{"id":4303,"date":"2025-05-14T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/women-higher-education\/?page_id=4303"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:29:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T20:29:55","slug":"news-coverage-in-the-white-press","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/women-higher-education\/news-coverage-in-the-white-press\/","title":{"rendered":"News Coverage in the White Press"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While interracial and Black newspapers provided heavy coverage of the 1853 National Colored Convention at Rochester, the convention was discussed in white newspapers as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rochester convention proceedings were notable for white audiences near Rochester but also across the Northeast. Newspaper articles on the Rochester convention appeared in the New York Daily Times<\/em>, The Boston Daily Atlas<\/em>, The Daily Cleveland Herald<\/em>, and even smaller papers like Ohio\u2019s The Ripley Bee<\/em> [1]. Three short articles printed in the New York Daily Times<\/em> exemplify a typical report of the convention in white newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The content of the articles are also typical of what appeared in many white newspapers. They compress the convention\u2019s proceedings into a few paragraphs, listing the date, location, and notable attendees, such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and James W.C. Pennington\u2014the president of the 1853 convention. The articles concisely summarize the topics discussed and the resolutions reached. The New York Daily Times<\/em> mentions Frederick Douglass\u2019 address, segregated schools, the National Council of Colored People, emancipation, and activist strategies. The existence of these articles, however brief, reveals that national Colored Conventions were acknowledged even in non-abolitionist white communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Colored Conventions were clearly acknowledged by whites, and sometimes positively. While some publications degraded African American delegates, many articles recognized the intelligent, valuable proceedings of the Rochester convention. Though the article covering the second day of the convention does say the delegates had a \u201cnatural aptitude\u201d for \u201cdiscussing non-essentials,\u201d the overall characterization of the convention\u2014with descriptors such as \u201cpractical,\u201d \u201cbusiness-like,\u201d and \u201cearnest\u201d\u2014was one of approval [2].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coverage of the 1853 National Colored Convention provided by white newspapers gives insight into the portrayal of Colored Conventions outside of abolitionist circles. While some white newspapers recognized and respected Black organizing in the form of Colored Conventions, others criticized the efforts of free Blacks to assert their rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also important to note that white journalists and writers\u2014even those with good intentions\u2014were operating within a racist discourse. Therefore, it is not difficult to find articles that affirm their generally white readership\u2019s reductive views on the Black community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

StoryMap: Coverage in White Newspaper<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Explore white newspaper coverage of the National Colored Convention at Rochester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00bb In the Storymap below, use the left and right side arrows to navigate between pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n