1830:
Andrew Jackson Census: 6 male and 8 female slaves, 5 "free
Colored Persons" out of a household of 25. (Census Washington DC
First Ward, page 67)
Census Graph Citation: From the United States Historical Census
Data Browser.
. "In 1830, there were 6,152 free Negroes in the District of
Columbia compared with 6,152 slaves; in 1840, 8,361 compared
with 4,694 slaves; and in 1860, 11,131 compared with only 3,185.
Thus is 30 years, the free colored population was nearly
doubled, while the slave population was halved. It would be
inaccurate to infer from this that there was any wholesale
manumission or that the District was haven for free Negroes. The
free Negroes were of several classes: Those whose antecedents
had never been slaves, such as descendents of indentured
servants; those born of free parent, or of free mothers; those
manumitted; those who had bought their own freedom, or whose
kinsmen had bought it for them; and those who were successful
runaways. These free Negroes were an ever present 'Bad example'
to the slaves of the District and of the surrounding slave
States, and the more they prospered, the 'worse example' they
became. Especially stringent regulations affecting free Negroes
were added by the District Common Council to the slave codes.
Every free Negro was required; (1) to give the mayor
'satisfactory evidence of freedom', plus $50 for himself, and
$50 for each member of his family; (2) to post a bond of $1,000
and to secure five white guarantors of good behavior. It was
necessary to show manumission papers in order to remain free;
even so, gangs bent on kidnapping could and frequently did seize
and destroy them. No Negro, slave or free, could testify against
whites. The jails were crowded with captured free Negroes and
suspected runaways; there were 290 of these in the city jail at
one time. Many were sold for prison fees, ostensibly for a fixed
period, but really for life. Meetings for any other than
fraternal and religious purposes were forbidden. After Nat
Turner's insurrection in Virginia in 1831, colored preachers
were banned." (Washington, City and Capital, Federal Writers'
Project, Works Progress Administration, American Guide Series.
Washington, 1937, USGPO. P71-2)
Foreign travelers accounts from the 1830 and 1840 described the
Robey and Williams slave pens which stood along the Mall in the
shadow of the Capitol; the two were often juxtaposed in
artworks, and the presence of slave pens in the center of the
nation's capital captured the attention of abolitionists.
(Ironically, today the Museum of African Art sits less than a
block away from the former location of the Robey and Williams
slave pens.) (The Mall, On-line Reference from the University of
Virginia American Studies Department, Site developed by Mary
Halnon )
"The District of Columbia, too small for slave rearing itself,
served as depot for the purchase of interstate traders, who
combed Maryland and northern Virginia for slaves. Since the
slave jails, colloquially known as 'Georgia pens", and described
by an ex-slave as worse than hog holes, were inadequate for the
great demand, the public jails were made use of, accommodations
for the criminals having to wait upon the more pressing and
lucrative traffic in slaves. There were pens in what is now
Potomac Park: and one in the Decatur House, fronting on what is
now Lafayette Square. More notorious were McCandless' Tavern in
Georgetown; in Washington, Robey's Tavern at Seventh and
Maryland Avenue, and Williams' 'Yellow House' at Eighth and B
street SW. In Alexandria, the pretentious establishment of
Armfield and Franklin, who by 1834 were sending more than a
thousand slaves a year to the Southwest, was succeeded and
surpassed by the shambles of much-feared Kephart." (Washington,
City and Capital, Federal Writers' Project, Works Progress
Administration, American Guide Series. Washington, 1937, USGPO.
p69)
1830
Virginia Census shows the holdings of the Armfield and Franklin
slave pen. Their inventory of consisted of predominantly of
children and teenagers who would be taken from Virginia and
surrounding States and sold to work the Cotton Plantations.
Sex and Age for 1830 census for the slave Pen of Armfield and
Franklin.
1 male under 10
50 males 10-24
20 males 24-36
4 females under 10
50 females 10-24
20 females 24-36
(1830 DC Census Alexandria page 270)
Franklin and Armfield business dealings depended largely on the
agents representing the enterprise, who were scattered
throughout slave-holding areas of Maryland and Virginia. In
Richmond there was R.C. Ballard & Co.; in Warrenton, Virginia,
J.M. Saunders & Co.; in Baltimore, Rockville and Fredericktown,
Maryland, George Kephart; in Frederick, Maryland, James Franklin
Purvis, nephew of Isaac Franklin; and in Easton, Maryland,
Thomas M. Jones (Sweig 1980;8). There eventually were three
ships traveling between New Orleans and Alexandria for Franklin
and Armfield-the Tribune, the Uncas, and the Isaac Franklin.
(The Alexandria Slave Pen: The Archaeology of Urban Captivity,
by Janice G. Artemel, Elizabeth A. Crowell and Jeff Parker,
October 1987. Engineering-Science, Inc. Washington, DC)
For graphs showing the Age and Sex Selectivity in Slave Export
from Virginia see The graph was used "to make a rough estimation
of the impact commercial traders made in each subregion. While
planters moving entire plantations tended to carry most slaves
with them, from infants to older men and women, traders sought
out the most marketable--men and women of prime work and
child-bearing age.
In a best-case scenario for slave families and communities, we
assume that planters did not act selectively in moving
west--that is, they simply gathered everyone in the caravan.
Since they would have drawn from every age and sex group in same
proportions, the percentage of older slaves exported provides an
indicator of planters' slave migrations. If planters took every
migrating slave in the oldest group, and traders took none, then
planters in the tidewater and piedmont tended to draw away
between 3 and 6 percent of each age-sex cohort in the 1820s.
Traders, then, would have been responsible for the
remainder--the majority of slaves in their teens and twenties.
(Geographies of Family and Market: Virginia's Domestic Slave
Trade in the Nineteenth Century, Phillip D. Troutman Research
Fellow Carter G. Woodson Institute for Afro-American and African
Studies Ph.D. Candidate Corcoran Department of History
University of Virginia, trout@virginia.edu http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/slavetrade/agesex.html
see also http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/slavetrade/)
1830
John Gadsby was said to live in the Decatur house. The Census
for Washington City shows John Gadsby with 38 slaves (1830
Census page 123)
Solomon Nothup, a freed man was kidnapped in Washington DC, held
in a slave pen and sold into slavery. "It occurred to me then
that I must be in an underground apartment, and the damp, moldy
odors of the place confirmed the supposition. The noise above
continued for at least an hour, when, at last, I heard footsteps
approaching from without. A key rattled in the lock - a strong
door swung back upon its hinges, admitting a flood of light, and
two men entered and stood before me. One of them was a large,
powerful man, forty years of age, perhaps, with dark,
chestnut-colored hair, slightly interspersed with gray. His face
was full, his complexion flush, his features grossly coarse,
expressive of nothing but cruelty and cunning. He was about five
feet ten inches high, of full habit, and, without prejudice, I
must be allowed to say, was a man whose whole appearance was
sinister and repugnant. His name was James H. Burch, as I
learned afterwards - a well-known slave-dealer in Washington;
and then, or lately connected in business, as a partner, with
Theophilus Freeman, of New-Orleans. The person who accompanied
him was a simple lackey, named Ebenezer Radburn, who acted
merely in the capacity of turnkey. Both of these men still live
in Washington, or did, at the time of my return through that
city from slavery in January last. The light admitted through
the open door enabled me to observe the room in which I was
confined. It was about twelve feet square - the walls of solid
masonry. The floor was of heavy plank. There was one small
window, crossed with great iron bars, with an outside shutter,
securely fastened. An iron-bound door led into an adjoining
cell, or vault, wholly destitute of windows, or any means of
admitting light. The furniture of the room in which I was,
consisted of the wooden bench on which I sat, an old-fashioned,
dirty box stove, and besides these, in either cell, there was
neither bed, nor blanket, nor any other thing whatever. The
door, through which Burch and Radburn entered, led through a
small passage, up a flight of steps into a yard, surrounded by a
brick wall ten or twelve feet high, immediately in rear of a
building of the same width as itself. The yard extended rearward
from the house about thirty feet. In one part of the wall there
was a strongly ironed door, opening into a narrow, covered
passage, leading along one side of the house into the street.
