Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/98



HE only paper we have heard of that was published by one of our race during the war, or that began publication during that period, was The Colored Citizen, at Cincinnati, by Mr. John P. Sampson. It was issued in the interest of the black soldiers, then fighting in the Civil War.

The Citizen was the only Afro-American war-policy paper published. It was generally known as the "Soldiers' Organ."

Many humane Christians at the North aided in the publication of this paper, and circulated thousands of copies of it among the Afro-American soldiers.

It was a successfully conducted sheet, having the tone of a journal whose mission was a high and lofty one.

Mr. Sampson was a man of eminent learning, having been sent North from his home in North Carolina to obtain an education, which he received in the schools of Boston.

He began work as a teacher in the public schools of New York, and so endeared himself to the hearts of his people and won the esteem of the nation, that when he entered upon this mission he gave a prestige to his paper which made it an ever-welcome visitor to many homes.