John russwurm

John Brown Russwurm (October 1, 1799 – June 9, 1851) was a Jamaican-born American abolitionist, newspaper publisher, and colonist of Liberia, where he moved.
John Brown Russwurm (1799-1851), Bowdoin College's first African American graduate, was the third African -American graduated from an American college.
John Brown Russwurm was a Jamaican-born American abolitionist, newspaper publisher, and colonist of Liberia, where he moved from the United States.

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John Brown Russwurm (1799-1851), Bowdoin College's first African American graduate, was the third African -American graduated from an American college. He was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, the illegitimate son of a white planter and a black slave. His father, John Russwurm, belonged to a wealthy Virginia family and had gone to Jamaica after completing his education in England. When John Brown Russwurm was eight years old, he was sent to Quebec to receive a proper education. Soon after, the elder Russwurm moved to Maine and married Susan Blanchard. Young Russwurm then came to live with his father's family, where he was accepted by his step-mother as one of her own. Russwurm stayed with the family even after his father's death, continuing his education at Hebron Academy in Hebron, Maine.

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Object Details

Artist: Unidentified Artist
Sitter: John Russwurm, 1 Oct 1799 - 9 Jun 1851

Exhibition Label

Born Port Antonio, Jamaica

One of the first African Americans to earn a U.S. college degree (Bowdoin, 1826), John Russwurm cofounded the first Black newspaper in the United States in 1827. He and Samuel Cornish established Freedom’s Journal as a platform for African Americans to assert the imperatives of freedom and racial equality. The newspaper’s influence was widespread and is credited with inspiring William Lloyd Garrison to launch the Liberator in 1831.

An ardent abolitionist, Russwurm initially opposed the efforts of the American Colonization Society to send free Black people to its West African colony of Liberia. When he became convinced, however, that the civil rights of African Americans would never be recognized in the United States, he immigrated to Liberia in 1829. After serving as editor of the Liberia Herald, Russwurm was appointed as the first Black governor of Maryland in Liberia, the independent Liberian settlement established by the Maryland State

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John Russwurm

Profile & Legacies Summary

1759 - 26^th Apr 1815

Biography

John Russwurm, "of a wealthy Virginia family, went to Jamaica after completing his education in England." Had a son, John Brown Russwurm, with an enslaved woman in Jamaica in 1799. John Brown Russwurm was sent to Quebec at the age of 8 for his education and then to Bowdoin College in Maine, becoming its first African-American graduate in 1826. John Brown Russman lived with his father and continued as part of the family with his stepmother after his father's death; he was junior editor of The Freedom's Journal 1827-1829, colonial secretary of the American Colonization Society in Liberia 1830-1834 and governor of the Maryland Society 1836-1851.
John Russwurm of Falmouth married Susan Blanchard of Portland, 14/03/1813 in Maine. They had a son, Francis Edward Russwurm, baptised in Maine in 1814.
John Russwurm, "Formerly resident of Port Antonio, Island of Jamaica" "died in Westbrook" 26/04/1815 and was buried in Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Maine, age 56 years.
John Russwurm and Thomas O