Early Black Community Support for the Liberator

Henry Mayer, in his biography of Garrison indicates the central importance of  Garrison’s  support in the black community.  Here are some excerpts from All on Fire, pg 109 . “On December 10, 1830, two days before Garrison’s twenty-fifth birthday, he spoke to a group of black leaders and expressed deep sympathy for those “struggling against wind and tide” to advance their rights and defend their character.  Garrison often said tat he never rose to address a black audience without feeling ashamed of his own color, and  he hoped that he could atone for the wrongs done to blacks by devoting his life to the struggle for liberty and equal citizenship.  He intended his newspaper to support them in maintaining self-respect, educating their children, fighting for their constitutional rights, and organizing an assault upon the monstrous and tyrannical slave system.  … A committee of black women headed by Elizabeth Riley and Bathsheba Fowler began to raise a few dollars to support it.”