The Liberator

 Throughout class and hearing about many different topics centered around Journalism, I had the chance to learn a lot. One topic that stood out to me was "The Liberator" mostly due to the main tie-in that it had to slavery. It's not so often that we get the chance to hear about slavery, civil rights, abolitionists, etc. in the world of journalism. Before this class, I didn't know much about my own ancestor's history nor did I even really have a desire to if I'm being honest, but this presentation changed my mind and intrigued me quite a bit. The Liberator was a weekly abolitionist newspaper that was created, printed, and published in Boston by William Llyod Garrison from January 1, 1831 - December 29, 1865, and then by Isaac Knapp until the final issue listed on January 1, 1866. I was intrigued by the fact that the paper was more religious than political because I had never heard of a paper being centered around topics such as these which could so easily become political. The papers main demographic was free slaves, fellow abolitionists, people who believed in the cause, and those who were just outright curious. The paper tended to resonate with the morality of the readers along with their conscious which was urging them to then demand immediate freeing of slaves. This paper was mainly used for abolitionists to have a platform regarding equality, slavery, and occasionally politics which each issue having its special illustration. The Liberator was said to have been the most influential antislavery media in the pre-Civil War period of U.S. history. As far as readers go, it could only reach up to about 3,000 but was able to reach a large audience due to its uncompromising advocacy for immediate emancipation for the millions of slaves being held up in the South. Although society has changed drastically, we do still have a long way to go and I would be very interested to read more about media that is centered more around minorities and specifically African-Americans mostly because I am African-American.