Title: Provincial Freeman - October 13, 1855
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Provincial Freeman (1853 - 1859)
The author makes a comparison between the authority in the U.S. government of the "slave power," and the similar authority the Canadian government has given to the Roman Catholic Church.
Description of file(s): two scanned, two columned, newspaper pages
Speaker or author: Davis, Samuel H.
Newspaper or publication: Presscopy -- Bell, Ed. Minutes and Proceedings of the National Negro Conventions
Excerpt of lengthy speech delivered before the National Convention of Colored Citizens held at Buffalo, New York. The speech addresses issues of slavery, abolition, and the plight of free African Americans. The speaker said he wished not to focus on grievances but rather on how all Americans of every race can live together better. Emphasis is placed on the moral and political condition of African Americans at that time.
Description of file(s): PDF 5 page, 2,338 word document (text and images)
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - April 14, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer compares the living conditions of the black and white populations in New York City. He also shares a comparison of the way the local press is reporting these conditions and how this reporting is racially biased. He shares with his readers the current status of the Anglo-African publications, and the daily social pressures endured by the editor and staff.
Description of file(s): two scanned, three columned, newspaper pages
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - April 27, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
A meeting to be held to offer the Union government the services of over 500 African American volunteers to fight in the civil war was stopped by police who feared an "unpleasant" outcome of such a gathering.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - April 27, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer provides details of the early stages of the Civil War. He relates how each state is responding to the conflict and how the country is squaring off for this terrible war.
Description of file(s): two scanned newspaper pages (three columns)
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - April 6, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer comments on Senator Breckenridge's take on Senator Seward's conciliation policy towards slavery.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - April 7, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer comments on a published account of the array of statistics on how the North is profiting on Southern wealth. Thomas Prentice Kettel had recently published a book on the vast wealth produced in the southern states that the parasitic North, with its dependence on raw materials, benefitted from. The book argues that the result of this concentration of manufacturing in the north is sectional inequality. The North was dominating communications, transportation, finance, and international trade, while the South was growing weaker and poorer.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - August 10, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
One answer to the question of how to fund the civil war is offered by this editor. He notes that slaves as property are worth "two thousand millions of dollars." Once freed and working as "free labor," they would fund their own manpower and thus their own freedom. He also suggests that the land the slaves once worked should be given to them by an act of Congress.
Description of file(s): two scanned newspaper pages (three columns)
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - August 17, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer comments on the views of politician Charles O'Conor regarding the war and the African American race.
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - August 24, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer argues for the establishment of a reserve guard composed of African American volunteers ready to fight for freedom.
Description of file(s): two scanned newspaper pages (three columns)
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - August 31, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer points out that he believes the main difference between the races is the way they each handle life's difficulties. He tells his readers that while one class of people sees difficulty as something to triumph over, the other sees it as an insurmountable problem. He offers a couple of examples to prove his point.
Description of file(s): two scanned, two columned, newspaper pages
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - December 10, 1859
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer describes the unsettled state of the country after the incident at Harper's Ferry and the execution of John Brown. He praises John Brown's life and heroic death.
Description of file(s): two scanned, two columned, newspaper pages
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - December 22, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer comments on the current political focus on secession, and the growing tension between the northern and southern states.
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - December 24, 1859
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
John Brown's action at Harper's Ferry has drawn the nation's attention to Virginia, and slavery as a political issue is now in sharp focus. This one event has polarized the country over the question of continuing the institution of slavery.
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - December 31, 1859
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
Political tensions grow between the North and the South. The writer includes quoted threats from Virginia's Governor Wise to hang Frederick Douglass and drive the abolitionists out of the Union (or create a Confederacy).
Description of file(s): one scanned, three columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - February 11, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
As the country moves from its agricultural roots to an economy built on manufacturing, the writer wonders who will the South find to run the factories? If the answer is "the slaves," then this will require the slaves to be better educated. If this is to take place, the current system of slavery must change dramatically.
Description of file(s): one scanned, three columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - February 16, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer comments on the increase in weaponry that is accumulating in the southern states.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - February 18, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer offers his thoughts on what he believes is taunting from the New York Tribune in its attempt to stir up trouble between the northern and southern states.
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - February 25, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer provides a brief overview of the political opinions on slavery espoused by the major presidential hopefuls in the upcoming election.
Description of file(s): one scanned, three columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - February 4, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
Commentary on how misinformation is spread throughout the country via unscrupulous newspaper reporting. He cites the New York Herald as being particularly good at this type of prejudicial reporting which just adds to the racial tension already present between the free states in the north the and slave states in the south.
Description of file(s): one scanned, three columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - February 8, 1862
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer briefly describes events that justify any retribution the country may set in motion once the Civil War is over. He holds the South and southern slave holders accountable for most of the problems that have occured within the national government.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - January 12, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer addresses the question regarding the Constitution's stance on slavery. He wonders aloud why there is a call to amend the Cosntitution to include slavery if it is (as assumed) already a pro-slavery document. This issue is being hotly debated in Congress.
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - January 14, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer calls attention to the way current topics such as fugitive slaves, John Brown's raid, and what he calls the "Negro question" are handled by the major newspapers throughout the country. The reporting by what he calls the "servile press" is having a strong impact on readers' opinions of the current unsettled political atmosphere in the U. S.
Description of file(s): one scanned, three columned, newspaper page
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - January 14, 1860
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The recent phenomenon of white people in the free northern states volunarily entering into slavery has created a need to develop new terminology to distinguish the free from the slave states. Previously the country was divided along a line of "free" and "slave" (north and south), now this no longer applies.
Description of file(s): one scanned newspaper column
Title: Weekly Anglo-African - January 19, 1861
Speaker or author: editor
Newspaper or publication: Weekly Anglo-African (1859 - 1862)
The writer comments on a speech delivered by William H. Seward. The atmosphere in the country is unsettled as state after state secedes from the Union and everywhere is heard calls for war.
Description of file(s): one scanned, two columned, newspaper page