Equality Before the Law: California Black Convention Activism, 1855-65

Excerpt from Thomas Duff's article in the Mirror of the Times, digital version at Center for Research Libraries, accessed 30 April 2016. 

The four California State Conventions for Colored Citizens held between 1855 and 1865 relied on news coverage to spread the word about convention activism to multiple publics.  East Coast Black and abolitionist newspapers, in particular, carried correspondence from convention delegates like William Newby that praised the civic energy and "intellectual excellence" of the convention participants.  Several of the California State Conventions also praised white newspapers that reported convention proceedings in a manner they judged to be fair and unbiased.  For more on the relationship between the press and the Colored Conventions, see "Advocate Our Own Cause": Black Newspapers in California in the section below on Nineteenth-Century Black California Political Organizing.

 Use the storymap below to read the news coverage on California Colored Conventions.