The Emancipator
The Emancipator (1833–1850) of New York (later Boston), was an abolitionist newspaper.
History
The Emancipator was founded in 1833 in New York by Arthur Tappan (1786–1865), a wealthy abolitionist. Until 1836, it was the official publication of the American Anti-Slavery Society. From 1836 to 1840 the editor was Theodore Dwight Weld. After Weld left this position, Joshua Leavitt succeeded him as editor. After the American Anti-Slavery Society split in 1840, The Emancipator became a publication of the Liberty Party and Leavitt continued as the editor of the newspaper until 1848. The newspaper underwent several name changes between 1840 and 1848 as it slowly merged with other anti-abolitionist newspapers located in Boston. However, the publications were continually exponents of abolitionism.[1]
Timeline
Editors
| The Emancipator, Manhattan, New York (weekly) (organ of the American Anti-Slavery Society until 1836) | |
| 1833–1834: | The Emancipator in New York was founded on March 1833 under the editorship of Charles Wheeler Denison (1809–1881). The March 1833 publication marked the beginning of the Abolitionist movement in New York.[2] |
| 1834–1835: | William Goodell (1792–1878), editor |
| 1836: | Amos Augustus Phelps (1805–1847), editor |
| 1836–1840: | Theodore Dwight Weld (1803–1893), editor |
| 1840–1841: | Joshua Leavitt (1794–1873), editor James McCune Smith, MD (1813–1865), contributor and physician who also co-edited The Colored American |
| 1840: | The American Anti-Slavery Society endured a schism, whence a new organization was formed, the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. After the schism, The Emancipator became Leavitt's personal publication and a leading journal of the Liberty Party, formed in 1840.[3] |
| The Emancipator and Free American Boston and New York (weekly) (January 13, 1842, to March 21, 1844) | |
| 1841: | December 1841, The Free American, the official newspaper of the Massachusetts Abolition Society edited by Elizur Wright (1804–1885), merged with The Emancipator and became The Emancipator and Free American. |
| 1841–1846: | Joshua Leavitt of New York City and Elizur Wright of Boston served as co-editors of The Emancipator and Free American, which was simultaneously published in New York City and Boston until March 1842, and thereafter, only in Boston. Wright left the newspaper to launch another publication. Lewis Tappan (1788–1873), contributor (re: the Amistad Case). He was a brother of Arthur Tappan. |
| The Emancipator and Weekly Chronicle Boston (weekly) (March 27, 1844, to October 8, 1845) | |
| The Emancipator Boston (weekly) (October 15, 1845, to September 13, 1848) | |
| 1846–1847: | Leavitt continued as editor until March 29, 1848; also John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) contributed as editor (for a short period in 1844) Joseph Cammett Lovejoy (1805–1871), associate – brother of Elijah Parish Lovejoy |
| The Emancipator and Free Soil Press Boston (weekly) (organ of the Free Soil Party) (September 20, 1848, to November 8, 1848) (ending Vol. 8, No. 29, Whole No. 653) | |
| 1847–1848: | Curtis C. Nichols (né Curtis Coe Nichols; 1814–1896), editor; Joseph Cammett Lovejoy, associate Horace Edwin Smith (1817–1902), associate, brother of Asa Dodge Smith, president of Dartmouth College from 1863 until his death in 1877. Horace was dean of the Albany Law School from 1879 to 1889. William Ellery Channing (1818–1901), associate |
| Emancipator & Republican, Boston (weekly) (November 17, 1848, to December 26, 1850) (beginning Vol. 4, No. 6; ending Vol. 15, No. 35) | |
| 1848–1849: | William Stevens Robinson (1818–1876)[4] |
| 1848–1850: | Henry Wilson (1812–1875), editor[4] |
| 1849: | L.E. Smith (né Lucius Edwin Smith; 1822–1900), editor[4] |
Publishers
| The Emancipator | |
| 1835–1841: | Robert G. Williams (né Ransom Goss Williams; 1811–1851), publisher, in New York[5] |
| 1845–1848: | Rev. Hiram Cummings (1810–1887), publisher, in Boston[6] |
| Emancipator & Republican | |
| 1849: | Henry Wilson, publisher, in Boston, from February 9, 1849, to August 16, 1949 |
| 1849–1850: | Wilson & Bent[7] – Henry Wilson and John Bent (1809–1882) – publisher, in Boston, from August 23, 1849, to December 26, 1850 |
Agents
In 1833, African American agents selected to represent the publication included:
- David Ruggles (1810–1849), New York City, who was the general agent
- John D. Closson, Newark, New Jersey
- Thomas Van Rensslear (1800 – c. 1850), Princeton, New Jersey
