1. From Slavery to Freedom 9th ed.
Chapter 8
Antebellum Free Blacks

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Freedom’s Boundaries
Black Laws
Missouri Compromise part of larger debate within individual states about civil status of free blacks
Many states passed laws barring in-migration of free blacks
Fear that free blacks would threaten slavery; desire to limit black population
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Freedom’s Boundaries
Migration West
Alexis de Tocqueville – paradox of racial intolerance in states where slavery never existed
Despite laws and cultural hostility, free black population grew dramatically in the Midwest
Blacks continued to head west in search of economic opportunity
Disfranchisement
Free blacks’ political rights declined everywhere
Pennsylvania revised constitution to disfranchise
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Freedom’s Boundaries
By end of Antebellum period, only New England states gave black men unrestricted right of suffrage
Demographics
Black population continued to grow, but relative to the entire U.S. population the percentage of free blacks began to decline
Increasingly rigid manumission laws
Significant increase in European immigrants
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In a Culture of Racism
Minstrel Shows
Blackface white actor performed caricatured images, dialect speech, and song
Promoted stereotypical images like “Jim Crow”
Ethnology
Professed methods and theories that stressed innate and immutable racial traits
Craniology – blacks have smaller skull size, thus lower intelligence
Polygenesis – races emerged from different human origins and are therefore different human species
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In a Culture of Racism
Bigotry and Prejudice
Word nigger began to be used as a term of racial disparagement
Collective acts of animosity directed at free blacks became common
Mob Violence
Free blacks scapegoated for diminished economic prospects of white workers
Riots, murders, and destruction of churches, schools, and orphanages occurred in Midwest and Northeast
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In a Culture of Racism
South vs. North
Blacks mistreated in North and West to delight of southern slaveholders who enjoyed playing up northern hostility
In the North, however, blacks could agitate and organize for their rights; could enter professions and jobs barred from them in the South
Southern freedom tenuous
Slip could send back to slavery
Controls over free blacks continued to increase
Prohibition on in-migration; re-enslavement laws
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8. Economic and Social Life
Trades and Professions
Restrictions on employment; but free blacks were required to work
Skilled and unskilled blacks found employment in areas experiencing labor shortages
Lower South had largest proportion of free black and skilled positions
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9. Economic and Social Life
Property Ownership
Regional differences in property ownership
Property “owned” by southern blacks included enslaved family members
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10. African American barber
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11. Economic and Social Life
Urban Life in the North
Northern Antebellum blacks more likely than whites to live in cities
Boston
Smallest free black community of northern seaport cities
Residential segregation created geographical concentration of the black community
Certain positions, like porter, held higher prestige
Upper class and middle class were strong in tradition of protest thought
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12. Economic and Social Life
New York
More affluent than black Bostonians
Clearly demarcated economic and cultural differences among blacks
Many opportunities for interracial mixing among lower classes
Philadelphia
Distinct three-tiered class structure among free blacks
Active in temperance crusade
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13. Economic and Social Life
Mutual Aid Organizations
Free blacks formed organizations to bind themselves together socially and culturally
Outlawed in many southern states
Cultural Contributions
Free black poets, playwrights, historians, newspaper editors, and artists contributed to development of African American culture
George Moses Horton; Daniel Alexander Paine; Harriet E. Wilson; Robert S. Duncanson
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Education
Opportunities in the North
By eve of Civil War, educational opportunities widely available for black education in North
Educational opportunities varied widely among states and communities
In 1855, Massachusetts legislature prohibited segregated schools
Opportunities in the South
Harder for southern free blacks to get education
No public schools, even for white children
Public sentiment against free black education
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Education
Higher Education
Northern free blacks began to attend institutions of higher education during antebellum period
Some schools that became predominantly black institutions opened during this time
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16. Black Convention Movement
Black delegates met to “devise ways and means for the bettering of our condition”
The Rochester Convention
Over 100 people gathered and formed the National Council of Colored People
Sought to advance equal rights and end slavery
Fostering Group Consciousness
Conventions way to promote collective discussion and action
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17. Black Convention Movement
Public Image and Behavior
Debated name that identified them as a people and a race
Leaders emphasized group and individual behavior – stressing temperance, church attendance, and thrift
Biblical Imagery
Used religious imagery in addressing issues
Drew repeatedly on Exodus
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Black Women
Women Take Public Action
Free black women attempt to bring gender inequality into discussion on racial inequality
Free black women enlisted in public movements for black freedom
Jarena Lee
Maria Stewart
One of earliest and most outspoken advocates of women’s rights and abolition
Considered the first black feminist
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Portrait of Jarena Lee
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Black Women
Sojourner Truth
Best known black women in women’s rights and abolitionist movements
Exposed the socially constructed character of gender
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21. The Debate on Emigration
Efforts at Mass Colonization
Despite schemes to deport free blacks, no more than 15,000 migrated outside U.S.
The American Colonization Society (ACS) responsible for transporting most
Mass colonization proved unworkable
Not economically feasible
Could not agree on single program because of varying motives of ACS members
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22. The Debate on Emigration
Opposition to the ACS
Opposition grew steadily among black and white abolitionists, although recurring discussions of emigration continued at conventions into the 1850s
Emigration supporters like H. Ford Douglas, James Theodore Holly, and Martin R. Delany distanced themselves from the ACS
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Map of Monrovia, Liberia, ca 1830
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24. The Debate on Emigration
The National Emigration Convention
Promoted black-led emigration movement
Douglas, Holly, and Delany vocal supporters
Factionalism over whether Canada, Africa, or Haiti was best place to emigrate to
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was strongest female emigrationist voice
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