The doom of the colored man, upon whom the door leading out of
that narrow passage closed, was sealed. The top of the wall
supported one end of a roof, which ascended inwards, forming a
kind of open shed. Underneath the roof there was a crazy loft
all round, where slaves, if so disposed, might sleep at night,
or in inclement weather seek shelter from the storm. It was like
a farmer's barnyard in most respects, save it was so constructed
that the outside world could never see the human cattle that
were herded there. The building to which the yard was attached,
was two stories high, fronting on one of the public streets of
Washington. Its outside presented only the appearance of a quiet
private residence. A stranger looking at it, would never have
dreamed of its execrable uses. Strange as it may seem, within
plain sight of this same house, looking down from its commanding
height upon it, was the Capitol. The voices of patriotic
representatives boasting of freedom and equality, and the
rattling of the poor slave's chains, almost commingled. A slave
pen within the very shadow of the Capitol! Such is a correct
description as it was in 1841, of Williams' slave pen in
Washington, in one of the cellars of which I found myself so
unaccountably confined." (Twelve Years a Slave. Narrative of
Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington
City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853.: First published in 1853.
Electronic Edition. )
In Fairfax County Virginia, a major source of income for
residents came from selling or hiring out their excess slaves.
Slave markets were run by Joseph Bruin at the West End and by
Alexander Grigsby at Centreville. There were frequent slave
auctions at the front door of the Fairfax courthouse. Bruin
regularly advertised in the Gazette that he offered "cash for
Negroes," and that he was "at all times in the market" for
"likely young Negroes for the South" pay liberal prices for all
Negroes from 10-30 years of age." (Gazettette, 20 March 1944)
(Fairfax County, Virginia a History. Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors, Fairfax, Virginia, 1978 p 262)
Price, Birch, & Company Slave Pen
Duke St., Alexandria, Virginia
(William Pywell, 1863; LOC) Before the war a child would sell
for about $50.00, a man at $1,000-$1,800 and a woman from $500
to $1,500.00
Franklin and Armfield Office
1315 Duke Street
Built in 1812 as a residence for General Andrew Young, this was
the office building of the former interstate slave trading
complex which stood on the site from 1828 to 1861. By 1835
Franklin and Armfield controlled nearly half the coastal slave
trade from Virginia and Maryland to New Orleans. In 1846 the
property was sold to a Franklin and Armfield agent, George
Kephart, whose business became "the chief slave-dealing firm in
[Virginia] and perhaps anywhere along the border between the
Free and Slave States." After 1858, the slave pen was known as
Price, Birch, and Co., and their sign can be seen in a Civil War
era photograph. The business was appalling to many, especially
to active abolitionists in Alexandria, where the large Quaker
population contributed to a general distaste for slavery.
Several abolitionists' accounts survive which describe the slave
pen and the conditions encountered therein. Behind the house was
a yard containing several structures, surrounded by a high,
whitewashed brick wall. Male slaves were located in a yard to
the west, while women and children were kept in a yard to the
east, separated by a passage and a strong grated door of iron.
The complex served as a Civil War prison from 1861 to 1865, and
housed the Alexandria Hospital from 1878 to 1885. It was later
apartments, and was renovated as offices in 1984. (Office of
Historic Alexandria, Alexandria Sites Listed on the National
Register of Historic Places )
1830
There were more than 2 million African-American slaves in the
U.S. The 1865 Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and Union victory
(1865) freed almost 4 million slaves. (The Concise Columbia
Encyclopedia, 1995 by Columbia University Press from MS
Bookshelf.)
Apparently this last entry offended pro confederate Civil War
Web page, they try to argue that Slavery was not that bad. Give
up and wind selectively reproducing a good portion of the rest
of this chronology. (See Slavery Myths and Facts, Southern
Comfort Civil War History http://www.civilwarhistory.com/slavetrade/blackslavery.htm)
1830 United States Census for a John Adams at the same location
as John Q. Adams from the 1820 Census located in the 1st Ward of
Washington City show;
1 female slave 10-24; 1 free colored males under 10; 1 free
colored male 10-24; 1 free colored male24-36; 1 free colored
female 10-24; 2 white males 15-20 ; 1 white male 20-30; 1 white
female 20-30; 2 white males 20-30; 1 white male 60-70, 2 white
females under 5; 1 white female 20-30; 1 white female 30-40;
(1830 DC Census, Second Entry page 58)
1830-1860
Abolitionists, in U.S. history, especially from 1830 to 1860,
advocates of the compulsory emancipation of African-American
slaves. Abolitionists are to be distinguished from free-soilers,
who opposed the extension of slavery. The active campaign had
its mainspring in the revival (1820s) in the North of
evangelical religion, with its moral urgency to end sinful
practices. It reached crusading stage in the 1830s, led by
Theodore D. Weld, the brothers Arthur and Lewis Tappan, and
William Lloyd Garrison. The American Anti-Slavery Society,
established in 1833, flooded the slave states with abolitionist
literature and lobbied in Washington, D.C. Writers like J.G.
Whittier and orators such as Wendell Phillips lent strength to
the cause. Despite unanimity on their goal, abolitionists were
divided over the method of achieving it, Garrison advocating
moral suasion, others direct political action. Uncle Tom's
Cabin, by Harriet B. Stowe, became an effective piece of
abolitionist propaganda, and the KANSAS question aroused both
North and South. The culminating act of abolitionism was John
Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. Abolitionist demands for
immediate freeing of the slaves after the outbreak of the Civil
War resulted in Pres. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The
abolitionist movement was one of high moral purpose and courage;
its uncompromising temper hastened the demise of slavery in the
U.S. (The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, 1995 by Columbia
University Press from MS Bookshelf.)
Theodore Weld's American Slavery As It Is (1839), which
cataloged horror stories about slavery drawn entirely from
accounts in the Southern press, was an instant best seller and
touched a raw moral nerve in the country. Harriet Beecher Stowe,
scion of America's most distinguished religious family, used
Uncle Tom's Cabin, a sentimental novel with explicit Christian
lessons, to rivet the nation's attention to the institutional
evils of slavery.
