[4] The founders intended to appeal to free Blacks throughout the United States, who were desperately attempting to elevate their literacy rate and finding some success at that.
[7] In New York State, a gradual emancipation law was passed in 1799, granting freedom to enslaved children born after July 4, 1799, after a period of indentured servitude into their 20s.
Both men were community activists: Cornish was the first to establish an African-American Presbyterian church and Russwurm was a member of the Haytian Emigration Society.
According to the nineteenth-century African-American journalist, Irvine Garland Penn, Cornish and Russwurm's objective with Freedom's Journal was to oppose New York newspapers that attacked African Americans and encouraged slavery.
[10] The abolitionist press had focused its attention on opposing the paternalistic defense of slavery and the Southern culture's reliance on racist stereotypes.
[12][11] "We deem it expedient to establish a paper", they remarked, "and bring into operation all the means with which out benevolent creator has endowed us, for the moral, religious, civil and literary improvement of our race".
[14] The paper linked criminality to Whiteness, typically taking a full column of the newspaper to report on previously published crimes throughout the entire nation.
[14] For example, the April 27, 1827, issue of Freedom's Journal lists three murders in its "Summary" section: "Randall W. Smith of Lexington, Ken.
It also discussed current issues, such as the proposal by the American Colonization Society (ACS) to resettle free Blacks in Liberia, a colony established for that purpose in West Africa.
[1] Freedom's Journal printed two letters written by preeminent Black American leaders of the time, both in opposition to the aims of the ACS.
[15] The Journal published biographies of prominent Blacks, and listings of the births, deaths, and marriages in the African-American community in New York, helping celebrate their achievements.
[1] Born in Sussex County, Delaware to free Black parents, Samuel Cornish was a founder and coeditor of Freedom's Journal.
[17] Junior editor John B. Russwurm was born in 1799 to an enslaved Black woman and a White American merchant in Port Antonia, Jamaica.
[17] His father would later move to Portland, Maine and remarry a White woman, Susan Blanchard, who saw step-son Russwurm as a full part of her family.
[17] It seemed to Russwurm that there was a genuine opportunity for African Americans to put racial prejudice behind them in Liberia, allowing for the creation of an equitable and viable society.
[4] Freedom's Journal went beyond international and national news as an abolitionist newspaper—it published poetry, fiction, lectures, and summaries of conversations and conferences.
[18] When Theresa's father and uncle die in the fight, Madame Paulina dresses as a French officer and takes her daughters along disguised as prisoners in a journey to safety.
[18] With a female protagonist of African descent, the story shows bravery, heroism and an idealized depiction of Black womanhood which was largely absent from fiction of the time.