Uplift and Political Action
The Weekly Advocate was founded in New York in 1837, with Phillip A. Bell as proprietor, Samuel Cornish as editor, and Robert Sears as publisher. The Colored American (1837-1841) superseded The Weekly Advocate later that year, with Sears listed as publisher and Charles B. Ray eventually joining as editor.
The North Star was founded in December 1847 by Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delany. Delany had previously published his own newspaper, The Mystery, out of Pittsburgh, PA. Colored American and North Star offer key examples of how Black organizers used newspapers as tools for collective reform “uplift”: a focus on improving “the race” and the general public intellectually, morally, and politically.
As Douglass and Delany put it, “While our paper shall be mainly Anti-Slavery, its columns shall be freely open to the candid and decorous discussion of all measures and topics of a moral and humane character, which may serve to enlighten, improve, and elevate mankind” (“Our Paper and Its Prospects,” December 3, 1847). In this sense, anti-slavery was a crucial component of a wholistic approach to reform that included labor rights, voting, early feminism, and anti-imperialism.
The Weekly Advocate, 1837. New York, NY. Succeeded by The Colored American, 1837-1841. New York, NY.
“Established for, and Devoted to the Moral, Mental, and Political Improvement of the People of Colour.” Over several years, Weekly Advocate (and later Colored American) reprinted rich illustrations accompanying articles largely focused on history (“A Brief Description of the United States”) and religion (Pictorial Illustrations of the Bible).
View selected pages from The Weekly Advocate and The Colored American
The North Star, 1847-1851. Rochester, NY: December 3, 1847.
“Right is of No Sex—Truth is of No Color—God Is the Father of Us All and All We Are Brethren.”
The North Star was published and printed out of Douglass’s North Star offices in Rochester, NY. William C. Nell served as the paper’s first publisher, and white printer John Dick was the paper’s printer. This first issue of The North Star carries Nell’s coverage of the 1847 National Convention of Colored People held in Troy, NY.
The North Star. Rochester, NY: August 11, 1848.
Front-page account of the Rochester Women’s Rights Convention, August 2, 1848, which was organized as a local follow-up to the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.
