(PERIODICALS) STEWART JOHN G The African Sentinel and Journa

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Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 25,000

ONLY ONE OTHER COPY KNOWN (PERIODICALS.) STEWART, JOHN G. The African Sentinel and Journal of Liberty; Volume 1, Number 3. 8 pages, small folio, printed in triple column; folded vertically and horizontally, tiny loss of letters at the conjunction of the folds; some light even toning; at the top of the masthead, someone has written in a contemporary hand "The editor of this paper is a colored man." Albany, May, 1831

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of the utmost rarity, only one other surviving copy known. Founded by John G. Stewart, a man of color from Albany, New York, who said "There should be at least one public journal published by a coloured man and devoted to the interests of the coloured population throughout this country." We could find very little more about the editor of this, the third African American periodical, following the similarly short-lived Freedom's Journal (1827) and Rights of All. Stewart, who wrote a good portion of the material printed in its pages, kept the Journal afloat largely by himself. A long cautionary tale by abolitionist Robert Dale Owen titled "The Slave" tells the story of a planter in Martinique and his favorite slave, who ruins him by poisoning his livestock. But the most interesting and important article appearing in the pages of this issue reports on the Convention of Free People of Color, held in Philadelphia---the first such convention. This came about in the summer of 1830, after several states had initiated harsh laws limiting the freedoms of free people of color. Delegates from Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland came together to plan a colony in Canada. The keynote address to the Convention was delivered by Reverend Richard Allen of Philadelphia's Bethel Church, its first bishop. The speech is printed here in its entirety. Allen died shortly thereafter. Stewart added an account of the funeral in this issue and again praised Allen. A single copy of the later June 1831 issue is at the Chicago History Museum; no other copies of any issue are known to survive.