The North Star

 Over the years, people have used the power of the press to expose and shed light on the horrors happening to the people of America. One of the significant issues that newspapers covered during the time was the issue of slavery. The point of slavery sparked the abolition movement, and with that came many abolitionist newspapers like The Liberator, The Emancipator, and Alton's Observer. While these newspapers just listed were very influential and essential for their time, none were written by black men or women; all three were written by northern white men who were sympathetic to the plight of slavery. The lack of black voices and stories in the abolitionist movement was very few, mainly because many African American people at that time could barely read or write. Hence, they had difficulty articulating their words for a large crowd to understand. This gaping hole was helped filled by Frederick Douglass and his newspaper, The North Starr.

While the North Star was a critical and influential newspaper of its time, we must first go through Fedrick Douglass' history before discussing it. Douglass was born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland; while his birth is unknown, many historians think it was either 1817 or 1818. Douglass escaped slavery in 1838 by boarding a train, eventually leading him to New York. While in New York, Douglass learned how to read and write, and with these abilities, he became a well-known abolitionist and p
teacher, he would also go on to publish The North Star newspaper.

    The North Star was founded in Rochester, New York, on December 3, 1847. Douglass took significant inspiration from the above newspaper, The Liberator, published by William Lloyd Garrison. The problem, however, with The Liberator, in Douglass's eyes, was that it was wholly written and published by a white man, and Douglass thought that a white man does not really know the plight of a slave while Douglass on the other hand, a former slave, does. The inspiration behind the naming of the newspaper was during these times, many slaves fleeing used the North Star as guidance to know where the north was since many states in the north had banned the practice of slavery. 

    When The North Star was first starting out, it was a weekly newspaper that sold for around $2, which was well above average since most yearly subscriptions to a paper were around $8-$10. The newspaper was only four pages long, with the fourth page entirely of ads. While the price was a significant barrier for many people, Douglass could still get around 4000 weekly readers. His readers were international, too, since people from Europe and the Carribeans read his paper. The North Star, however, was not a financial success for Douglass; just a year after starting the paper, Douglass had to mortgage his house just to keep the paper running. Then three years later, in 1851, he merged with The Liberty Party Paper to make The Frederick Douglass' Paper. In 1859 Douglass left for Europe to go on a speaking tour, and this departure effectively marked the end of The Frederick Douglass' Paper.

   While The North Star only lasted for four years and The Frederick Douglass' Paper only for eight years, these papers were unique in their approach by presenting black voices positively, and the author is a former slave. The impact of these papers was felt all across the union, with many people that read this being able to see and read stuff for black authors, possibly for the first time. These newspapers helped humanize black people but, most importantly, the slaves so that people could see that slaves were humans too and didn't deserve the lifestyle that was forced upon them.