Theodore Weld. reared in a strict Calvinistic manse, was a
protege of Charles Finney and studied at Lane Seminary (at which
Lyman Beecher was president), where he was part a group that
styled itself the "Illuminati". Weld's early reform passions
were for education and abolitionism. He became a women's rights
advocate after his marriage to Angelina Grimke, a Quaker
feminist. (The Welds helped promote reforms like "bloomers" -
progressive women's attire in the 19th century). His book
American Slavery sold 100,000 copies in its first year and, in
becoming an anti-slavery classic, made Weld the nation's leading
abolitionist spokesman. His wife, however, pursued a different
track, latching onto the millennialism of William Miller, who
predicted Christ's imminent return in 1843. The Welds eventually
drifted into spiritualism, Swedenborgianism, and
Transcendentalism. After struggling with a son's insanity and
suicide, and trying his hand at organic vegetable farming and
teaching at a Utopian commune, Weld finally became a Unitarian.
His life personifies Ephesians 4:14. (31. On Weld, see Robert
Abzug, Passionate Liberator: Theodore Dwight Weld and the
Dilemma of Reform (N.Y. Oxford, 1980). Weld's heterodox
tendencies evidently began early. After asking his
preacher-father a series of challenging questions, the senior
Weld told the boy: "Shut your mouth, you little infidel!" (cited
by Roger Schultz by Contra Mundum, No. 4 Summer 1992 Politics of
Righteousness: Christian Political Movements in the Early 19th
Century, )
Abolitionists were just as confused about the means they should
use. Some endorsed immediate abolition, using violence if
necessary. Others were committed to peaceful means and gradual
emancipation. Some, such as the American Anti-Slavery Society,
were simply committed to ending slavery. Still others, such as
the American Colonization Society, driven by fears of
post-emancipation racial tensions, wanted liberated slaves
resettled in Africa. While some stressed abolition throughout
the United States, others focused on preventing the spread of
slavery into the territories. (Summer 1992 Politics of
Righteousness: Christian Political Movements in the Early 19th
Century)
During the 1830s, William Lloyd Garrison's violent condemnations
of colonization as a slaveholder's plot to perpetuate slavery
created deep hostility between abolitionists and
colonizationists. (Library of Congress, African-American Mosaic,
Colonization, )
Plantation Mission Movement 1830-1) Methodist chapels were
constructed on many plantations ,As many as 1000 slaves lived on
some plantations with little contact with the outside or with
whites, other than the overseers. Many plantation slaves
attended the chapels when a Methodist circuit -riding preacher
came by. Baptists also made many converts. (a) Many blacks were
permitted to become preachers because Baptists had no
educational requirement for the ministry. (b) The role of
minister was one of the only leadership roles available to
blacks. (c) Besides the fact that the Baptists were a major
group in the South, many of the Baptist institutions, such as
the Baptismal service by immersion, or communion service (taken
at the same time and not row by row), were attractive to blacks,
even reminding some of similar practices held among African
tribes. Separate Southern black denominations did not emerge
until the post-Civil War (Growth of the Nation 1800 - 40
Jefferson's Administrations Stephen F. Austin State University,
Nacogdoches, TX )
In Ward Three the Census recorded 75 people in the infirmary
none were slave or "free colored. (1830 DC Census 3rd Ward page
95)
George W P Custis Listed in Georgetown with 57 Slaves and next
to him is Alexander Hunter with 22 (1830 DC Census page 217)
George Washington Parke Custis, Colonel, United States Army,
Arlington House Builder, Born at Mount Airy, Maryland, on April
30, 1781, his parents were John Parke and Eleanor (Calvert)
Custis. He attended St. John's College and Princeton University.
He married Mary Lee Fitzhugh in 1804 and they had one daughter,
Mary (later Mrs. Robert E. Lee). He was commissioned Colonel,
United States Army, and aide-de-camp to General Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney in 1799 and was a volunteer in the defense
of Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812. He began as series
of "Recollections of Washington" in the U.S. Gazette in 1826,
and continued in the National Intelligencer, and published in
book form in 1860. His first play, The Indian Prophecy, was
performed in the Chestnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, in 1830.
He also wrote: The Railroad, 1830; North Point of Baltimore
Defended, 1833; Eighth of January, 1834. He was the adopted son
of George Washington after the death of his parents. He built
Arlington House as a tribute to, and to hold the belongings of,
General George Washington. He died on October 19, 1852 and was
buried in a private lot on the estate (long before it became a
National Cemetery), which is now Section 13 of Arlington
National Cemetery. His wife, Mary Fitzhugh Custis, who died on
April 23, 1853, is buried with him. (Arlington House Web Page)
1830/05/24
The first division of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is completed
May 24 to link Baltimore with Ellicott Mills, 13 miles away.
(The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS
Bookshelf.)
1830
Smithsonian Report reads, "When (Adams) first takes seat in
Congress he presents fifteen petitions signed numerously by
citizens of Pennsylvania, praying for the abolition of slavery
and the slave trade in the District of Columbia... That he had
always cherished an abhorrence of slavery and a bitter antipathy
to slave-holders as a class is sufficiently indicated by many
chance remarks scattered through his Dairy and early years.
(John T. Morse, jr., Book of John Quincy Adams, Mifflin, 1882)
(Commentary in study "John Quincy Adams was against the
principle and practice of slavery therefore making it unlikely
that he would have tolerated slaves at the Columbia Mills."
Cynthia Field: 1998 Smithsonian Study)
John Quincy Adams was presented with fifteen petitions from
citizens of Pennsylvania asking for the abolition of slavery and
especially slavery in the District, "he did not think its
abolition there desirable," and said, "he hoped the subject
would not be discussed in the House." He thought that "the
citizens of Pennsylvania ought not petition in regard to the
matter in the District of Columbia. It would lead to ill-will,
heart-burning and mutual hatred." (Tremain, Mary. Slavery in the
District of Columbia. The Policy of Congress and the Struggle
for Abolition. Nebraska State University, cited in Milburn,
Page. The Emancipation of Slaves in the District of Columbia.
Records of the Columbia Society, Vol. 16 page98-99)
John Quincy Adams came to the House in 1830 and presented
antislavery petition that first year. He acted here only because
his Massachusetts constituents asked him to do so. Initially, he
thought no more of the abolitionists' work as Congressmen than
he had as president. I could only bring the country "to
ill-will. To heartburning mutual hatred without accomplishing
anything else. (Nye, Fettered Freedom, 48 in Piano p 33) When
petitions calling for abolition of slavery in the District of
Columbia deluged Congress in 1836, however, Adams had to pick a
side, Southerners again raised the stakes by pushing a gag rule
through the House requiring the tabling of such petitions. (They
were not printed, referred to committee, or debated.) While
Jackson stood with the South, Adams stood with the abolitionists
and eventually made even Negrophobes in the North see that
slavery eroded everyone's civil liberties. He did so by
demonstrating the price that the gag-rule advocates were
demanding: To protect slavery every American had to suffer the
right to petition their government, a right guaranteed in the
Constitution's First Amendment. (Nixon's Piano: Presidents and
Racial Politics from Washington to Clinton, Kenneth O'Reilly,
NY, Free Press 1995)
1830
Census lists 40 slaves to Charles C Lackland and William O'neal
(manager) Seems like a labor pool with many free whites and
"coloreds" 200 total.. (1830 Census page 201 Washington County)
1831/01
William Lloyd Garrison began abolitionist newspaper The
Liberator. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1995 from MS
Bookshelf)
1831
Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker begins Washington's first antislavery
newspaper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation. (Melder, Keith,
City of Magnificent Intentions. A History of the District of
Columbia, 1983). Lundy and the Quaker abolitionists inspired
more militant abolitionists like William Lloyd Garison,
publisher of the of the Liberator. Garrison denounced both
colonization and gradualism and called for immediate abolition.
