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Primary sourceNewspaper article1 January 1831

The Liberator, Issue No. 1

William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp · 1 January 1831

The first issue of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, a paper James Forten helped fund and wrote for.

James Forten helped fund and wrote for The Liberator, making this founding issue part of his activist legacy.

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Scan of the front page of The Liberator, Vol. I, No. 1, Boston, January 1, 1831, with the masthead 'THE LIBERATOR' in large letters over dense newsprint columns. Brownish water stains and a handwritten name appear at the top. Printed by William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp.
William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp, The Liberator, Issue No. 1, Boston, 1 January 1831.

About this source

What it is

This is the front page of the very first issue of The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper published in Boston starting in 1831 by William Lloyd Garrison and Isaac Knapp. The scan shows dense newsprint columns under the large masthead.

Why it matters

James Forten was an early financial supporter of the paper and contributed to it, making this first issue part of his activism as well as Garrison's. The paper became one of the most influential voices of the American abolitionist movement.

Look closer

  • Why might wealthy Black activists like Forten have chosen to fund a newspaper rather than write their own books?
  • What does the physical condition of this page (stains, handwriting) tell you about how it was preserved?
  • What might a newspaper's first issue reveal about its founders' goals?

This newspaper article is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of James Forten on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Profile portrait in watercolor of a man with short dark hair and dark side-whiskers, facing left, wearing a dark coat and white neckcloth against a grey, mottled background.Painting

Primary source

Watercolor portrait of James Forten

Robert Douglass Jr. (probable) · 18th or 19th century, before 1842

Profile portrait of a man with short dark hair and sideburns, facing left, wearing a dark high-collared coat and white cravat against a pale grey background. Painted in warm brown tones.Painting

Primary source

James Forten

Robert Douglass Jr. (probable) · probably during Forten's lifetime (1766-1842)

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.Newspaper article

Primary source

The Liberator

William Lloyd Garrison · 1831-1865

Front page scan of Freedom's Journal, Vol. 1 No. 3, dated New-York, Friday, March 30, 1827. Masthead reads 'Freedom's Journal' with the motto 'Righteousness Exalteth a Nation.' Dense multi-column newsprint text with article headings, including one on Capt. Paul Cuffee.Newspaper article

Primary source

Freedom's Journal

Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm (editors) · 30 March 1827

Hand-colored 1829 print titled Life in Philadelphia, Plate XI. A Black woman in a green patterned dress and large plumed hat stands at a shop counter asking a white clerk for flesh-colored silk stockings. The clerk holds a black stocking. Another woman in yellow appears at right. Published by W. Simpson, Chestnut St., Philadelphia, May 1829.Artifact

Primary source

Life in Philadelphia, Plate XI

Edward Williams Clay · May 1829

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