America’s First Abolitionist Newspaper Is Being Revived

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February 23, 2022

By Philip Marcelo, HuffPost

The Emancipator was America’s first newspaper dedicated to advocating for the end of slavery. Racism is still so prevalent in this country, the publication will be resurrected over 200 years later.

Amber Payne, left, and Deborah Douglas co-editors-in-chief of the new online publication of “The Emancipator” pose at their office inside the Boston Globe, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, in Boston. Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research and The Boston Globe’s Opinion team are collaborating to resurrect and reimagine The Emancipator, the first abolitionist newspaper in the United States, which was founded more than 200 years ago. (Charles Krupa via Associated Press)

America’s first newspaper dedicated to advocating for the end of slavery is being resurrected and reimagined more than two centuries later as the nation continues to grapple with its legacy of racism.

The revived version of The Emancipator is a joint effort by Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research and The Boston Globe’s Opinion team that’s expected to launch in the coming months.

Deborah Douglas and Amber Payne, co-editors-in-chief of the new online publication, say it will feature written and video opinion pieces, multimedia series, virtual talks and other content by respected scholars and seasoned journalists. The goal, they say, is to “reframe” the national conversation around racial injustice.

“Our country is so polarized that partisanship is trumping science and trumping historical records,” Payne said. “These ongoing crusades against affirmative action, against critical race theory are not going away. That drumbeat is continuing and so therefore our drumbeat needs to continue.”

Read the full story here.

Learn about slavery leading up to The Emancipator here, or about the North’s complicity during slavery here.

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