Russwurm, John Brown, 1799-1851

found: NUCMC data from Maine Historical Society for His Correspondence, 1851-1853(John Russworm; 1799-1851; first black man to graduate from Bowdoin Coll., 1826; editor of Freedom's Journal; supt. of education in Liberia and became its first black gov.; wife was Sarah McGill)

found: Wikipedia, June 9, 2009(John Brown Russwurm; 1799-1851; b. in Jamaica to white merchant father & unknown black slave; father and son moved to Portland, Me., 1812; father remarried; attended Hebron Academy and Bowdoin Coll.; moved to New York where published Freedom's Journal; moved to Liberia in 1829 and worked as secretary for American Colonization Society, then as editor of Liberia Herald, and later as supt. of education and first black governor of the Maryland section of Liberia)

found: Rummel, Jack. African-American social leaders and activists, ©2003:pages 176-177 (John Brown Russwurm, founder and editor of the first black-owned newspaper in the United States. Born in Port Antonio, Jamaica; send to Quebec, Canada for his elementary education, then lived with his father in Portland, Maine. In 1819 he was sent to Hebron Academy in Maine to finish his secondary education, graduating in 1824. Attended and graduated from Bowdoin College 1824-1826 Moved to New York City where he founded "Freedom's Journal" in 1827. Began to favor the colonization of African Americans in Africa, specifically to the newly established colony of Liberia (founded in 1821) and moved there in November 1829. Editor of the "Liberia Herald". Became governor of the Maryland Settlement in Liberia of which he became governor in 1836, serving until his death on June 9, 1851.)