Rensselaer, with whom he formed a co-partnership. This was done in October, 1846, at which meeting they also decided upon The Ram's Horn, as a title for the paper.
There was no money in hand to make the first issue. It was agreed that Mr. Hodges should furnish the finances and contribute editorially, while Mr. Van Rensselaer was to be the business manager.
It is amusing, as well as interesting, to recall what Mr. Hodges himself has to say about it: "I had not one dollar of my own for the paper; but as white-washing was a good business in New York, I went to work at it, and in two months I had nearly all the money that was necessary to get out the first number; and I can truly say that I furnished every dollar that started The Ram's Horn, and wrote the first article that was published in its columns."
To the surprise of many, on the first day of January, 1847, three thousand copies of The Ram's Horn were gotten out, with the significant motto,—"We are men, and therefore interested in whatever concerns men."
It was published in the second story of 141 Fulton Street, the price of subscription being $1.50 to persons living in New York, and $1.00 to those who received it by mail.
The paper was well received, though it met with some opposition on the part of Afro-Americans in the Metropolis, and was published until dissension arose among its projectors.
It was edited by Messrs. Hodges and Van Rensselaer, assisted by Frederick Douglass. Mr. Douglass, while he did little writing for The Ram's Horn, was then so highly popular, that no paper was considered of much importance without the name of Douglass connected with it. He was probably to Afro-American journalism of that day, what Bill Nye and Bret Harte are to the journalism of their day. The Ram's Horn was well distributed. At one time it had upon its books two thousand five hundred subscribers. Of course,
