Scarce complete original issue of The Liberator from January 16, 1863, four pages, 18 x 25, with reports, speeches, and editorials on President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and 'Emancipation Day' festivities. The first column's heading reads, "Refuge of Oppression: The Emancipation Proclamation," criticizing the way in which the proclamation was enacted and calling for Constitutional amendments. An item on the back page reports on the "Speech of Frederick Douglass," given at Tremont Temple in Boston on Emancipation Day. In very good condition, with intersecting folds and some small tears and losses to edges.
Edited and published in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator was a weekly abolitionist newspaper that attracted notable readers like Angelina Grimké and Frederick Douglass. The impressive masthead, designed by Hammatt Billings, shows two Americas: on the left, slaves are bought and sold as chattel; on the right, they enjoy the blessing of freedom. At center is an image of Jesus, coming to "break the bonds of the oppressor."
