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Primary sourceNewspaper article1831-1865

The Liberator

William Lloyd Garrison · 1831-1865

The abolitionist newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831, which he published weekly in Boston for 35 years.

Garrison founded and published this newspaper, making it the central vehicle of his abolitionist campaign.

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Front page of The Liberator, Boston, Friday, January 3, 1862, Vol. XXXII, No. 1, Whole No. 1619. A woodcut vignette of figures, including a standing woman, sits above the masthead. Dense columns of small printed text fill the page.
William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp, publishers, The Liberator, 1831-1865.

About this source

What it is

The Liberator was a weekly abolitionist newspaper printed and published in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison, with Isaac Knapp as co-publisher through 1839. It ran from 1831 to 1865.

Why it matters

The paper demanded the immediate end of slavery and also promoted women's rights, publishing writers such as Maria W. Stewart and Sarah Grimké. Though its circulation was small, it reached abolitionist leaders including Frederick Douglass. Garrison's opening letter,

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Yellowed title page of the 1845 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Text reads 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself', 'Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845'.Book

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Frederick Douglass · 1845

Title page of 'Thoughts on African Colonization' (Boston, 1832). Large heading reads 'Thoughts on African Colonization: or an impartial exhibition of the doctrines, principles and purposes of the American Colonization Society', with text 'together with the resolutions, addresses and remonstrances of the free people of color'. Epigraphs from the Bible appear below, followed by 'By Wm. Lloyd Garrison'. Imprint: 'Boston: Printed and published by Garrison and Knapp, No. 11, Merchants' Hall, 1832'.Book

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Thoughts on African Colonization

William Lloyd Garrison · 1832

Oil portrait of a balding older man with wire-rimmed spectacles, wearing a black coat, white shirt, and black neckcloth, against a dark brown background. He faces forward with a neutral expression.Painting

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William Lloyd Garrison

Nathaniel Jocelyn · 1833

Masthead of The Liberator newspaper, an engraved illustration with the title THE LIBERATOR in large letters across the bottom. Scenes include an auction of enslaved people with a sign reading slaves, horses, sheep, and other goods, a central robed figure with arms raised breaking chains, enslaved people working in fields, and a gate at right. Below the title is the motto Our Country is the World, our Countrymen are all Mankind.Newspaper article

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The Liberator, 15 December 1854

Hammatt Billings · 15 December 1854

Oil painting portrait of a middle-aged man with thinning dark hair, wire-rimmed spectacles, and a pink-tinged complexion. He wears a black coat, white collar, and black cravat, against a dark brown background.Painting

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Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison

Nathaniel Jocelyn · 1833

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