“Neither Slave Nor Free: the Non-Slave African American in Antebellum America, 1790-1861”

South Carolina Social Studies Curriculum Standards:

3-4.1 Compare the economic conditions for various classes of people in South Carolina, including the elite, the middle class, the lower

class, the independent farmers, and the enslaved and free African Americans.

4-2.3 Explain the impact of the triangular trade, indentured servitude,

and the enslaved and free Africans on the developing culture and economy of North America.

USHC-2.4 Compare the social and cultural characteristics of the North,

the South, and the West during the antebellum period, including the lives of African Americans and social reform movements such as abolition and women’s rights.

Outline of Discussion

• Definition of a Free Negro

• Demographics Data

• Sources of Population

• Living Conditions-South

• Living Conditions-North

• Institutions

• Societal Impact

• Prominent Personalities

• Summary and Conclusion

Definition of a Free Negro

John Hope Franklin’s called them “quasi-free”

• STATUS SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN A SLAVE

• WORSE THAN POOREST WHITE

• NEITHER SLAVE NOR FREE

• VIEWED WITH DISTRUST AND SUSPICION

• PRESENCE ALWAYS A MATTER OF CONCERN

Demographics DataAfrican American Population, 1790

Regions and States Slave Population Free Negro Population

New England States• Maine• New Hampshire• Vermont• Massachusetts• Rhode Island• Connecticut

0157009582,648

5366302695,3693,4842,771

Mid-Atlantic States• New York• New Jersey• Pennsylvania• Delaware

21,19311,4233,7078,887

4,6822,7626,5313,899

Totals 48,973 30,933

Demographics DataAfrican American Population, 1790

Region and States Slave Population Free Negro Population

Southern States• Maryland• Virginia• North Carolina• South Carolina• Georgia• Kentucky• Tennessee

103,036292,627100,783107,09429,26412,4303,417

8,04312,8665,0411,801398114361

Totals 648,651 28,624

Overall Totals 697,624 59,557

Demographics DataAfrican American Population, 1820

Slave Population Free Negro Population

1,538, 000 234,000

Demographics DataAfrican American Population in the South, 1830

State Slave Population Free Negro Population

AlabamaArkansasFloridaGeorgiaKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMississippiNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaTennesseeVirginiaWashington, DC

117,5494,57615,501217,532165,213109,603102,99465,659245,601315,401141,603469,7576,119

1,5721418442,4864,91716,71052,93851919,5437,9214,55647,3486,152

Total 1,977,108 165,647

Demographics DataAfrican American Population, 1860

Slave Population Free Negro Population

3,954,000 North 237, 000

South 251,000

Total 488, 000

11% of the total African American population

Demographics Data

POPULATION-SELECT CITIES

1800 1850

BALTIMORE 2,771 5442

BOSTON 1,174 1,999

CHARLESTON 951 3,441

NEW ORLEANS 800 9,905

NEW YORK 3,490 13,815

PHILADELPHIA 4,210 10,736

WASHINGTON, DC 123 8,158

Demographics Data

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION

• MOST LIVED IN URBAN AREAS

• EASTERN VIRGINIA

• BALTIMORE

• BOSTON

• NEW YORK

• PHILADELPHIA

• CINCINNATI

Sources of Population

DEED OF MANUMISSIONKNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS THAT I,EBENZER ROTHWELL OF ST GEORGECOUNTY OF NEWCASTLE AND STATE OFDELEWARE DO FOR DIVERS GOOD CAUSES AND REASONS TO ME WELL KNOWN….. HEREUNTO TO MOVING DO MANUMIT, ENFRANCHISE AND SET AT LIBERTY MY NEGROMAN, ISAAC, NOW MY SLAVE, AGED ABOUT TWENTY YEARS,

Sources of Population

DEED OF MANUMISSION, CONTWHEN THE SAID ISAAC SHALL HAVE ACCRUED TO THE FULL AGE OF THIRTY-TWOYEARS, AND I DO FOR MYSELF, MY HEIRS, ESTATE, ADMINISTRATOR, OR ASSIGN, MANUMIT, ENFRANCHISE AND SET AT LIBERTY MY AFOREMENTINED NEGRO MAN ISAAC…..WITNESS PRESENT

SIGNATURE(SEAL)

Living Conditions-SouthIdentification Pendant

Living Conditions-South

CERTIFICATE OF FREEDOMIN CHESTERFIELD COUNTY COURT CLERK’S OFFICE, SEPT 16TH, 1858

RICHARD THOS ENGISH, A FREE MAN OFCOLOR, WHO HAS BEEN HERETOFORE REGISTERED IN THE SAID OFFICE, THIS DAY DELIVERED UP TO ME HIS FORMER CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION, AND APPLIED FOR A RENEWAL OF THE SAME, WHICH IS GRANTED HIM:

Living Conditions-SouthCERTIFICATE OF FREEDOM

AND HE IS NOW OF THE FOLLOWING

DESCRIPTION, TO WIT:AGE 20 YEARS,COLOR:

MULATTO, STATUTE:FIVE FEET 4 ½ INCHES,

HAS A SCAR ON HIS RIGHT TEMPLE, AND

WAS BORN FREE IN CHESTERFIELD COUNTY

NO. 3217 IN TESTIMONY….

FORMER NO 1767 DATE 13 FEB 1849

Notable Exceptions

• Some free African American amassed comfortable wealth in the North and South

• Some owned small profitable businesses

• Some became real estate and slave owners themselves

Reverend Samuel Cornish

Martin Delany

James Forten

Robert Purvis

Of Interest

• ANNUAL CONVENTION MOVEMENT

• AFRICAN RECOLONIZATION

QUASI FREE NEGROES

SUMMARY STATEMENTS

• FREE BLACK WERE ALWAYS AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE ANTISLAVERY AND ABOLITION MOVEMENT

• MOST REJECTED COLONIZATION SCHEME

• UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCE, THEY DID EXCEPTIONALLY WELL

Sources

D. Hine, W. Hine, and S. Harrold The African American Odyssey

Ira Berlin Slaves Without Master, The Free Negro in the Antebellum South

Leonard Curry The Free Black in Urban America, 1800-1850

Leon Litwack North of Slavery, The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860

Larry Koger Black Slaveowners, Free Black Slave Masters in South Carolina,1790-1890

Marina Wikramangrake A World in Shadow-The Free Negro in Antebellum South Carolina

Sources

NHC.ORG The Making of African American Identity, Volume I, 1500-1865

See particularly for primary sources:

* Community

* Identity