Date
6-17-2026
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
Chair
Joseph Super
Keywords
African American, Newspapers, Antislavery, Resistance, Press, Freedom, Emancipation, Print, Journalism, Constitutionality, Liberation, Moral Suasion, Religious Advocacy, Legality, Slaveholding, Voices, Literary
Disciplines
History
Recommended Citation
Baze, Bernard T., "Freedom in the Press: Black Print Culture and Antislavery Activism in the United States, 1772-1857" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8575.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8575
Abstract
Nineteenth century African American journalists employed the press as a political, legal, and moral instrument to challenge the legitimacy of the institution of American slavery and advocate for universal emancipation. Through an analysis of the Black press, including Freedom’s Journal, Colored American, North Star, Frederick Douglass’ Paper, Provincial Freeman, and the Christian Recorder, the study highlights the agency of Black abolitionists in shaping antislavery public discourse. It contends that these writers advanced a multifaceted antislavery strategy rooted in moral suasion, constitutional argumentation, legal denunciations, and religious advocacy. Through these efforts, they revealed the contradictions between slaveholding and the nation’s professed commitment to protecting individual freedoms and human rights.
Moreover, the influence of the 1772 James Somerset v Charles Stewart court case is evaluated as Black abolitionists invoked it as a legal precedent to challenge the legitimacy of slavery in America and reinforce claims for emancipation. The study further explores how Black journalists contested proslavery constitutional provisions, fugitive slave legislation, and congressional compromises that facilitated the expansion and preservation of slavery. By centering the agency of abolitionists within the Black press, this study demonstrates how African American journalists emerged as influential leaders who helped coordinate and advance the campaign for the eradication of slavery. In doing so, the present study contributes to the historiography of the American antislavery movement by emphasizing the strategy importance of Black journalism in challenging and undermining the ideological foundations of slavery during the antebellum period.
