Blog Post 7; EOTO 2 Presentation Reflections - Journalism Heroes

                    Journalism Heroes

For our second EOTO, we dove into the history of journalism heroes and their legacy. Three major journalists and journalism legacy’s that I learned about were Frederick Douglass, Mary Shadd and The Black Press. All three of these journalistic legacies had a great influence on journalism and African Americans who weren’t able to speak for themselves during the 1800s. 

Frederick Douglass was a famed abolitionist, journalist, and author. Douglass was an escaped slave who learned to read and write independently and through the help of others after he escaped.

Later in his life, Douglass moved to New York where he began to publish his paper, The North Star. The name was a reference to slavery, as slaves who tried to escape would follow the North Star to safety. Its first issue was published on December 3, 1847, and was a great success. The North Star continued to be a successful paper up until the 1860s when the Civil War was emerging. Even with this challenge, Douglass was still a respected writer. Douglass was even famed for his speeches that cast great influence on the public. Another interesting fact that leaves Douglass a notable legacy is that he was a feminist. Along with promoting anti-slavery, he also fought for women’s rights and was one of few men, and the only African American man, to attend the Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. Due to Douglass’ leadership and efforts to end slavery, be a voice for the voiceless, and feminist movements, he is influential and important to the history of journalism.

The second journalism hero I learned more about was Mary Shadd. Mary Shadd was the first African American female journalist. She owned her own paper in Canada in 1853, the Provincial

Freeman, but could not even put her name on it because she was a Black woman. It was a weekly newspaper first published in March of 1853, making Shadd one of the first female journalists in Canada, and the first Black woman in Canada and North America to produce a newspaper.  Mary Shadd also had connections with Frederick Douglass. They both were fighting for anti-slavery laws and she is famously quoted for telling Douglass that as journalists they needed to “do more, talk less” if they wanted to see a change. During the Civil War, Shadd worked as a recruitment agent for the Union Army until she later moved to Washington D.C. to be a schoolteacher. Later in her life, Shadd decided to attend Howard University to pursue law studies and was also one of the first Black women to complete a law degree. 

The final journalistic legacy covered was The Black Press. The Black Press was a group of Black-owned newspapers in the pre-Civil War era that used their voices to help abolish slavery and other issues they wanted to see a change in. These papers aimed to attract and inspire the Black middle class of the time as they were the people who were capable of helping spark this change. Interestingly enough, these papers refrained from writing about slavery and other hardships and rather decided to

focus on the resilience and determination of Black writers to elicit this change. Notable papers that were a part of this era were The Freedom’s Journal started by John Russwurm and Samual Cornish. It was also the first Black-owned and operated paper. Frederick Douglass’ The North Star was also an influential paper in the Black Press. A few others included The Colored American Magazine and The People’s Advocate. These papers, along with many others, were significant in promoting anti-slavery efforts, emancipation advocacy and overall informing African Americans and being a voice for them throughout the Civil War era.