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The North Star Newspaper was first published in December 1846 in Rochester, New York, USA. 
It was named after the North Star - a point in the night sky that Black* people seeking freedom from the southern states of the USA could rely on to take them to relative safety.  It was an abolitionist newspaper dedicated to the end of enslavement and the betterment of Black Americans.


*We use the term Black to refer to people of African and Caribbean descent.  
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A letter written by Frederick Douglass requesting $1 be for board of a man who had escaped enslavement. Image courtesy of Clements Library, University of Michigan. 

The Newspaper was first funded by contributions from British supporters, and Douglass put his money into this too. It was hard to make money from this - not everyone was an abolitionist, and not all abolitionists supported Frederick Douglass as he was very outspoken. There were other abolitionist newspapers, such as the Liberator, ran by William Lloyd Garrison.  

Over to You!

What can we infer about the aims of the paper and Frederick Douglass from the banner of the North Star Newspaper?
To infer means to find the deeper meaning. What is this image telling you without showing you. 

The North star. (Rochester, NY) 4 Jul. 1850, p. 1. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn84026365/1850-07-04/ed-1/. 
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