John Russwurm, engraving, undated. Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation. .
John Russwurm

John Russwurm, born in Jamaica, was one of the first blacks to graduate from college (Bowdoin in Maine ) in the United States. Russwurm stunned his readers when he embraced colonization in early 1829 and prepared to move to Liberia to become superintendent of schools.