John Brown Russwurm was an abolitionist who understood the power of the media. He published the first newspaper in American History owned by blacks and used it as a means to promote the abolition of the slave trade. John Brown was born in Portland, Jamaica, in 1799 to an English father, John R. Russwurm, and a black slave mother whose identity was not known. He stayed with his family in Jamaica until they moved to Quebec in 1807.
Both father and son relocated to Maine in 1812. His father married Susan Blanchard, a widow, who asked him to allow John Brown to bear his surname which he agreed to. Young John Brown Russwurm lived with his father and stepmother and they enrolled him at Hebron Academy where he studied hard, graduated, and began to lecture in an African American School located in Boston. His father died in 1815 and his stepmother remarried but Russwarm was still close to his stepmother after his father’s death.
Susan and her new husband saw how seriously Russwurm took his academics and they helped him gain admission to Bowdoin College in 1824 to further his education. Russwurm graduated in 1826 and was the first African American graduate from Bowdoin. He was also the third black man in history to attend an American college.
We wish to plead our cause. Too long have others spoken for us.
John Brown Russwurm
Too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentations,
in things which concern us dearly.
He left for New York City in 1827. At that time, New York housed the majority of the black population consisting of both the free blacks and the slaves who had escaped. These blacks had begun to build their own schools, churches, and other institutions. On arrival in New York, Russwurm worked in collaboration with Samuel Cornish to release his first edition of a newspaper, “Freedom’s Journal”. The newspaper was the first in history to be owned and published by African Americans in the U.S. He included information about black history in the newspaper and also dedicated it to the abolition of the slave trade.
Russwurm soon began to advocate for the emigration of blacks to Africa because he thought that there was a high chance of them succeeding in Africa when compared to the U.S. In 1829, Russwum brought his editorial position to an end and moved permanently to Liberia. He settled there and began work as the colonial secretary of the African American Colonization Society where he served for four years. He married the daughter of a lieutenant governor, Sarah McGill in 1833 and the couple had five children (four sons and one daughter). Russwurm wanted to exercise his political rights so he became active in politics. In 1836 he made a name in black history as the first Maryland (a colony in Africa that was later made part of Liberia) black governor. As governor, Russwurm supported the immigration of African Americans to Maryland and promoted Agriculture and Trade.
Our time is short in this transitory world, and it therefore becomes us to labor
John Brown Russwurm
with all our might, lest the darkness overtake us before we are aware of it.
Russwurm died on June 9, 1851, while he was still serving as governor, and his statue was erected at the place near his grave in Cape, Palmas, Liberia