William Lloyd Garrison

The journalist I was assigned to write this blog about goes by the name of William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison was born on December 10, 1805 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. From a young age he worked as an abolitionist of slavery and even the Union. In fact, Garrison was just thirteen years old when he started working for his first newspaper, the Newburyport Herald, and it was there that he realized writing was his passion. Two years after his apprenticeship with the Newburyport Herald ended, in 1828, Garrison met with antislavery editor of the Genius of Emancipation, Benjamin Lundy. It was then that Garrison was offered the position of editor at the publication, and also joined the American Colonization Society.

            From then on much of Garrison’s work promoted the societal freedom and well being of blacks’ through his critic of the Constitution, his backing of the political views of Abraham Lincoln, and the startup of his own antislavery group called the New England Antislavery Society. Without the work and dedication of William Lloyd Garrison the 13^th amendment, which outlawed slavery in the US, may not have come as quickly as it did after the Civil War ended in 1865. He is an inspiration to all future journalists and people alike in the way that he never gave up on his beliefs even when the majority of the nation was against him. He risked his reputation as a writer and as a person to stick up for what he believed in, and that is what made him so admirable. From his ability to instill the meaning of dedication and pursuit of what you believe in, I too hope to one day be as passionate and forceful with my writing as Garrison was.  

"Our country is the world—our countrymen are mankind." – The motto of The Liberator