In 1833 founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. (From Events
hat Changed American in the Nineteenth Century, edited by John
E. Findling and Frank W. Thackeray.1997)
In the 1830s, those few Americans who actively sought to abolish
slavery were treated as a lunatic fringe. As William Lee Miller
points out in this often riveting story of the nation's first
great political battle over the servitude of African-Americans,
slavery was an interest, "concentrated, persistent, practical,
and testily defensive," while antislavery was a mere sentiment,
"diffuse, sporadic, moralistic and tentative." Spurred by the
Christian evangelical fervor of the era, abolitionism was just
beginning to coalesce from a set of privately held beliefs into
a political movement that generated a growing stream of books,
pamphlets-and petitions. (Bordewich, Fergus M., Arguing About
Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress; book
review of book by William Lee Miller, Smithsonian December,
1996)
In 1829 Garrison entered into partnership with the American
antislavery agitator Benjamin Lundy to publish a monthly
periodical, The Genius of Universal Emancipation, in Baltimore,
Maryland. Lundy believed in gradual emancipation, and Garrison
at first shared his views; but he soon became convinced that
immediate and complete emancipation was necessary. Because
Baltimore was then a center of the domestic slave trade in the
U.S., Garrison's eloquent denunciations of the trade aroused
great animosity. A slave trader sued him for libel; he was
fined, and, lacking funds to pay the fine, was jailed. After his
release from prison Garrison dissolved his partnership with
Lundy and returned to New England. In partnership with another
American abolitionist, Isaac Knapp, Garrison launched The
Liberator in Boston in 1831; the newspaper became one of the
most influential journals in the United States. (Garrison,
William Lloyd," Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia.)
1831/01/01
The Liberator begins publication January 1 at Boston where local
abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, 26, advocates emancipation
of the slaves who account for nearly one-third of the U.S.
population. (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from
MS Bookshelf.)
1831
Virginia, Thomas Dew, a legislator, proudly refers to Virginia
as a Negro-raising state" for other states. Between 1830 and
1860, Virginia exports some 300,000 slaves. The price of slaves
increases sharply due to expanding territory in which slaves are
permitted and a booming economy in products harvested and
processed by slave labor. (The Negro Almanac a reference work on
the Afro American, compiled and edited by harry A Ploski, and
Warren Marr, II. Third Edition 1978 Bellwether Publishing)
1831/08
Nat Turner slave rebellion in Southampton county Virginia.
Turner, Nat, 1800-1831, African-American slave and
revolutionary; b. Southampton co., Va. Believing himself
divinely appointed to lead his fellow slaves to freedom, he
commanded about 60 followers in a revolt (1831) that killed 55
whites. Although the so-called Southampton Insurrection was
quickly crushed and Turner was caught and hanged six weeks
later, it was the most serious uprising in the history of U.S.
slavery and virtually ended the organized abolition movement in
the South. (The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, 1995 by Columbia
University Press from MS Bookshelf.) For the extraordinary
transcript of Nat Turners Testimony see excerpts from Nat
Turner's Trial <http://vi.uh.edu/pages/mintz/32.htm also see
http://www.melanet.com/nat/nat.html and http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1826-1850/slavery/confesxx.htm)
Nat Turner revolt, Southampton County, Va., August 21-22. Some
60 whites were killed. Nat Turner was not captured until October
30. Nat Turner was hanged, Jerusalem, Va., Nov. 11. (Major
Revolts and Escapes, Lerone Bennett, Before the Mayflower,
http://www.afroam.org/history/slavery/revolts.html)
The bloodiest insurrection of all, in which some sixty whites
were murdered, occurred in Southampton County, Virginia, in
August, 1831. Nat Turner, its leader, besides being a skilled
carpenter, was a literate, mystical preacher. He had discovered
particular relevance in the prophets of the Old Testament.
Besides identifying with the slave experience of the Israelites,
Turner and other slaves felt that the social righteousness which
the prophets preached related directly to their situation. The
picture of the Lord exercising vengeance against the oppressors
gave them hope and inspiration. While the Bible did appear to
tell the slave to be faithful and obedient to his master, it
also condemned the wicked and provided examples that could be
interpreted to prove God's willingness to use human instruments
in order to bring justice against oppressors. Turner's growing
hatred of slavery and his increasing concern for the plight of
his brothers, led him to believe he was one of God's chosen
instruments. As his conviction deepened, the solar eclipse early
in 1831 appeared to him to be a sign that the day of vengeance
was at hand. In the following months he collected a small band
of followers, and in August they went into action. Unlike
Prosser and Vesey, he began with only a very small band which
lessened his chance of betrayal. As they moved from farm to
farm, slaughtering the white inhabitants, they were joined by
many of the slaves who were freed in the process. However, word
of the massacre spread. At one farm, they were met by armed
resistance. Slaves as well as masters fought fiercely to stop
the attack. Some of Turner's men were killed and wounded, and
the planned drive towards Jerusalem was thrown off stride. This
enabled the militia to arrive and break up the attack. In due
time Turner and several of his followers were captured and
executed. White men in both the South and the North saw little
similarity between these insurrections and the American
Revolution. The Turner massacre was universally depicted as the
work of savages and brutes, not of men. Vigilance was tightened,
and new laws controlling the slaves were passed throughout the
South. Both the violence of the slaves and the verbal abuse of
the abolitionists only served to strengthen the South in its
defense of the peculiar institution. Slaves who revolted were
depicted as beasts who could not be freed because they would
endanger society. Submissive slaves were pictured as children in
need of paternal protection from the evils of a complex, modern
world. They were never seen as men whose rights and liberties
had been proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence. (Norman
Coombs, The Immigrant Heritage of America, Twayne Press, 1972. ,
Chapter 4, Slave Insurrections)
The Washington City Council reacted by making the Black Codes
harsher: A black man who struck a white person was now subject
to having his ears cut off. (P 82 Melder, Keith. Slaves and
Freedmen Wilson Quarterly 1989 13(1) 77-83)
The corporation of Georgetown enact an ordinance for the
regulation including the offense of the possession of
abolitionist information including the Liberator. (p142 Bryan,
Wilhelmus Bogart. The History of the National Capital. Vol. II
1815-1878. Macmillan 1916 GW lib)
The slave insurrection in cased a bitter reaction in Maryland.
The Maryland General Assembly took up the policy of colonization
free blacks in Liberia in legislation passed that autumn of
1831, providing an annual appropriation to the Maryland State
Colonization Society. At the same time, the Assembly prohibited
any further importation of slaves into the state. There was
already a statute on the books prohibiting free blacks from
other states settling in Maryland. This act of 1807 was given
more serious penalties in 1831, and made still more stringent in
1839. The District of Columbia afforded a loophole in the law
until 1845, when, on complaint of Montgomery and Prince George's
residents, a special act was passed to forbid blacks from
crossing the District line to settle. (Jeffrey R. Brackett, The
Negro in Maryland, A Study of the Institution of Slavery) (New
York, reprint by Negro University Press, 1969 and James M.
