John Russwurm

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

John Russwurm

... recognised as the third African-American graduate of an American college. 

 

Born in 1799 in Port Antonio, Jamaica. His mother was an African prisoner-of-war and his father, an American merchant. 

 

Russwurm and Samuel Cornish established the first newspaper in the United States to be owned, operated, published and edited by blacks – Freedom’s Journal. The newspaper vocalized demands for an end to slavery in the South and equal rights for blacks in the North.