In the Freedom Trail Lessons newspaper reading room, you will see how 19th-century Americans used newspapers to communicate important parts of the story of the Underground Railroad and resistance to slavery. Parts of Michigan's story are in two national 19th-century African American newspapers, The Colored American and The North Star; an African Canadian paper, The Voice of the Fugitive; and The Signal of Liberty, an antislavery newspaper published in Michigan. Advertisements, local news, obituaries and feature articles of city newspapers also tell the story.

The Colored American
1837 - 1841

On January 7, 1837, Phillip A. Bel began publishing The Weekly Advocate in New York, New York. On March 4, 1837, Samuel E. Cornish became editor and the name changed to The Colored American. Its motto was "RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION," and the paper was "designed to be the organ of Colored Americans - to be looked on as their own, and devoted to their interests. . . ." (Source: Accessible Archives.)

• June 5, 1841. "From the Signal of Liberty: Slave Catching Michigan."

Signal of Liberty was a national antislavery newspaper and voice for the Liberty Party. The editors of the Signal, the Reverend Guy Beckley and Theodore Foster, publicized African American stories of enslavement and flight. Published from 1841 to 1847 in Ann Arbor and during 1848 in Battle Creek, the Signal featured local, state, national and international news as it related to the struggle against slavery. Beckley also assisted African Americans escaping slavery from 1842 until he died in 1847. Lyman Goodnow suggests that he brought Caroline Quarlls to Beckley's home on her way to Canada from Wisconsin.

• August 4, 1841. "Meeting in Kalamazoo."
• January 23, 1843. "Meeting of Colored Citizens of Detroit," Vol. 3, No. 40.
• May 8, 1847. "Report on meeting of Colored Persons in Detroit."
• September 4, 1847. "Slaveholding Outrages."

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland. He resisted slavery by learning to read, trying to escape and sometimes physically fighting. He finally escaped to Massachusetts in 1838. In 1841, he became a lecturer on slavery. Afraid of being again placed in bondage, he fled to England in 1845. In England, friends provided Douglass with enough money to purchase his freedom and establish himself in the publishing business. In 1847, Frederick Douglass and Martin R. Delaney established The North Star in Rochester, New York, and reported national and international news related to slavery, the welfare of enslaved and free people of African descent, their allies and their opposition.

• December 15, 1848. "DEAR SIR, - One of the most important law-suits."
• December 29, 1848. "Public Meeting of the Colored Citizens of Detroit."
• April 7, 1849. "From the Model Worker: THE CROSSWHITE CASE."

• March 24, 1854

• February 23, 1875. "GEORGE DEBAPTISTE."

• February 23, 1875. "Death of George DeBaptiste."

• January 17, 1886. "Interview with William Lambert."

Go to:

• Michigan Freedom Trail Lessons home page
• Michigan Freedom Trail Commission home page
• Michigan Historical Center home page

Updated 06/11/2007

Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries
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