David Ruggles Opens First Black Bookstore and Leads Underground Railroad

David Ruggles opened the first Black-owned bookstore in the United States in New York City in 1834, selling abolitionist literature and anti-slavery newspapers. He was also a founding member of the New York Vigilance Committee, personally assisting hundreds of freedom-seekers including the young Frederick Douglass upon his escape from slavery in 1838. Ruggles combined Black entrepreneurship with frontline abolitionist organizing in ways that inspired a generation of activists.