THE EARLY CASE FOR A NATIONAL BLACK PRESS
The 1847 National Convention of Colored People was an eclectic convention. On the roll was Frederick Douglass. At the time, he was in the final stages of establishing the North Star. Considering Douglass’s active role, it is not surprising that the inaugural issue of the North Star contained a lengthy front-page article on the 1847 National Colored Convention. This exhibit takes an up-close look at this intersection. It is a snapshot of the lasting impact Colored Conventions and the Black press had on one another.
Credits
Curators: Part A: Ashley Durrance, Hannah Harkins, Nicholas Palombo, Leslie Rewis. Part B: Melanie Berry, Christy Hutcheson, Eli Jones, and Morgan Shaffer. Benjamin Fagan at Auburn University, Fall 2016.
Further Acknowledgements to the CCP Exhibits team and Sarah Patterson and Samantha Q. de Vera, Co-Chairs of Exhibits team, for creating visualizations, editing, and revising this exhibit.
Special thanks to Gale, a Cengage Company, and Accessible Archives Inc.® for granting permission for the use of the materials from 19th Century U.S. Newspaper and African American Newspapers: The 19th Century.
The Colored Conventions Project works with teaching partners and their students to create digital content on the rich history of Black political organizing in the nineteenth-century. Visit our Teaching Partners page to browse the curriculum and find information on becoming a teaching partner.