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Newspapers of the 1800s

A collage of four overlapping front pages of radical newspapers: the Western Clarion, the Provincial Freeman and two pages from the Colonial Advocate.

Provincial Freeman – The Provincial Freeman was founded in the early 1850s by Mary Ann Shadd. It was the first newspaper published by a Black woman. It addressed topics such as anti-slavery, Black liberation, and integration.

Western Clarion – Originally launching in 1903, the Western Clarion was a left-wing Canadian newspaper from the Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) in British Columbia. The paper wrote about various activist-related topics like women’s rights.

Colonial Advocate – Founded by William Lyon Mackenzie in 1824, the Colonial Advocate criticized the power and policies of the Family Compact which ruled Upper Canada.