Wright, The Free Negro in Maryland 1634-1860, NY, Octagon Books
1971, reprint of 1921 ed. Cited in Richard K MacMaster and Ray
Eldon Hiebert, A Grateful Remembrance, the story of Montgomery
County, Maryland, Montgomery County Historical Society, 1976 p
156-157)
The Maryland General Assembly forbid free black citizens to buy
liquor, own guns, sell food without a license, or even attend
religious meetings if there wee no whites present. This last
provision struck a crippling blow a the independent black
church, the only real institution that the black community had
been able to develop during its enslavement. (Lawrence H.
McDonald, "Failure of the Great Reaction in Maryland" Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Maryland, 1974), Appendix VI, cited
in Richard K McAlester and Ray Eldon Hiebert, A Grateful
Remembrance, the story of Montgomery County, Maryland,
Montgomery County Historical Society, 1976 p 157)
Maryland further discouraged slave owners from manumitting their
slaves by requiring them to send the free person out of the
state. (Richard K MacMaster and Ray Eldon Hiebert, A Grateful
Remembrance, the story of Montgomery County, Maryland,
Montgomery County Historical Society, 1976 p 157)
The Maryland State Colonization Society established a settlement
at Cape Palmas, some miles south of the major Liberian colony at
Monrovia. It made a determined effort to recruit free black
settlers from Maryland. Black Marylanders identified the
colonization movement with a desire to remove the free blacks
from the state lest they encourage restiveness among the slaves.
They saw it generally committed to the preservation of slavery
and inequality of free black citizens. Very few Marylanders were
willing to leave their homes for n uncertain future in Africa.
(Richard K MacMaster and Ray Eldon Hiebert, A Grateful
Remembrance, the story of Montgomery County, Maryland,
Montgomery County Historical Society, 1976. P 157)
With regard to the Nat Turner revolt, "It is difficult to decide
with certainty whether it occurred as a reaction to the
harshness of slave rule or as a result of the weakness of
control." (Michael Craton, Sinews of Empire, A Short History of
British Slavery, Anchor Books NY., 1974 p 227)
Turner, Nat b. Oct. 2, 1800, Southampton county, Va., U.S.--d.
Nov. 11, 1831, Jerusalem, Va.), black American bondsman who led
the only effective, sustained slave revolt (August 1831) in U.S.
history. Spreading terror throughout the white South, his action
set off a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the
education, movement, and assembly of slaves and stiffened
proslavery, antiabolitionist convictions that persisted in that
region until the American Civil War (1861-65). (On-Line African
American History Reference)
Nat Turner's rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in the
summer of 1831, threw the slaveholding South into a panic, and
into a determined effort to bolster the security of the slave
system. Turner, claiming religious visions, gathered about
seventy slaves who went on a rampage from plantation to
plantation, murdering at least fifty-five men, women, and
children. They gathered supporters but were captured as their
ammunition ran out. Turner and perhaps eighteen others were
hanged.(Major Revolts and Escapes, Lerone Bennett, Before the
Mayflower,)
Soon after the Nat Turner Rebellion, the General Assembly of
Virginia, convened in 1831 to hear Governor John Floyd's annual
message, which urged the Assembly to address the current crisis
so as to quell the fears of the citizens and to restore order
and safety to the Commonwealth. His address called for funds for
the removal of free blacks from Virginia and for the houses to
discuss what further action should be taken. As a result of
Governor Floyd's address, a special committee was formed by the
speaker of the House of Delegates to discuss the revolt of the
past summer and present the house with possible solutions to the
problem. The first week of the assembly saw numerous proposals
for the colonization of free blacks and on December 14, William
Henry Roane of Hanover presented a petition from the Society of
Friends which proposed the abolition of slavery through the
gradual colonization of slave in Africa. This proposal sparked
intense debate between the members of the house and divided
Tidewater delegates and those from the heavily agricultural "southside"
of the James River. On January 11, 1832, Piedmont Delegate
William O. Goode, a southsider, argued that debate on
emancipation placed all of Virginia in grave danger because of
the threat posed by blacks watching the actions of the Assembly.
He proposed a resolution to table discussion for the safety of
the Commonwealth. A counter-resolution was proposed by western
Piedmont delegate Thomas Jefferson Randolph proposing a
state-wide referendum on gradual emancipation so that the people
of Virginia could decide the issue rather than the members of
the Assembly, who held a disproportionate stake in the
institution of slavery. If the majority of the citizens were for
abolition, the process would begin with all slaves born on or
after July 4, 1840, becoming the property of the Commonwealth.
They would be hired out by the state until enough money had been
raised to provide for their removal from the country. The
session closed with the passage of a statement supporting the
exploration of possible colonizing of slaves. That mood would
change by the next fall, a result in large part of the essay on
slavery published by William and Mary professor Thomas R. Dew at
the close of the 1831-32 session. (Corey McLellan, The Debate in
the 1831-32 Virginia General Assembly on the Abolition of
Slavery, The University of Virginia.)
Dew attacked the plan, which called for all slaves to become
property of the Virginia Commonwealth after July 4, 1840-- males
at twenty-one, females at eighteen. This proposal, according to
Dew, was a violation of property rights to slave owners and
could never be accomplished because of the expense involved. Dew
went on to the Biblical argument for slavery. He emphasized that
nowhere does Scripture tag slavery as a sin, and that there is
no command to abolish it. From the Biblical argument for
slavery, Dew moved on to the historical one, pointing that
slavery had existed continuously since the beginnings of
recorded human history. Dew's arguments were the key factor in
closing the door to emancipation in Virginia until the Civil
War. (Thomas Dew's Review of the Debate in the Virginia
Legislature of 1831- 1832)
James Hamilton, the governor of South Carolina, requested that
Virginia governor John Floyd discuss the factors that led to the
Nat Turner revolt in Southampton, Virginia in 1831, the most
well known slave revolt in U.S. history. About sixty white
people were killed. Governor Floyd's lengthy reply is in this
letter. Floyd blamed the "spirit of insubordination" on the
"Yankee population" in general and Yankee peddlers and traders
in particular who shared Christianity with the slaves and taught
them that all are born free and equal, and "that white people
rebelled against England to obtain freedom, so have blacks a
right to do." Floyd placed the blame for masterminding the plan
on the church leaders, but he believed that all the discussions
about freedom and equality led to the uprising. (Library of
Congress, African American Odyssey, Slavery--The Peculiar
Institution)
1831/09
At a dinner in Boston, Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French
magistrate who would go back home to write his classic book
"Democracy in America," was seated next to former President John
Quincy Adams and asked the old man: "Do you look on slavery as a
great plague for the United States?" "Yes, certainly," Adams
answered. "That is the root of almost all the troubles of the
present and the fears for the future." ("Black justice, white
cynicism," Byline: Richard Reeves; Universal Press Syndicate in
The Baltimore Sun, October 5, 1995)
1831/12/05
John Quincy Adams became a member of the First session of the
twenty second Congress of the House of Representative from a
district in Massachusetts.
