Peter Anderson (c. 1822-1879) was an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
rights activist who actively participated in California
Colored Conventions Movement
The Colored Conventions Movement, or Black Conventions Movement, was a series of national, regional, and state conventions held irregularly during the decades preceding and following the American Civil War. The delegates who attended these convent ...
s during the 1800s. Anderson was also the author of a newspaper called ''The Pacific Appeal'' which advocated black rights and helped activists network. Anderson and his coeditor
Philip Alexander Bell
Philip Alexander Bell (1808–1889) was a 19th-century American newspaper editor and abolitionist. Born in New York City, he was educated at the African Free School and became politically active at the 1832 Colored Convention. He began his news ...
argued often and eventually these disagreements led Bell to split off and create his own paper called ''The Elevator'' while Peterson continued with ''The Pacific Appeal''.
Birth and early Life
There is little historical record of Peter Anderson's early life. What is known is that he was born in Pennsylvania in about 1822 and moved to California as the Gold Rush ended. He began engaging in the African American community specifically the California Colored Citizens Conventions after starting a tailor shop in 1854 before dying in 1879.
Activism
Peter Anderson along with other African American activists such as J. H. Townsend, W. H. Newby and D. W. Ruggles signed a call to assemble for a convention. The purpose of the convention was to find a way to get their inherent rights and privileges as citizens of California. It was the first of several conventions to happen. Peter Anderson was also the founder of a Newspaper called ''The Pacific Appeal'' in 1856. Anderson was also secretary of the executive committee of the Conventions.
See also
*
African-American newspapers
African-American newspapers (also known as the Black press or Black newspapers) are newspaper, news publications in the United States serving African-American communities. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-Americ ...
References
External links
*http://coloredconventions.org/state-conventions
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African-American abolitionists
1820s births
1879 deaths