Founded in Windsor on March 24, 1853, this weekly was established to advocate the interests of the Black people both in Canada and the United States. Its first editor was the Black minister, The Rev. Samuel Ringgold Ward. Mary Ann Shadd Carey was a later editor. In March, 1854, it moved to Toronto, and in June, 1855, to Catham. The last known issue appeared on Sept. 15, 1857.

The first issue of the first Black newspaper in Ontario appeared on Jan. 1, 1851, edited by Henry Bibb and published in Sandwich and Windsor. It is an invaluable source of information about the Blacks in Ontario during the greatest period of immigration. It probably ceased publication in 1853.