On March 16, 1827,Freedom's Journal, the first African-American newspaper, began publication in New York. Freedom's Journal was a forum edited and controlled by African Americans in which they could articulate their concerns. National in scope and distributed in several countries, the paper connected African Americans beyond the boundaries of city or region and engaged international issues from their perspective. It ceased publication after only two years, but shaped the activism of both African-American and white leaders for generations to come.

A comprehensive examination of this groundbreaking periodical, Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper is a much-needed contribution to the literature. Despite its significance, it has not been investigated comprehensively. This study examines all aspects of the publication as well as extracts historical information from the content.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739118931
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	02/09/2007
Edition description:	ANN
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.33(w) x 9.36(h) x 1.21(d)

About the Author

Jacqueline Bacon is a writer and scholar living in San Diego. She is the author of The Humblest May Stand Forth: Rhetoric, Empowerment, and Abolition.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: A Clap of Thunder
Chapter 2 "The Time Has Now Arrived": The African-American Community of the Late 1820s
Chapter 3 The History of Freedom's Journal
Chapter 4 "Whatever Concerns Us As a People": The Goal of Freedom's Journal
Chapter 5 "Be Up and Doing": Self-Help
Chapter 6 Men and Women, Private and Public
Chapter 7 Redemption, Regeneration, Revolution: Africa and Haiti
Chapter 8 "Save Us from Our Friends": Colonization and Emigration
Chapter 9 "Our Brethren Who Are Still in Bondage": Slavery and Antislavery
Chapter 10 "Echoes and Re-Echoes": The Impact and Legacy of Freedom's Journal

What People are Saying About This

Roy Finkenbine

Jacqueline Bacon's well-written manuscript promises to be a significant contribution to scholarship in African-American history, nineteenth-century reform, and American journalism. This is an important work.

Editorial Reviews

Bacon has written an impressive book about the short-lived Freedom's Journal, which was published from March 1827 until March 1829. In setting out to address hitherto unanswered questions concerning the purpose of the periodical, the author approaches her material thematically rather than historically.. .. Perhaps the most enlightening chapter in this readable and comprehensive book is the one that explores the rhetoric of gender, particularly the discussion of women as contributors to the publication.. .. Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews

Bacon has done a masterful job of providing a history of early black rhetoric and writing that gives agency to the African Americans themselves who wrote for, read, distributed, and discussed the paper. Freedom's Journal is essential reading as it expands our current understanding of the role of rhetoric in early African American politics and culture.

Composition Studies - Shevaun E. Watson

An important book and an essential addition to the library of anyone interested in nineteenth-century African American History.

Journal of American History - John Ernest

Thanks to Dr. Jacqueline Bacon, we now have an in-depth, scholarly analysis of the first African-American paper which establishes that there was no monolithic black mindset, but rather often competing attitudes about such prevailing, hot-button subjects as the back to Africa movement versus assimilation in the U.S., and gradualism and accommodation versus violent insurrection as the answer to enslavement.. .. This engaging tome is an invaluable teaching tool for the ages.

Newsblaze.Com - Kam Williams

This book will be valuable to historians of the abolition movement, antebellum America, and race and slavery as well as gender studies.. .. The rich and careful annotation makes this work an excellent sourcebook for scholarship on the early black press and abolition movement.

Journalism History - Frank E. Fee

A book that many scholars will find useful, and one that adds much to our understanding of African American history.

February 2008n Historical Review

This fascinating book fits into the current historiography of slavery in giving agency to the African American community....This is a tremendously readable and useful book for scholars.

Journal of American Studies

Jacqueline Bacon's well-written manuscript promises to be a significant contribution to scholarship in African-American history, nineteenth-century reform, and American journalism. This is an important work.

Roy Finkenbine

Bacon's compellingly written and insightful volume should restore this significant and influential periodical to its proper place in histories about African Americans' struggles for emancipation and civil rights.

Journal of the Early Republic - Holly M. Kent

Works such as this provide a glimpse of the wonder and richness of this chaotic period in American and African American history and revitalize that tenuous connection between the present and the past.

Bernell E. Trippn Journalism: A Media History Journal

Freedom's Journal fills an important gap in the scholarship on the black press and on African American activism and intellectual life before 1830....This important and accessibly written book should be essential reading for scholars and students interested in African American intellectuals, activism, and community development in the early 19th century.

The Journal of African American History - Mitch Kachun

Works such as this provide a glimpse of the wonder and richness of this chaotic period in American and African American history and revitalize that tenuous connection between the present and the past.

Fall 2007 Bernell E. Trippn Journalism: A Media History Journal

This fascinating book fits into the current historiography of slavery in giving agency to the African American community....This is a tremendously readable and useful book for scholars.

September 2008 Journal Of American Studies

A book that many scholars will find useful, and one that adds much to our understanding of African American history.

American Historical Review

Freedom's Journal fills an important gap in the scholarship on the black press and on African American activism and intellectual life before 1830....This important and accessibly written book should be essential reading for scholars and students interested in African American intellectuals, activism, and community development in the early 19th century.
— Mitch Kachun

The Journal of African American History

This book will be valuable to historians of the abolition movement, antebellum America, and race and slavery as well as gender studies. . . . The rich and careful annotation makes this work an excellent sourcebook for scholarship on the early black press and abolition movement.
— Frank E. Fee, Jr., 2008

Journalism History

Thanks to Dr. Jacqueline Bacon, we now have an in-depth, scholarly analysis of the first African-American paper which establishes that there was no monolithic black mindset, but rather often competing attitudes about such prevailing, hot-button subjects as the back to Africa movement versus assimilation in the U.S., and gradualism and accommodation versus violent insurrection as the answer to enslavement. . . . This engaging tome is an invaluable teaching tool for the ages.
— Kam Williams, syndicated film and book critic

Newsblaze.Com

Freedom's Journal fills an important gap in the scholarship on the black press and on African American activism and intellectual life before 1830....This important and accessibly written book should be essential reading for scholars and students interested in African American intellectuals, activism, and community development in the early 19th century.
— Mitch Kachun

Journal of African American History

Freedom's Journal fills an important gap in the scholarship on the black press and on African American activism and intellectual life before 1830....This important and accessibly written book should be essential reading for scholars and students interested in African American intellectuals, activism, and community development in the early 19th century.
— Mitch Kachun

Journal Of African American History

Bacon has written an impressive book about the short-lived Freedom's Journal, which was published from March 1827 until March 1829. In setting out to address hitherto unanswered questions concerning the purpose of the periodical, the author approaches her material thematically rather than historically.. .. Perhaps the most enlightening chapter in this readable and comprehensive book is the one that explores the rhetoric of gender, particularly the discussion of women as contributors to the publication.. .. Highly recommended.

Choice

A book that many scholars will find useful, and one that adds much to our understanding of African American history.

American Historical Review - February 2008

Works such as this provide a glimpse of the wonder and richness of this chaotic period in American and African American history and revitalize that tenuous connection between the present and the past.

American Journalism: A Media History Journal, Fall 2007 - Bernell E. Tripp

Bacon has written an impressive book about the short-lived Freedom's Journal, which was published from March 1827 until March 1829. In setting out to address hitherto unanswered questions concerning the purpose of the periodical, the author approaches her material thematically rather than historically.. .. Perhaps the most enlightening chapter in this readable and comprehensive book is the one that explores the rhetoric of gender, particularly the discussion of women as contributors to the publication.. .. Highly recommended.

CHOICE

This fascinating book fits into the current historiography of slavery in giving agency to the African American community....This is a tremendously readable and useful book for scholars.

September 2008 Journal of American Studies