Thomas and Robert Hamilton were the sons of
William Hamilton, abolitionist and founder of the
New York African Society for Mutual Relief. The elder Hamilton lived through the 1834
anti-abolitionist riots in New York and was critical of pacifist abolitionist newspapers like
The Liberator. The two brothers held similar views, and they founded
The Anglo-African Magazine, a monthly, in January 1859. It had 32 pages and cost one dollar for a yearly subscription. The Hamiltons founded the
Weekly Anglo-African six months afterwards. The newspaper and magazine were the first publications to run Martin Delany's serialized novel,
Blake; or the Huts of America. Robert managed the magazine, while Thomas used his expertise as a reporter and journalist. The weekly's contributors included
Martin Delany,
Mary Ann Shadd Cary,
Edward Wilmot Blyden, and
Sarah Mapps Douglass.
William B. Gould also served as a financial backer and reporter for
The Anglo-African. The newspaper ran with four pages of text at four cents per copy. Its motto was, "Man must be free; if not through the law, then above the law." The paper had early successes in its coverage of slavery resistance, the
Dred Scott v. Sandford case, and the
Raid on Harpers Ferry. Its correspondents and subscribers stretched across the US, as well as Canada and Jamaica.
The Anglo-African Magazine was published until March 1860 and the
Weekly Anglo-African until March 1861. Due to financial troubles, the Hamiltons sold the weekly newspaper to George Lawrence, Jr., and
James Redpath, who renamed it to
The Pine and Palm. The Hamilton brothers quickly saw that, under its new owners, the newspaper would no longer serve the needs of the black community. Robert Hamilton, therefore, decided to start a new newspaper, also named the
Weekly Anglo-African. Its first issue was published in July 1861. ==Legacy==