The newspapers edited by Frederick Douglass are now available online from the Library of Congress.

The collection is made up of 568 issues of three weekly newspaper titles he wrote between 1847 and 1874, including The North Star and New National Era. The latter was published in D.C.

Douglass’ first anti-slavery paper, The North Star, was named after the star Polaris, which helped guide enslaved Africans to freedom in the North.

Douglass escaped slavery in 1838 and became a voice for abolitionists as a journalist, public speaker and author. He covered issues focused on ending slavery, empowering African Americans and improving the equality of African Americans and women.

No complete collection of Douglass’ newspapers is available because of a fire in his Rochester, New York, home in 1872 but the Library of Congress has preserved a large collection.