Image description: Front page of the inaugural issue of the Journal of Freedom, a leading newspaper focused on the newly freed Black Community. The paper was published in Raleigh, North Carolina in the late 19th century, dated April 1879.

The Journal of Freedom was the first newspaper in North Carolina focused on the newly freed Black community.
It was founded on September 30, 1865, and dissolved the next month. Edward P. Brooks, a white journalist and former member of the Union Army, was its editor.

Sources: Library of Congress; The Reconstruction Era-Blog Exploring the World the Civil War Created
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From: Wikipedia

Edward P. Brooks was a white[1] journalist who worked at the Daily Progress of Raleigh and as a correspondent for The New York Times and served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.[2]

The Journal of Freedom was first published as a weekly newspaper on September 30, 1865, by Edward P. Brooks in Raleigh.[1] The paper was established for the freedpeople of the state – black North Carolinans who were recently freed from slavery in the aftermath of the Civil War – and it was the first African American newspaper in North Carolina.[1]

It advocated for the civil rights of African Americans,[1] especially universal suffrage for men.[3] It was Republican in its political orientation.[3] The political mission of the paper was opposed by the Daily Progress; the writer of one article stated "we are opposed to the extension of the right of suffrage to the blacks", while it also wished Brooks financial success "as a friend".[4]

Subscriptions to the paper cost $4 per year,[2] and it had perhaps 1,000 subscribers.[5] It was supported by those attending the 1865 North Carolina freedmen convention.[1] The convention called for freedpeople to support the paper, but it dissolved on October 28, 1865.[1]

It was succeeded by several other newspapers for North Carolina's black community, including the Raleigh Enterprise (founded in 1866), the African Expositor (1877), and the Journal of Freedom (1879)
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Sourced from: The Reconstruction Era - Blog Exploring the World the Civil War Created
Patrick Young Published Date: August 24, 2021

The Journal of Freedom: A Newspaper for the Black Community of Raleigh, N.C.

At the end of the Civil War there were a number of attempts to establish newspapers for Black communities in the South. Most of the initial attempts were made by religious groups or white abolitionists. One of the first was the Journal of Freedom. Here is what the Library of Congress says about this short-lived newspaper:

Journal of Freedom

“A bold push in behalf of negro suffrage in the South has been made in Raleigh, N. C., by the establishment there of an out-and-out negro suffrage paper,” declared the New York Times on October 3, 1865. Publishers Edward P. Brooks (1843-1893) and John Quincy Adams Crane (1836-1885) entitled their “universal suffrage paper” the Journal of Freedom and proudly promulgated “equal rights before the law for all men.” The Journal had one thousand subscribers and only one advertiser at its outset. Early enthusiasm among the freed community could not combat increasing difficulties, and the paper dissolved after only five issues.

The Journal examined topics relevant to freed people such as the suffrage movement, Freedmen’s Bureau affairs, and military service, to name a few. It provided extensive coverage of the 1865 Freedmen’s Convention held in Raleigh from September 29 through October 3. The two full pages dedicated to the convention included such items as an open letter to North Carolinians by Horace Greeley, the constitution and preamble of the Equal Rights League, and summaries of all sessions. Brooks addressed the convention and promoted his paper and its goals. The Journal’s dedication to the interests of the freed people was endorsed by Abraham Galloway, one of North Carolina’s most prominent and influential black civil rights leaders.

Prior to the Journal’s launch, both Brooks and Crane had been engaged in the newspaper business. In the early 1860s, Crane was a printer in Richmond and a member of a labor organization for typesetters called the Richmond Typographical Society. During the Civil War, Brooks served as adjutant for the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry. Confederate forces captured him three times during his war service, and Brooks was held at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, at a prison in Columbia, South Carolina, and for a short time at a district jail in Georgetown, South Carolina. His time as a prisoner of war took a toll on Brooks' health, and he was discharged for disability in January 1865. After his discharge, Brooks served as a Raleigh-based correspondent for the New York Times and as an editor for the Raleigh[North Carolina] Daily Progress.

The Journal of Freedom was published from September 30 to October 28, 1865. During its short run, the paper suffered from a lack of advertisement sales, maliciously high rents, and general opposition to its message. Crane bowed out by the fourth issue for reasons unnamed, leaving Brooks to manage the paper alone. On October 28, a week after Crane’s departure, Brooks announced what was to be a temporary cessation of publication to allow him to acquire proper printing equipment. However, no further issues of Journal of Freedom were published.

Provided by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC

The Sept. 30, 1865 issue argued for the suffrage to be extended without regard to color. This was the very first issue of the paper.

The newspaper was a weekly. In its third issue it addresses the way that former Confederates were dealing with the issue of race right after the war. As many of you know, the Confederate approach was total exclusion of Blacks from civic life. This would be the impetus for the imposition of what came to be known as Radical Reconstruction. Here, the paper discusses the 1865 Alabama Constitutional Convention’s deliberations. The convention was made up of white delegates.
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Link to Library of Congress collection of Journal of Freedom Newspapers
https://www.loc.gov/collections/chronicling-america/?dl=page&fa=number_page:0000000001%7Cnumber_lccn:sn88074095&sb=date&st=gallery