Editing William Lloyd Garrison (section)

===''Genius of Universal Emancipation''===
[[File:William Lloyd Garrison portrait.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison in ''[[The Century Magazine]]'']]
In 1829, Garrison began writing for and became co-editor with [[Benjamin Lundy]] of the [[Quaker]] newspaper ''[[Genius of Universal Emancipation]]'', published at that time in [[Baltimore, Maryland]]. With his experience as a printer and newspaper editor, Garrison changed the layout of the paper and handled other production issues. Lundy was freed to spend more time touring as an anti-slavery speaker. Garrison initially shared Lundy's gradualist views, but while working for the ''Genius'', he became convinced of the need to demand immediate and complete emancipation. Lundy and Garrison continued to work together on the paper despite their differing views. Each signed his editorials.

Garrison introduced "The Black List," a column devoted to printing short reports of "the barbarities of slavery{{snd}}kidnappings, whippings, murders."<ref>Thomas, 119</ref> For instance, Garrison reported that Francis Todd, a shipper from Garrison's hometown of [[Newburyport, Massachusetts]], was involved in the domestic [[History of slavery|slave trade]], and that he had recently had slaves shipped from Baltimore to [[New Orleans]] in the [[coastwise trade]] on his ship the ''Francis''. (This was completely legal. An expanded domestic trade, "breeding" slaves in [[Maryland]] and [[Virginia]] for shipment south, replaced the importation of African slaves, prohibited in 1808; see [[Slavery in the United States#Slave trade]].)

Todd filed a suit for libel in Maryland against both Garrison and Lundy; he thought to gain support from pro-slavery courts. The state of Maryland also brought {{clarify|date=April 2025|text=criminal charges}} against Garrison, quickly finding him guilty and ordering him to pay a fine of $50 and court costs. (Charges against Lundy were dropped because he had been traveling when the story was printed.) Garrison refused to pay the fine and was sentenced to a jail term of six months.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Masur|first1=Louis|title=1831, Year of Eclipse|url=https://archive.org/details/1831yearofeclips00masu|url-access=registration|date=2001|publisher=Hill and Wang|location=New York|isbn=978-0809041183|edition=7th}}</ref> He was released after seven weeks when the anti-slavery philanthropist [[Arthur Tappan]] paid his fine. Garrison decided to leave Maryland, and he and Lundy amicably parted ways.