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Newspaper The New York Freeman (New York [N.Y.]) 1884-1887

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About The New York Freeman (New York [N.Y.]) 1884-1887

The New York Freeman was published every Saturday from 1884 to 1887 in New York, NY. The original title of the newspaper was the Freeman, but it was renamed to the New York Freeman in its fourth issue, which was published on December 13, 1884. Timothy Thomas Fortune was the editor and proprietor of the Freeman, which replaced Fortune’s prior newspaper, the New York Globe. Described as “the most noted man in Afro-American journalism” by I. Garland Penn in The Afro-American Press and Its Editors, Fortune had an extensive career in journalism. After the Globe ceased publication in 1884, Fortune established the Freeman only a week later. In the December 13, 1884 issue of the Freeman, Fortune made it clear that the newspaper would be the same as the Globe, stating: “It has the same brains in its editorial and business management and the proprietor is free to pursue unhampered his fight for the race.” The Freeman was dedicated to reporting on various local and national events of interest to the African American community of New York, including political activities, church events, and the unsettled rights of African Americans. The newspaper was well-received by the newspaper community. In the December 13, 1884 issue, the Havre de Grace Republican is quoted as calling the Freeman “the most ably representative paper of the colored race.”

The New York Freeman published articles focused on significant events from across the country and even offered articles on international topics. On January 24, 1885, the newspaper reprinted “THE FUTURE OF AFRICA” from the Providence Evening Express, which discussed the social structure and customs of West Africa. The July 18, 1885 issue included “DARK CLOUDS AT THE CAPITAL,” reporting on Rev. Francis Grimke’s sermon on President Grover Cleveland’s view of African Americans in politics.

The newspaper regularly updated readers on the social activities of African Americans in New York and surrounding cities. The “Local Gossip” column was included in every issue and offered updates about the New York African American community. Correspondents located throughout the state submitted updates about activities that occurred in nearby towns. On March 28, 1885, the newspaper published the articles “Worcester Notes,” “New London Notes,” Syracuse Siftings,” and “Elmira Echoes.” Each of these articles detailed notable events in each town, such as association meetings, marriages, deaths, and parties.

According to I. Garland Penn in The Afro-American Press and Its Editors, Fortune left the Freeman after accepting an editorial position with the New York Evening Sun, a leading white daily newspaper. His final issue as editor of the Freeman was published on October 8, 1887; in it he announced his leave and thanked the newspaper patrons for their support. E. Fortune Jr. and Jerome B. Peterson assumed the publication of the paper, and the following issues were published under the title New York Age.

Note: The issues digitized for this newspaper were microfilmed for and sponsored by the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies and Bell & Howell, a microfilming company, by the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service in 1947, compiling African American newspapers published in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. For more information on the microfilm collection, see: Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a Selected List (Library of Congress), published in 1953. While this collection contains selections from many U.S. newspapers titles, for further coverage, view a complete list of all digitized African American titles available in the Chronicling America collection.

Provided By: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The New York Freeman (New York [N.Y.]) 1884-1887

Dates of Publication

  • 1884-1887

Created / Published

  • New York [N.Y.] : T. Thomas Fortune, 1884-1887.

Headings

  • -  African Americans--New York (State)--Newspapers
  • -  African American newspapers--New York (State)
  • -  New York (N.Y.)--Newspapers
  • -  New York County (N.Y.)--Newspapers
  • -  African American newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  New York (State)
  • -  New York (State)--New York
  • -  New York (State)--New York County
  • -  United States--New York--New York--New York

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 4 (Dec. 13, 1884)-v. 3, no. 47 (Oct. 8, 1887).
  • -  Microfilmed for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies by the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service.
  • -  New York age (New York, N.Y. : 1887) (DLC)sn 83030005 (OCoLC)9274417

Medium

  • volumes : illustrations

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper
  • AN256 .N4

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83027102

OCLC Number

  • 10126322

ISSN Number

  • 2996-6388

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The New York Freeman New York N.Y. -1887. (New York, NY), Jan. 1 1884. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83027102/.

APA citation style:

(1884, January 1) The New York Freeman New York N.Y. -1887. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83027102/.

MLA citation style:

The New York Freeman New York N.Y. -1887. (New York, NY) 1 Jan. 1884. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83027102/.