Samuel Ringgold Ward

Samuel Ringgold Ward was born into slavery in 1817 on Maryland's eastern shore, the son of William Ward and Anne. In 1820, Ward and his parents escaped to New Jersey and soon relocated to New York in 1826. Once settled, Ward's parents enrolled him in the African Free School. ==Pastoral and abolition work==

In 1835 Ward moved to Newark, New Jersey and taught school there until 1839. He was a firm believer in the need for "anti-slavery labors, organizations, agitation, and newspapers" and conscious of the need to keep the papers from being censured, or worse as in the death of Elijah P. Lovejoy, he commenced the study of law. ==The first African-American labor leader==

Freed blacks during the Antebellum also faced discrimination in employment, as black laborers were not welcome in most unions. In response, Frederick Douglass and Ward helped organize the American League of Colored Laborers, the first black American labor union. Assembled on June 13, 1850, in the lecture room of Zion's church in New York City, the League appointed Samuel Ringgold Ward as its first president, Frederick Douglass as its vice-president, and Henry Bibb as its secretary. Although short-lived and stymied by the small number of black workers in cities at the time, the union's goals included the creation of a fund to give loans to black entrepreneurs, the creation of a bank that would provide credit and encourage saving, and an industrial fair. ==Anti-slavery work in Britain==

In Canada, he worked with Mary Ann Shadd Cary to found a newspaper, The Provincial Freeman, in 1853. While she was the editor-in-chief, as the first woman publisher in North America, she was afraid of not being taken seriously and originally hid her involvement with the paper by putting Ward's and the Rev. Alexander McArthur's names on the masthead. "Proclaimed editor of this bold venture, Ward only lent his name to the newspaper to generate interest and subscriptions." where large crowds required the intervention of the police. Samuel Ward's success enabled the Anti-slavery society of Canada to finance its work in support of escaped slaves from the US, and in the following year, 1855 Ward published his influential book recounting all that he had achieved. The proceeds enabled him to retire to Jamaica. ==Death and memory==

Samuel Ringgold Ward died in , after spending his last 11 years of life as a minister and farmer in Jamaica. ==References==

• Richard J.M. Blackett: Samuel Ringgold Ward : A Life of Struggle, New Haven : Yale University Press, 2023, ==External links==