April 5, 1838
People and Places in
The Colored American
The Colored American newspaper was printed in New York from 1838-1842 under editor Samuel Cornish. The April 5, 1838 issue features themes ranging from the global Black diaspora to local daily life.
We have added pictures of people and places that are referred to in the articles.
We hope you enjoy this brief overview. And if you want to read the whole paper, just click here!
The Colored American is made avaliable courtesy the Center for Research Libraries. Read all the issues.
THEME:
The Fight For Freedom in
The Black Diaspora
Black People Returning to Liberia
Portrait of Edward Jones Roye, 4th President of Liberia in 1870.
The American Colonization Society was an organization that sought to repopulate Black people back to Africa prior to the Civil War - particularly to Sierra Leone and Liberia. The Colored American was openly against African Colonization and printed reports of life threatening difficulties faced by Black people there.
The Beginning of Haitian Debt To the French
Case display from the Free, As One exhibit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The French enslaved African People in Haiti. After Haitians rose up and defeated Napoleon's armies, France refused to recognize Haiti as a sovereign nation, threatening to invade constantly. Even though France became a global superpower because of wealth generated through the labor of enslaved Africans, a deal was struck on February 15, 1838 forcing Haiti to pay an exorbitant and fundamentally unfair debt to the French whose fortunes were wiped out by the freedom of the Haitian people.
THEME:
The Fight For Freedom
in America
The Injustice of the Cherokee Treaties
Portrait of George Lowry, Cherokee Leader, Courtesy the Gilcrease Museum
The forced removal of the Cherokee from their lands started in 1830. This oppressive land steal was derided by The Colored American which printed a memorial from the Cherokee people to the Goverment of the United States.
The Murder of Abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy
A pro-slavery mob burned the print shop of Elijah Lovejoy in Illinois in November, 1837. He died from wounds inflicted during an exchange of gunfire at the shop. The Colored American printed a speech from a Eulogy given for him.
Protesting The Loss of Freedom in Pennsylvania
Portrait ofJohn Bowers, head of the committee to write a formal protest document
Daguerreotype of Mother Bethel AME church in the 1850s. Courtesy Mother Bethel AME Museum.
A committee of concerned Black citizens met at Mother Bethel AME church in March, 1838 in Philadelphia to write a memorial protesting new pending Pennsylvania legislation that would result in the loss of freedom of movement and suffrage.
The Story of Godfrey Brown, a Man who Worked while Enslaved and Purchased the Freedom of his Wife and Nine Children
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THEME:
Local Daily Life
A Book Review
William Yates wrote a book in 1838 arguing that Black people were entitled to citizenship rights. The National Constitutional Center notes that language from this book "became law in the 1866 Civil Rights Act and became one of the fundamental principles underlying Section 1 of the 14th Amendment."
Need a Doctor? Go See
James McCune Smith
Portrait of James McCune Smith is courtesy the New York Historical Society
James McCune Smith was the first Black man in the United States to earn a medical degree. He advertised in The Colored American.
Want to Learn The Sciences?
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Black people throughout the United States would often hold lectures on the sciences. Here are a few lectures on a variety of subjects, located in the classified section.
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