David Ruggles Publishes Mirror of Liberty — First Black Magazine in US

David Ruggles, the Black New York bookseller, printer, and abolitionist who had personally assisted Frederick Douglass's escape, published the Mirror of Liberty — generally considered the first magazine published by a Black American in the United States. Ruggles had also organized the New York Committee of Vigilance in 1835, which helped over 600 freedom-seekers in its first year alone, including Douglass, whose escape Ruggles personally arranged.