Russwurm, John Brown
1799-1851 · Contribution: 1827-1851
Newspaper editor; educator; colonial governor
Co-founded Freedom's Journal in 1827, the first African American-owned and -operated newspaper in the United States, and became just the third Black person to graduate from an American college
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Quick facts
- Born
- 1799, Port Antonio, Jamaica
- Active since
- 1827
- Category
- Press & Photography
- Best known for
- Co-founding Freedom's Journal, the first Black-owned U.S. newspaper
Impact on the world
Russwurm helped establish the American Black press as an independent voice and then carried his convictions abroad, becoming a founding figure of both Black journalism and Black self-governance in Liberia.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica
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Related visionaries
Cornish, Samuel Eli
c. 1795-1858
Co-founded Freedom's Journal in 1827, the first African American-owned and -operated newspaper in the United States, and went on to found or co-found three more Black newspapers over the following decade
Fortune, Timothy Thomas
1856-1928
Built the New York Age into the most influential Black newspaper of the late 19th century and founded the National Afro-American League in 1890, a direct forerunner to the NAACP, earning him the title “Dean of Negro Journalism”
Cary, Mary Ann Shadd
1823-1893
Founded The Provincial Freeman in 1853, becoming the first Black woman to edit and publish a newspaper in North America, using the Canadian weekly to promote Black emigration, integration, and self-reliance during the era of the Fugitive Slave Act
Washington, Augustus
1820-1875
Built one of the most successful daguerreotype studios in antebellum Hartford, Connecticut, then emigrated to Liberia in 1853 to become one of the earliest professional photographers to work in West Africa, documenting the young republic’s political and merchant elite