Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Weekly Anglo-African (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861

View All Front Pages

About The Weekly Anglo-African (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861

The Weekly Anglo-African began on July 23, 1859, and published every Saturday. African American abolitionist brothers Thomas and Robert Hamilton owned both that newspaper and the Anglo-African Magazine. Robert primarily ran the magazine, while Thomas focused on the paper. In his younger years, Thomas worked in Printing House Square in downtown Manhattan, where he gained experience in the newspaper industry. Later, he started working as a carrier for New York's Colored American, and in the 1840s, he began his first newspaper, the People's Press.

In its first issue, the Weekly Anglo-African wrote, "We hope to supply a demand too long felt in this community … We need a Press—a press of our own." The newspaper covered local, national, and international news. It was unique in that it served as a platform for debate rather than simply reflecting the views of the publisher. The first issue noted, "We shall, through its columns, strive to set forth our cause in a true and clear light, by a thorough and impartial review of our condition, past and present." In time, Thomas Hamilton became a supporter of the Republican Party, although he remained critical of northern discrimination. He corresponded with politicians, influential civil leaders, and potential donors in order to provide consistent, reliable reporting. The paper condemned the pacifism in abolitionist newspapers like William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator. Hamilton's editorials further explored the ramifications of slavery and secession. The paper also covered topics like resistance to slavery, Dred Scott v. Sanford, and the raid on Harper's Ferry. On November 12, 1859, the Weekly Anglo-African wrote, "The Harper's Ferry insurrection continues to be the all-absorbing topic of newspaper comment and conversation here, among all classes of thinkers, of whatever shade of politics or opinion."

The Weekly Anglo-African lasted until March 1861. Due to financial troubles, the Hamiltons sold the newspaper to white abolitionists, George Lawrence Jr. and James Redpath, who renamed it the Pine and Palm. A few months later, the Hamilton brothers determined that the newspaper no longer served the needs of Black people. Therefore, they decided to start a new newspaper, also named the Weekly Anglo-African, with the first issue published in July 1861, a mere three months after the end of the original Weekly Anglo-African. The restarted title likely ended around 1866.

Note: A portion of the issues digitized for this newspaper were microfilmed as part of the Miscellaneous Negro newspapers microfilm collection, a 12 reel collection containing issues of African American newspapers published in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Creation of the microfilm project was sponsored by the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1947. For more information on the microfilm collection, see: Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a Selected List (Library of Congress), published in 1953. While this collection contains selections from more than 150 U.S. newspapers titles, for further coverage, view a complete list of all digitized African American titles available in the Chronicling America collection.

Provided By: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Weekly Anglo-African (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861

Dates of Publication

  • 1859-1861

Created / Published

  • New York [N.Y.] : Thos. Hamilton, 1859-1861.

Headings

  • -  African American newspapers--New York (State)
  • -  African Americans--New York (State)--Newspapers
  • -  New York (N.Y.)--Newspapers
  • -  New York County (N.Y.)--Newspapers
  • -  African American newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  New York (State)--New York County
  • -  New York (State)
  • -  New York (State)--New York
  • -  United States--New York--New York--New York

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (July 23, 1859)-vol. II, no. 43 (May 11, 1861).
  • -  Issues for -Mar. 30-May 11, 1861 called also whole no. <71>-95.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from the Library of Congress Photoduplication Service.
  • -  Pine and palm (DLC)sn 84023420 (OCoLC)10860438

Medium

  • 2 volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83030179

OCLC Number

  • 9370610

ISSN Number

  • 2996-6426

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://aj.sunback.homes/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://aj.sunback.homes/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Weekly Anglo-African New York N.Y. -1861. (New York, NY), Jan. 1 1859. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83030179/.

APA citation style:

(1859, January 1) The Weekly Anglo-African New York N.Y. -1861. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83030179/.

MLA citation style:

The Weekly Anglo-African New York N.Y. -1861. (New York, NY) 1 Jan. 1859. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83030179/.