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| A new era in American
journalism dawned in the 1850s with the advent of magazines and
newspapers that combined general-interest content, lavish
illustration, and a national subscription base. In June 1850 the
publishing firm of Harper Brothers ventured into the periodical trade
with Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, which soon outpaced its
rivals. The Harpers followed that success with the inauguration of a
weekly newspaper, appropriately christened Harper’s Weekly,
on January 3, 1857. |
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| For over a quarter of a
century Harper’s Weekly captured the lion’s share of the
national newspaper audience. It reached 120,000 subscribers by the
late 1850s, compared with a circulation of 2,400 for the average
weekly newspaper, and it had an estimated five readers for every
subscription. Its influence grew steadily, reaching the height of its
popularity in 1871 when it drew over 300,000 subscribers during its
battle with the corrupt Tweed political ring of New York City. In an
age before radio, television, and the Internet, print publications
ruled the news business and Harper’s Weekly was king. |
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| Yet that numerical strength,
in the context of escalating sectional animosity over slavery,
inhibited the newspaper’s coverage and undermined the potentially
unifying character of a nationwide audience. Before the Civil War, the
editorial practice of Harper’s Weekly was to avoid discussion
of the divisive issue of slavery whenever possible, and to calm
anxiety and tempers when compelled to confront it. That editorial
inclination was grounded in both the conservative political principles
of the Harper family and their financial self-interest not to alienate
readers in any area of the country. When the editors did speak
directly on the subject of slavery, they consistently blamed sectional
tensions on small but vocal groups of extremists on both sides—Northern
abolitionists and Southern secessionists. |
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| Despite the pacifying
tendencies of the Harpers’ editorial policy, readers will still find
interesting material on the treatment of blacks and slavery from the
early issues of Harper’s Weekly. The Dred Scott case,
the slave trade, abolitionism, and John Brown’s raid are among the
important topics reported in the journal. In fact, Harper’s
Weekly was able to give the most complete coverage of any
publication to the Harper’s Ferry raid through its privileged access
to the imprisoned Brown and his co-conspirators. Besides news and
feature articles, the paper’s humor column, cartoons, and
advertisements demonstrate how slavery pervaded the popular culture. |
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| Once the Civil War began, Harper’s
Weekly took a firm Unionist stance and was increasingly supportive
of emancipation and black civil rights. Overall, there is a
significant and noticeable change in the tenor of the publication from
cautious conservatism to the sustained advocacy of reform. That
remarkable transition was due primarily to George William Curtis, who
wrote the newspaper’s editorials from December 26, 1863, until July 9, 1892. As a prolific writer and lecturer, Curtis was an
influential voice for numerous reforms, including abolitionism, black
civil rights, women’s rights, civil service reform, and
environmental conservation. |
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| Also responsible for the changed direction
of Harper’s Weekly was Thomas Nast, one of the most
well-known and seminal political cartoonists in American history. He
became a steady contributor to the newspaper in the late summer of
1862. Many of Nast’s masterly cartoons, including powerful images of
racial injustice, remain among the most widely republished political
prints today. They provide 21st-century viewers keen
insight into the national concerns and clashes of the Civil
War-Reconstruction era. Together, Curtis and Nast were a potent force
agitating for the equal rights of black Americans, and castigating the
prejudice and violence perpetrated against them. |
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| In addition to the
aforementioned materials on slavery, the items on this site from the
time of the Civil War and Reconstruction cover a range of subjects and
formats. Among the topics are the emancipation of the slaves, their
military service during the Civil War, and the violent backlash those
policies engendered, as well as the freedpeople’s post-war struggle
for basic civil rights, economic liberties, and freedom from hatred
and harm. Different types of material are presented to show the rich
variety of Harper’s Weekly: editorials, news stories, news
briefs, cartoons, illustrations, advertisements, verse, and a
fictional short story (up to one-third of each issue was devoted to
literature). Finally, Eric Rothschild, whose innovative teaching
methods have earned him national recognition, has developed a fun and
instructional Reconstruction simulation game for classroom use. |
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Please read Randall
Kennedy's essay A Note on the Word "Nigger" |
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