Hutton, F. (1993). The early black press in America, 1827 to 1860. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

 

Frankie Hutton teaches in the African-American Studies program at LeHigh University in Pennsylvania. In this book, she examined the black press before the Civil War, paying special attention to what really was written in these newspapers and the people behind the newspapers, individuals whose importance to black history cannot be understated.

 

Hutton begins the book by laying out three concerns she has with the issues at hand. In undertaking her research, she wanted to debunk the misconception that the newspapers were almost completely Abolitionist during this time period. She says that there was much more to the black press than simple Abolitionist ideas and writings and she wants to allow people to see that by branching out from those ideas. Second, she wants to deal with a lack of primary sources available. Third, this type of work is something that has never been done before, so she wanted to create a “synthetic history of themes of the early black press” (p. ix).

 

Most of the newspapers that existed during this time period were weeklies or monthlies. Some of these had monetary issues that made production difficult, which forced them to shut down. However, despite that and the difficulty of lives for blacks, one of the overriding themes for all the papers was writing that was positive in nature. The writers and editors worked hard to portray positive images to their readership. They showed good things, such as communities and schools. Showing positive, progressive images and stories about things such as black communities and schools moves beyond simple abolitionist claims, and actually provides readers with an idea of what could happen if slavery was abolished. Without such imagery to support the claims, Abolitionist demands would be simplistic and would lack any real-life examples of how it would be a positive development for society. This served to show that there were good aspects to report that would challenge the prevalent negative images being portrayed elsewhere. This was the broader mission of doing more than simply forwarding Abolitionist sentiment: an uplifting message as opposed to resounding negativity.

 

Hutton separated the book into two parts, the first looking at problems that the editors of these newspapers faced. In this section, she looks at how the newspapers developed and who started them. She traces the history of the newspapers from 1827 to 1860. She also writes about how it was difficult for them to keep up with the ideals that they were espousing in their newspapers. She talks about people like Frederick Douglass, who published four newspapers after he fled slavery, including the North Star and the New National Era, which he published with his sons in 1870. The New National Era is noted to have published works of poetry and literature, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, which has become a landmark piece of writing as far as black history is concerned (http://www.answers.com/topic/national-era). Hutton also talks about newspapers such as Freedom’s Journal. She goes on to look at things such as how the colonization of Liberia had an impact on the black press. For example, Samuel Cornish was against the settlement in Liberia, but his son moved there against his objections. Also, the editors of the newspapers held to their ideals of democracy, and their papers reflected such ideals.

 

The second part of the book looks at the specific messages put forth in the papers and how certain groups were treated. In this part, she first looks at how women were treated in the black press. She writes that it is commonly believed that women were not treated well or given a forum, but that this is an untrue statement. Women were given a forum to write their thoughts and report on their activities. The editors also talked about the successes of black women, which run contrary to the stereotypical depictions of black women that were so prevalent in society at the time. She also looks at style and socializing, saying that the black press was an advocate for some types of socializing. The editors also advocated morality as a key component of a successful and beneficial community. The next chapter looks at youth and the dangers faced by children. She says that when they were written about, children were working, not playing. A bigger issue, though, was how the youth were targets of kidnapping. There was also a lot of advice for parents, with the biggest thing being that they were advocates for education for children. That was the best way for blacks to rise up and improve their status. Children were the biggest outsiders, with no voice and no recourse. They were also the ones in the most danger. 

 

One of the biggest things that this book does is show how much of a wide variety of things the black press wrote about. The black press concerned itself with other things that were considered important besides Abolition during this time period. This is especially important when considering the Abolitionist sentiments at the time vocalized by the black community. To pigeonhole itself and merely clamor for equal treatment would have been a huge mistake by the black press, so it was crucial for the black press to report on other, more uplifting aspects of life as well, so as to attempt to appeal to readers who might be turned off by staunch and simplistic Abolitionist demands. (Reviewed by Jennifer Marder). (Edited by Adrian Garro)