God led them to receive properly the great result of the war, and at once unite with the Christian people of the North in helping the freedmen.
Wherever an Afro-American was found with brain sufficient to establish a literary effort, he was aided by these people. These journals were, in many respects, of more importance as advocates than we find the average Afro-American journals now. Why? The answer is plain, when we remember that only the ablest men of the race engaged in these undertakings then. In 1866 The American was a thing of the past, yet The Loyal Georgian was, in a measure, doing its work.
The Sunbeam, at Brooklyn, edited by Rev. Rufus L. Perry, (now D. D. and Ph. D.), and The Zion Standard and Weekly Review, edited by Rev. S. T. Jones, (now Bishop Jones) assisted by Prof. W. Howard Day, (now a D. D.,) were all marching to the front and early demonstrating the capabilities of this people, once oppressed.
These were supplemented in their efforts by neater and more substantial publications. In 1868, Rev. R. H. Cain, later a member of Congress, and Bishop in the A. M. E. Church, established The Charleston Leader, at Charleston, S. C. He afterwards made it the organ of his church, when it was known as The Missionary Record.
Rev. Mr. Cain, as is known, is a very able man, and of course much of his brilliancy was manifest in his paper. It was continued many years under the editorial management of Hon. R. Brown Elliott; but when he was elected a member of Congress, it suspended.
There were still papers rising here and there, advocating Afro-American advancement. The year 1870 opened gloriously for the Afro-Americans, in the field of journalism. The People's Journal, a juvenile paper, (which had 10,000 subscribers) was now being issued by Dr. R. L. Perry, as was also The National Monitor.
