Thread by @adamjohnsonNYC

Yes! A 1859 NYT editorial scolding abolitionists as unreasonable and doing harm to the cause of opposing slavery is a fascinating read, especially the part where they say “silence on the part of the north concerning slavery would be the best policy”

https://twitter.com/theRealT_Train/status/1459922252779167752

“The very best thing that could possibly be done towards the abolition of Slavery would be for the North to stop talking about it.”

“Ten years of absolute silence would do more than fifty of turmoil and hostility, towards a peaceful removal of the evil. It is quite possible that the Abolition crusade may force a bloody and violent termination of the system, but this no sane man desires”

“The great necessity is to let the South alone—to leave them leisure to think of their own affairs—to throw upon them the necessity of studying their own condition & of looking into their own future…Emancipation whenever it comes, must be the work of the Slave States themselves”

worth noting NYT's "go home, shut up and let the adults handle reform" posture was also popular during civil rights movement. Just a month into the Freedom Rides, NYT insisted the rides had achieved everything they were going to achieve and for activists to pack it up and go home

NYT editorial June 4 1961:

"as we have urged before, the Freedom Riders should realize they have made their point and voluntarily cease their activities for a period during which the passions aroused by their recent efforts may subside"

"A similar position on this issue was taken last week by the Southern Regional Council, which is composed of both white and Negro liberals. The Council is entirely correct in advocating that the advantages gained be not pressed too far."

"The issue of desegregation can ultimately be solved only in the South and primarily by Southerners, white and Negro. Neither violence nor the steadily insistent provocation of violence can bring about the solution"

Despite the NYTimes plea to stop (and pressure from the Kennedy White House on May 24 1961 to do the same) the Freedom Rides would continue for six more months.

The guiding principle behind the NYT editorial board advocacy for 150 years is to let Serious, Credentialed legislators and lawyers handle the fight for equality and, above all, not upset or agitate whites. To them what's most important is peace, and stability and gradual change.