- Abraham Doras Shadd (1801–1882), Pennsylvania
- John Carlisle, Pennsylvania
David Ruggles, who was bookseller and publisher, advertised for additional agents to distribute anti-slavery newspapers.[8]
See also
- Abolitionist publications
- New York Manumission Society
- American Anti-Slavery Society
- American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
- Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society
- Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society
- Boston Vigilance Committee
- Fall River Female Anti Slavery Society
- Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society
- Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society
- Vigilant Association of Philadelphia
- Ohio Anti-Slavery Society
Literature
- Vaughn, Stephen L. (ed.). Encyclopedia of American Journalism. Routledge (2009) pps. 4–5 ("Abolitionist Press: Newspaper Chronology"); OCLC 759036346 (digital format)
Extant holdings, re-prints, and digital facsimiles
- The Emancipator (1820)
- Benjamin Harrison Murphy (1889–1878) (1932 re-print); OCLC 1019811804, 191233606, 173718223; 82972841
- Embreeville Publications (1995 re-print); OCLC 430322644
- Genius of Universal Emancipation
- (microfilm); OCLC 724131743
- OCLC 33288934, 8044567
- Filmed from the New York Public Library (microfiche); OCLC 29802581
- ProQuest (microfilm); OCLC 1101004651
- Gale (microfiche); OCLC 80908750
- Gale (online); OCLC 607363086
- OCLC 503837629, 191121541
- Genius of Universal Emancipation and Baltimore Courier
- ProQuest (online); OCLC 50282266
- The Genius of Universal Emancipation and Quarterly Anti-Slavery Review (1837–1839)
- OCLC 30553799
- The Emancipator (–1834)
- The Emancipator, and Journal of Public Morals (1834–1835)
- The Historical Society of Wisconsin (microfilm 1966); OCLC 318814260
- Gale (online); OCLC 865521505
- The Emancipator (1833–1848)
- The Emancipator (1835–1840)
- The Emancipator (1845–1848)
- Emancipator and Free American (1842–1844)
- Emancipator and Weekly Chronicle (1844–1845)
- Filmed from the New York Public Library (microfilm); OCLC 32651724
- Emancipator and Free Soil Press
- Emancipator & Republican
- Microfilm; OCLC 38872229
- Gale (online); OCLC 1100208152, 723812372
- Serials Solutions (online); OCLC 1060831572
- Note: The shortlived Commonwealth and Emancipator, launched in 1851, had no connection to the Emancipator & Republican. It was first published in Boston January 4, 1851 (Vol. 1, No. 1) – William S. Damrell & Co. (publisher) and Joseph Lyman (editor).
Gallery
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David Ruggles
(center)
Abraham Doras Shadd
Miscellany
In a nationally publicized spectacle, a Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, grand jury issued a true bill on October 25, 1835, against Robert G. Williams, agent and publisher of The Emancipator, for allegedly "circulating seditious pamphlets in Alabama" ... "tending to excite our slave population to insurrection and murder." On November 14, 1935, the Alabama Governor, John Gayle (1772–1859) demanded the New York Governor, William Learned Marcy (1786–1857), to extradite Williams, "a fugitive," to stand trial, which he did not do.[9]
References
- Mielnik, Tara Mitchell (1 January 2010). "The Emancipator". Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. University of Tennessee Press. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
- "New York and the National Slavery Problem," by Leo H. Hirsch, Jr., The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 16, No. 4, October 1931, pps. 454–473 (accessible via JSTOR)
- "The Fight Against the Gag Rule: Joshua Leavitt and Antislavery Insurgency in the Whig Party, 1839–1842," by James M. McPherson, PhD (born 1936), The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 48, No. 3, July 1963, pps. 177–195 (accessible via JSTOR)
- Encyclopedia of African American History, (Vol. 1 of 3), Leslie M. Alexander, PhD, Walter C. Rucker, PhD (eds.), ABC-CLIO (2010); OCLC 758736958, 10352375
- "About The Emancipator (New-York) 1835–1841," Library of Congress
- "About The Emancipator (Boston) 1845–1848," Library of Congress
- Boston Post, August 16, 1849, p. 2 (accessible via Newspaperarchive.com, subscription required)
- The EmancipatorVol. 1, No. 6, June 8, 1833, p. 21
Vol. 2, No. 19, May 13, 1834
Vol. 2, No. 21, May 17, 1834
Vol. 2, No. 32, August 12, 1834 - "Refuge of Oppression," "The Liberator, January 23, 1836, p. 1 (accessible via Newspapers.com, subscription required)
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