have every man to vote on the same terms and conditions. The legislature, after some fighting, decided to leave the matter with the voters, who were to vote Yes or No, on the question. Now was the most favorable opportunity for the publication of an Afro-American journal; but there was not one then issued in the land.
About this time, Mr. Willis A. Hodges, a man full of zeal and devotion for his race, enthused by utterances from the editorial columns of The New York Sun calling on the voters to vote "No," prepared an article in answer to these utterances, and sought space for the same in The Sun's columns.
Mr. Hodges' article was published for a fifteen-dollar consideration; but its sentiment was modified, and it was published in the advertising columns. Mr. Hodges upon inquiry relative to the alteration of his article and the manner of its publication, was told—"The Sun shines for all white men, and not for colored men." He was also told if he wished the Afro-American cause advocated, he would have to publish a paper himself for the purpose.
Right here, Mr. Hodges, as was the case of all his friends with whom he consulted, saw the irreparable loss his people had sustained by the suspension of Afro-American newspapers, formerly published in New York.
As has been said, there was not a paper published by an Afro-American, at this time, in the Union. Mr. Hodges, being a man of energy, public-spirited and to the manor born, hastily came to the conclusion that one should be published in New York city by Afro-Americans. He consulted with leading Afro-Americans who had been interested in former publications, only to be discouraged. All seemed to be seeking personal ends, and not what, at this time, demanded the closest attention of their leading minds.
Finally, Mr Hodges met with an old friend, Thomas Van
