American Labor Press

In Voices of Revolution: The Dissident Press in American History, author Rodger Streitmatter discusses various examples of revolutionary presses that changed some aspect of society throughout U.S. history. Last night I read two chapters - one on the early American labor movement, and another on The Liberator and its effect on slavery. One thing I found striking in the chapters was how similar these rebellious forms of print media were to our independent media today whether they be online, broadcast or in print. For instance, leading newspapers had little regard for the new movement being launched by laborers in the 1820s, and instead sided with the merchants and owners. Today, much of the information or angles presented in independent media have a very limited presence, at best, in the mainstream press. Furthermore, the ideas presented in the labor presses or The Liberator were often too radical initially for many people because they weren't talked about in mainstream journalism, which can often be the case with some of the stories presented by independent journalists.

So far, I really enjoy this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in the history of journalism. I read another book by Streitmatter last semester called Mightier Than the Sword and found it interesting and very easy to read. I've already started reading another chapter and enjoy this reading much more than reading for some of my other classes. (This chapter is about Margaret Sanger and her important role in the movement towards birth control education.)