EOTO 1: Frederick Douglass' The North Star

 Frederick Douglass' The North Star

    

    Frederick Douglass was a historic writer, editor, and social reformer who created what has been known as "the most influential black antislavery paper." Douglass founded and edited his first anti-slavery paper The North Star which was named after Polaris, the infamous star that guided slaves fleeing to the North for freedom. Douglass stated in one of the first publishings that the paper should be a "star of hope" to those reading. 

    No paper can be run by one man alone, so Douglass enlisted the help of Martin R. Delany and William Cooper Nell to serve as co-editor and publisher respectively. Delaney was an abolitionist, writer, soldier, and much more. He began publishing and writing a paper in Pittsburgh titled The Mystery and continued to do so until joining forces with Douglass to create The North Star. William Cooper Nell was a famous historian, civil rights activist, and abolitionist who worked towards the integration of schools and public facilities in his home state of Massachusetts. 

    The North Star was published weekly and was circulated to over 4,000 readers not only in America, but abroad as well. Unfortunately, there was a fire that destroyed almost all of what was had of the paper. The North Star ended up merging with the The Liberty Party Paper to form Frederick Douglass' Papers. This paper went against the nonvoting, pacifist views and actually agreed with the Constitution to support anti-slavery. This paper began to be published weekly, but transitioned to a monthly publishing schedule during the Civil War to help with recruitment and the acceptance of black troops. 

Works Cited 

• https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/delany-major-martin-robison-1812-1885/
•  https://nyheritage.org/collections/new-national-era
• https://aaregistry.org/story/the-new-national-era-newspaper-is-published/
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-North-Star-American-newspaper
• https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/norths.html
• https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/new-national-era-encyclopedia-of-african-american-history-1619-18