FREDERICK DOUGLASS helped found the North Star in 1847. It was printed in the basement of the Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, a gathering spot for abolitionists and “underground” activities in Rochester, New York. At the time, the white-owned New York Herald urged Rochester’s citizens to throw the North Star’s printing press into Lake Ontario. Under Douglass’s leadership, the paper came out weekly until 1860, addressing problems facing blacks around the country and offering a forum for Douglass to debate his fellow black activists.

Archive Photos/Getty Images