Abolition and the Press

by Risley, Ford

• ISBN13: 9780810125070
• ISBN10: 0810125072
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-02
• Publisher: Northwestern Univ Pr

Summary

"From Boston's strident Liberator to Frederick Douglass's North Star, more than forty newspapers were founded in the United States in the decades before the Civil War with the specific aim of promoting emancipation. In Abolition and the Press, Ford Risley discusses how these fiery publications played a vital role in keeping the issue of slavery in the public eye. Reaching an audience that only grew when the papers became objects of controversy and targets of violence in both the South and the North, the abolitionist press continued to provide a needed platform for discourse even after some mainstream publications took up the call for emancipation. Its legacy endured as contemporary reform writers and editors continue to champion the press as a tool in the fight for equality and civil rights."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Beginnings of the Abolitionist Press	p. 3
Growth and Controversy	p. 33
The Press Under Attack	p. 55
Wrestling with Questions	p. 77
New Publications	p. 101
The Mainstream Press Joins the Struggle	p. 127
War and Emancipation	p. 155
Conclusion	p. 187
Notes	p. 193
Bibliography	p. 211
Index	p. 221
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