Rev. Samuel Cornish, born free in Delaware in 1795, led New York's First Colored Presbyterian Church. He was, in addition to his church work, one of the country's first black journalists. He and John Russwurm founded Freedom's Journal, America's first black newspaper, and later he edited the Colored American. He was one of the leaders of the New York Committee of Vigilance, which sought to protect black New Yorkers from slave catchers. With Henry Highland Garnet, he led a petition campaign to change the New York State law requiring property ownership for voting.