ABSTRACT
One of the most salient characteristics of New York City’s free black population was a marked tendency toward organizing societies having either a benevolent or a literary objective. These organizations, along with the influential black press, would figure decisively in welding a stronger, more cohesive, community. The literary societies formed by blacks were indeed varied and numerous. Other short-lived societies included the Franklin Forum, the Tyro Association, and the Eclectic Fraternity. The object of the Society was to promote the improvement of blacks in morals, literature, and the mechanic arts. While the benevolent and literary societies founded by blacks played an invaluable role in their uplift, no instrument for their improvement figured more prominently than the black press. It stood in the forefront of the liberation struggle. The Black Press and the Societies exerted a powerful impact on the African American community that should not be underestimated.