Adams returns to Washington. "The issue of slavery was not, at
this time, neatly defined and categorized in the minds of Louisa
and John Quincy Adams, they did not abhor it with all their
souls, as the abolitionists did. Nor were they ready to commit
themselves without hesitation to its demise. "The Adams's, as
residents of Washington, saw slaves around them all the time.
There were few free blacks, and it was common practice for
householders to employ slaves as servants; a few lucky and
hard-working slaves were even allowed to buy their own freedom
in this manner. While the Adams's never owned a slave, they
frequently hired one or two from slaveholders, usually residents
of Maryland or Virginia, as cooks or house servants. Such
employment did not conflict, as we shall see with Louisa's or
John Quincy's position on slavery (337) Louisa, as a resident of
Washington with relatives in Maryland, feared retribution of the
slaves, and the surliness of the free blacks. Adams put the
preservation of the union before slavery. (Shepherd, Jack;
Cannibals of the Heart, 1980)
1831
At the start of each session of Congress, on Petition Days, the
number of "prayers" to ban slavery in the nation's capital had
been increasing since William Lloyd Garrison launched his
abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, in 1831. That event
coincided with the bloody Nat Turner slave rebellion in Virginia
and the introduction of the steam printing press in New York
City, where abolitionists began to print thousands of
antislavery tracts and mail them South for distribution.
Southern postmasters, prompted by pre-Ku Klux Klan vigilantes,
began seizing and burning abolitionist material, and death
threats were made against abolitionist visitors to the South.
(Willard Sterne Randall, Newsday, January 28, 1996, p 33)
1831
In the United States, the notion that slavery was God's will
gained momentum after the Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831. In
hundreds of pamphlets, written from 1836 to 1866, Southern
slaveholders were provided a host of religious reasons to
justify the social caste system they had created. In their quest
to justify black slavery, Southerners looked to the story of
Noah's curse over his son Ham. According to Genesis 9, Noah
planted a vineyard, drank too much wine and lay naked in his
tent. When he awoke, Noah learned that his son Ham had seen him
naked - a shame in the ancient world. He cursed Ham and his son,
Canaan, saying, "lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers,"
9:25. Since Canaan and his descendants were said to settle
Africa, some believed African-Americans therefore were destined
to be slaves. According to Dale Martin, a professor of religion
at Duke University. (Bible neither condemns nor condones
slavery, News & Observer on the Web, Raleigh NC: August 9th
1996))
1831
B & O Railroad between Georgetown and the Ellicott Mills running
and generating modest income. (Walsh, Richard and Fox, William
Lloyd. Maryland, A History 1632-1974. Maryland Historical
Society)
1832
In January of 1832, while President Andrew Jackson was dining
with friends at the White House, someone whispered to him that
the Senate had rejected the nomination of Martin Van Buren as
Minister to England. Jackson jumped to his feet and exclaimed,
"By the Eternal! I'll smash them!" So he did. His favorite, Van
Buren, became Vice President, and succeeded to the Presidency
when "Old Hickory" retired to the Hermitage, where he died in
June 1845. (Andrew Jackson White House Bio)
1832
In the wake of the Nat Turner's insurrection in Virginia,
Georgetown strengthened its black code punishing with particular
severity any person of color possessing abolitionist literature.
(Slavery and the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia, The
Negro History Bulletin, Oct 1950, Springharm Library, Howard
University Vertical File Washington, DC)
1832
Louisiana presents resolution requesting Federal Government to
arrange with Mexico to permit runaway slaves from Louisiana to
be claimed when found on foreign soil. (Underground Railroad
Chronology, National Park Service)
1832
An act to abolish slavery was introduced into the Virginia
legislature by Thomas Jefferson's grandson and was defeated by
only seven votes. ("Virginia," Microsoft Encarta 98
Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation.)
1832/12
Jackson reelected will serve till Mar 1833 and Martin Van Buren
, 1833-37.In 1832 the Anti-Masonic Party nominated a lawyer,
William Wirt, as its candidate for the presidency, but he was
defeated by Andrew Jackson, who supported Masonry. Ironically,
Wirt himself was a Mason. After that date the Freemasons
encountered little political opposition in the U.S. or
elsewhere, until the rise to power of the National Socialists in
Germany in 1933.
Opponents of Freemasonry, including sections of the press,
churches, and antislavery elements, joined in the condemnation
of the order. Thurlow Weed, publisher of the Rochester (New
York) Telegraph and later of the Anti-Masonic Enquirer, led the
press attack on Freemasonry and endorsed anti-Masonic candidates
for New York State offices in the election of 1827. When 15 of
these candidates were elected to the state Assembly, an
Anti-Masonic Party was formed and in 1828 held its first state
convention. National conventions were held in Philadelphia in
1830 and in Baltimore in 1831. At the latter, William Wirt, who
had served as U.S. attorney general under Presidents James
Monroe and John Quincy Adams, was nominated for president in
opposition to Andrew Jackson, who supported Masonry. Wirt
himself was a Freemason. The convention required a three-fourths
majority to nominate, thereby setting a precedent for the
two-thirds rule used by the Democrats in subsequent national
conventions for more than 100 years. In the 1832 elections,
however, the Anti-Masonic Party carried only the state of
Vermont. It did win a considerable number of seats in the 23rd
Congress (1833-35). The party survived until about 1834, when
several prominent leaders founded the Whig Party or shifted to
the Democratic Party. (Anti-Masonic Party," Microsoft Encarta 98
Encyclopedia. 1993-1997) (For antimasonic literature see John
Quincy Adams, Letters On The Masonic Institution Originally
Published: 1847 T. R. Marvin Boston, Massachusetts and in
general http://www.crocker.com/~acacia/antim.html)
1833
The Anti-Slavery Convention of 1833 held. A list of officers of
the new society was then chosen: Arthur Tappan, of New York,
president, and Elizur Wright, Jr., William Lloyd Garrison, and
A. L. Cox, secretaries. Among the vice-presidents was Dr. Lord,
of Dartmouth College, then professedly in favor of emancipation,
but who afterwards turned a moral somersault, a self-inversion
which left him ever after on his head instead of his feet. He
became a querulous advocate of slavery as a divine institution,
and denounced woe upon the abolitionists for interfering with
the will and purpose of the Creator. ( Published originally in
John G. Whittier's "Prose Works," the following is an excerpt
from Whittier's recollection of the founding convention of the
American Anti-Slavery Society.John G. Whittier, "The
Anti-Slavery Convention of 1833," 1874.)
1833
Monocracy Aqueduct built in 1833 as part of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal (C & O Canal) system, it carried canal boats above
the Monocacy River. It is one of ten such structures that still
stand along the 185-mile stretch of the canal that extends from
Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC. The 430-foot long aqueduct is
composed of seven arches, built with white stone from nearby
Sugarloaf Mountain, and is considered one of the finest examples
of early civil engineering. (Press release of Senator Mikulski
June 15, 1998 naming Monocracy Aqueduct, one of "America's Most
Endangered Historic Sites" by the National Trust for Historic
Preservation. Press release titled "Senator Mikulski Joins First
Lady Hillary At Monocacy Aqueduct, Named One Of America's Most
Endangered Historic Places")
In the days before the railroads, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
was designed to bypass the rapids of the Potomac River and move
goods cheaply and efficiently from the Chesapeake Bay to the
Ohio River. According to one expert, the construction of the C&O
Canal was "a typical American heroic enterprise."
