ABSTRACT
David Ruggles, an African-American printer in New York City during the 1830s, was the prototype for black activist journalists of his time. During his 20-year career, Ruggles poured out hundreds of articles, published at least five pamphlets and operated the first African- American press. By the early 1830s, Ruggles became involved in the growing anti- slavery movement in New York. White radicals disenchanted by reform measures, joined blacks demanding the immediate end of slavery. Ruggles raised more than his pen in his personal war against the slavocracy. In 1835, he and several other young black activists organized the New York Committee of Vigilance. One of Ruggles' most controversial methods was to demand the arrest of White Sea captains he suspected of trading in slaves. Illegal since 1808, slave trading still occurred clandestinely. Ruggles' unmasking of these transactions nearly cost him his freedom.
