The Rights of All
The Rights of All (May 1829 to 1830) was an African American abolitionist newspaper, founded in New York City by Samuel Cornish an accomplished publisher, journalist, and abolitionist. The newspaper replaced Freedom's Journal, the first African American newspaper founded by Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm, after John Russwurm emigration to American Colonization society of Liberia.
After Russwurm's departure, Cornish resigned leaving Freedom's Journal in Russwurms's control. The paper went on to support the colonization movement. The radical shift of views caused many reader's to stop buying papers and publication quickly ceased. Freedom's Journal was noted for publishing four articles known as Walker's Appeal, by the abolitionist David Walker of Boston. He earlier published these articles as a pamphlet. Walker championed blacks caring for themselves and slaves initiating their own actions to end their condition. He wrote,
"...it is no more harm for you to kill the man who is trying to kill you than it is for you to take a drink of water..." - Walker's Appeal
This statement was widely read, with Walker distributing copies of his pamphlet into the South, where it was banned by many states. He stressed African Americans gaining education, establishing self-help organizations.[1]
In 1827 Cornish tried to revive the African-American newspaper under the new title of "Rights of All," the paper was short-lived and little is known about it.
References
- ↑ Vaughn, Stephen L. (editor) Encyclopedia of American Journalism (Routledge, 2009) p. 4
Freedom's Journal- Editors- Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
Franklin, John Hope, and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. Abolitionism in Black and White. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 189. Print.