Along the way, a series of challenges faced engineers, including
how to carry barges across the 11 major intersecting tributaries
that drain into the Potomac River. The solution was a system of
aqueducts.
At Mile 42, workers constructed the largest -- the Monocacy
Aqueduct. Essentially a 516-foot bridge over the river, the
aqueduct carried the canal in a flume-like trough supported by
seven graceful arches. Mules dragging the barges walked along a
towpath by the canal. The Monocacy Aqueduct is now considered to
be one of the finest canal structures in the United States.
Hundreds of manual laborers, many of them Irish and Welsh
immigrants, hauled heavy stone blocks from nearby Sugar Loaf
Mountain to build the aqueduct, which took five years to
complete. During the Civil War, Confederate troops tried to
dynamite it to stop the movement of Northern soldiers, but they
were unable to penetrate the dense stone. (Talking It Over by
Hillary Rodham Clinton, June 17, 1998 )
1833
Slavery abolished in Canada. See also the Upper Canada for 1791
and 1818.
1834/0129
Workers along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C & O Canal) stage
a riot January 29. President Jackson orders Secretary of War
Lewis Cass to send in the Army, using federal troops for the
first time in a U.S. labor conflict. (The People's Chronology,
1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
1834
Parliament orders abolition of slavery in the British colonies
by August 1, 1834, in a bill passed August 23 after a long
campaign by the humanitarian William Wilberforce who has died
July 29 at age 73. Children under 6 are to be freed immediately,
slaves over 6 given a period of apprenticeship that will be
eliminated in 1837, slave-owners given a total of £120 million
in compensation. (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by James
Trager from MS Bookshelf)
1834
U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia petitioned the House
Committee on the District of Columbia regarding a bill of $1,500
for housing runaway "Negroes" in the public jail 23A-G4.4.
(National Archives, Guide to the Records of the United States
House of Representatives Records Of The District Of Columbia
Committee 10th-45th Congresses 1807-79)
The Senate also received petitions decrying the District's
practice of arresting and then selling undocumented "persons of
color" for jail fees (28A-G3). (National Archives, Guide to the
Records of the United Senate. Records Of The Committee On The
District Of Columbia 1816-1968 (512 ft.)
1835
"A Colonization minded parson investigating a slave depot in
Washington in 1835 consciously recorded that the premises were
as clean and orderly as those of the District's penitentiary,
which he had visited a few days before, but "the situation of
the convicts at the penitentiary was far less deplorable than
that of these slaves. Confined for the crime of being descended
from ancestors who were forcibly reduced to bondage." (J.C.
Furnas, Goodbye to Uncle Tom, William Sloane Associates, NY,
1956 p69)
1835/08
Riots touched off by discovery of abolitionist literature among
specimens of Dr. Reuben Crandall a botanist when an angry crowd
of Navy Yard workers descend on the Washington County Jail where
he was held. The mob was coursed out by a free Negro Beverly
Snow who said some derogatory things about their wives. The
crowd immediately surged towards Snow's tavern and, although
they failed to lay their hands on Snow himself, they proceeded
to wreck his establishment. Riots lasted for two days and three
nights, smashing the windows of Negro churches and school, and
homes. Drastic legislation would follow restricting the rights
of free Negroes. (Dorothy Sproles Provine, The Free Negro In the
District of Columbia 1800-1860, Thesis Louisiana State
University Department of History, 1959, 1963)
In 1835 a slave reputedly attempted to murder Mrs. William
Thornton, the widow of the architect of the Capitol, and
passions were inflamed because it was thought that this abortive
action was inspired by abolitionist sentiments. The resulting
mob behavior was intended to intimidate free Negroes in the
city. A Negro school and some tenements were destroyed, churches
were attacked, and the furnishings were smashed in the
fashionable Beverly Snow restaurant owned by a free Negro of
that name. The School was set up by John f. Cook, a shoemaker in
1834.
The upheaval became known as the "Snow Riot" and was followed by
restrictive legislation in 1836 designed to limit the right of
the free Negroes to perform work other than "drive carts, drays,
hackney carriages or wagons." There were no longer to operate
restaurants, for example, a major outlet of work for the more
enterprising blacks. The intent of the legislation was to reduce
free Negroes to servile status. (G. Franklin Edwards and Michael
R. Winston, Commentary: The Washington of Paul Jennings-White
House Slave, Free Man, and Conspirator for Freedom. White House
Historical Association. )
Snow Riot leads to formation of National Guard and Washington
Light Infantry Company. By 1838, citizen patrols established. (Wilkelmus
Bogart Bryan, A History of the National Capital from its
Foundation through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic
Act, (NY: Macmillan Co. 1916, II 147-148. Cited by Dolores T.
Williams, Preliminary Checklist of Non-Official Imprints for the
District of Columbia, 1836-37, with a Historical Introduction)
Between the 1820s and 1840s mob violence in the North and West
came to be identified with lower class white attacks, fueled by
racism and economic competition, on the increasingly visible
urban black community. As blacks began organizing in earnest to
claim their rights as Americans, white mob violence was used to
restrict their ability to make political statements in the
public sphere. Old traditions like Election Day and Pinkster
celebrations were banned, black parades were frequent targets of
mob attacks, and the representation of black culture in public
was largely controlled by whites in blackface perpetuating the
degrading stereotypes of the minstrel show. (James Oliver Horton
and Lois E. Horton. _In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community and
Protest Among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860_. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1997. Reviewed for H-Shear by Mitch Kachun, in
Slavery@Listserv.uh.edu., Thu, 21 May 1998)
This was a time when European immigrants were pouring into the
North. Many of these people had faced discrimination and
hardship in their native countries. But in America they found
their rights expanding rapidly. They had entered a country in
which they were part of a privileged category called "white."
Classism and ethnic prejudices did exist among white Americans
and had a tremendous impact on people's lives. But the bottom
line was that for white people in America, no matter how poor or
degraded they were, they knew there was a class of people below
them. Poor whites were considered superior to blacks, and to
Indians as well, simply by virtue of being white. Because of
this, most identified with the rest of the white race and
defended the institution of slavery. Working class whites did
this even though slavery did not benefit them directly and was
in many ways against their best interests. (Public Broadcasting
Service Resource Bank. Race-based legislation in the North 1807
- 1850)
1835
-- represented a "crest of rioting in the United States."
Anti-abolitionist riots in the North erupted. The abolitionist
mail campaign triggered riots in Charleston and other Southern
towns. The work of vigilantes in Mississippi responding to the
Murrell slave-stealing conspiracy and the Vicksburg gamblers,
this, "inaugurated" America's most mob-filled year. The example
for this mayhem, was set by the "slave-driving aristocrat" in
the White House. Andrew Jackson's treatment of African and
Native Americans, his war against the Bank, his contempt for the
traditional political establishment, and his lack of respect for
the law--all set a violent example for other Americans to
follow, and they did so by going to the streets. Jackson, "was
in public life a general, a man trained to act in terms of
friends and foes, victories and defeats, rather than in terms of
political and diplomatic courtesy and compromise." Jackson was a
"bravely determined man certainly, but one who paid little heed
to process or legality if they stood in the way of what he
thought desirable" (p. 5). Thus Jackson and his movement was the
wellspring of violence. (H-NET BOOK REVIEW Published by H-CivWar@h-net.msu.edu
(February 1999) David Grimsted. _American Mobbing, 1828-1861:
Toward the Civil War_. New York and Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press, 1998. xviii + 372 pp. Notes and index. $65.00
(cloth), ISBN 0-19-511707-7. Reviewed for H-CivWar by James M.
