David Ruggles

March 15, 1810 – December 16, 1849

the nation’s first black journalist and printer. Iinclluding an anti-slavery activist who was active in the New York Committee of Vigilance and the Underground Railroad He was an “African-American printer in New York City during the 1830s”, who “was the prototype for black activist journalists of his time”.He claimed to have led over six hundred people, including friend and fellow abolitionist Frederick Douglass to freedom in the North.

He also was the first New York freedom fighter and owner of the first black bookshop in NYC. where he published his own works, including Mirror of Liberty, the first black magazine. There was a school named in his honor in Brooklyn New York but it was closed down in 2010. His building is part of the Nation landmarks.