John Brown Russwurm
John Russwurm, growing up, knew how powerful the media was and would later use this to change the terms of debate on race in America.
With the belief that Africans were equal to all other races and should govern themselves, he introduced a new form of media: African-American journalism. He was a co-founder of the abolitionist newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, the first paper owned and operated by African Americans.
RELATED STORIES
He was born in Jamaica to an English father and enslaved mother before he traveled as a child to the United States with his father where he became the first African American to graduate from Bowdoin College.
Russwurm moved to Liberia in 1829 and governed Maryland colony in Liberia until he passed away on June 17, 1851.
It is reported that at the time of his death, almost 30 African American newspapers were in the United States, all focused on ending slavery.