Denham <jdenham@flsouthern.edu>, Department of History, Florida
Southern College)
Amos Kendall, Postmaster General under Andrew Jackson, bans
abolitionist literature from use of the mail service. "It is
universally conceded, that our States are united only for
certain purposes. There are interests, in relation to which they
are believed to be as independent of each other as they were
before the constitution was formed. The interest which the
people of some of the States have in slaves, is one of them. No
State obtained by the union any right whatsoever over slavery in
any other State, nor did any State lose any of its power over
it, within its own borders. On this subject, therefore, if this
view be correct, the States are still independent, and may fence
round and protect their interest in slaves, by such laws and
regulations as in their sovereign will they may deem expedient."
(Postmaster General Amos Kendall's Report on the delivery of
Abolition Materials in the Southern States Report of the
Postmaster General, House Documents, 24th Congress, First
Session (1835), Appendix, 9. Located by Jenny Adamson and
transcribed by Carolyn Sims, Department of History, Furman
University)
Between 1820 and 1850, Northern blacks also became the frequent
targets of mob violence. Whites looted, tore down, and burned
black homes, churches, schools, and meeting halls. They stoned,
beat, and sometimes murdered blacks. Philadelphia was the site
of the worst and most frequent mob violence. City officials
there generally refused to protect African Americans from white
mobs and blamed blacks for inciting the violence with their
"uppity" behavior. (Public Broadcasting Service Resource Bank.
Race-based legislation in the North 1807 - 1850)
1835/12/16
Congressman John Fairfield of York County, Maine, stood up on
the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and presented a
petition signed by 172 women calling for the abolition of
slavery in the District of Columbia. (Willard Sterne Randall,
Newsday, January 28, 1996, p 33)
1835/12/28
Seminoles and their African Americans massacre a 103-man U.S.
Army force under Major Francis L. Dade in Florida. (The People's
Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
An examination of Alexis de Tocqueville's thesis on the march of
Russia and the United States to manifest destiny in the first
half of the 19th century. Assesses first the impact of the age
of democratic revolution, comparing the false images of
President Andrew Jackson and Czar Nicholas I. Goes on to discuss
abolitionism (of Negro slavery and serfdom) and expansionism
(the Monroe Doctrine and Russophobia in Eastern Europe and
Central Asia). Urbanization and the industrial revolution in the
United States, and the growth of cultural maturity in Russia,
were significant developments which limit the extent to which
one can compare the experiences of these two emergent nations.
Based on the author's forthcoming book, The Emergence of the
Super-Powers; illus. (Dukes, Paul. Two Great Nations, 1815-50.
Journal citation: History Today [Great Britain] 1970 20(2):
94-106.)
1836/10/29
[In Washington, DC], To prove they were free, blacks had to
carry identity papers. Free blacks needed permission to have a
meeting or party in their house. They could not go on the
streets after 10 p.m. without a pass. In 1836, the city, by
denying licenses to blacks, tried to run them out of most
businesses. (Bob Arnebeck A Shameful Heritage, Washington Post
Magazine January 18, 1889, also see Washington Ordinances of
October 29, 1836 and November 9, 1836)
1836
In Virginia, a slave manumitted after 1836 had to obtain the
permission of county court to remain legally in the state for
more than a year after his manumission. Until the mid-1850's,
the Fairfax court routinely permitted reputable, newly
emancipated slaves to remain in the county. But in 1855 when
Lewis Casey, a "free man of color' who had been recently
manumitted by will and was known to be "honest, sober and
industrious," petitioned the court for permission to remain, the
justices refused. It was, they declared, "impolitic to encourage
any larger increase in this class of our population." By the
1850s, the Virginia legislature, angered by Northern demands for
the immediate abolition of slavery, was prepared to make the
black code even harsher. One or two Virginia governors advocated
that all free blacks be forcibly expelled from the state. Though
the Assembly refused to accede to the governors' requests, it
provided for the voluntary enslavement of free blacks, made it
illegal for free blacks to purchase slaves, authorized the sale
into slavery of free blacks convicted of certain crimes, and
enacted legislation which made the escape of slaves more
difficult. (Fairfax County, Virginia a History. Fairfax County
Board of Supervisors, Fairfax, Virginia, 1978 p 273)
1836/01
In an effort to suppress the still feeble antislavery forces,
Southern Congressmen proposed what was, in effect, an
intellectual blockade. They urged federal authorities to allow
states to censor literature that they deemed "incendiary,"
including not only abolitionist broadsides but also a wide range
of general magazines, Northern newspapers and religious journals
that only occasionally mentioned slavery. Postmasters were
encouraged to monitor citizens' mail and remove anything that
they deemed related to abolitionism. All petitions to Congress
on the subject of slavery were to be automatically tabled,
without being printed or referred to in any way. (Bordewich,
Fergus M., Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United
States Congress; book review of book by William Lee Miller,
Smithsonian December, 1996)
"When Adams idly presented his colleagues with another
anti-slavery petition, a Georgian congressman rose to move that
the list of signatures not be accepted. Some months later the
notorious "gag rule" was put into effect, forbidding the further
admission of such petitions to Congress. It would prove one of
the more maladroit instances of Southern intransigence.
"Where Adams had hitherto been a mild thorn in the side of the
slave forces, he now became "old Man Eloquent," challenging the
gag rule and slavery with a fanatical devotion that knew no
pause. Moreover, the spectacle of a former president standing
alone, unswayable and unyielding was not without its political
psychodrama. Men who had no fixed opinion on slavery could not
help but be moved by the struggle of wills between one old man
and the whole Southern delegation. (Tom Dowling, Washington
Star, Great Drama in Saving the Nation, October 6, 1976)
More shocking still, a gag rule imposed by Southerners and their
Northern Democrat allies forbade members to discuss the subject
of slavery upon the floor of Congress, under threat of censure.
Not only was the enslaved black person denied every freedom but
now the white person was even to be denied the freedom to talk
about it. The hero of Miller's story is John Quincy Adams, the
only former President in American history to later be elected to
Congress, where he served with distinction for 17 years. Steeped
from childhood in the hardheaded New England idealism of the
Revolutionary era, Adams not only deplored slavery in principle,
as many of his contemporaries did, but went far beyond most of
them in condemning racial prejudice, which, as he put it,
"taints the very sources of moral principle" by establishing
"false estimates of virtue and vice." (Bordewich, Fergus M.,
Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States
Congress; book review of book by William Lee Miller,
Smithsonian, December, 1996)
Beginning in 1836, and for nearly a decade, Adams relentlessly
fought the gag rule, struggling to make white citizens see that
the South's determination to protect slavery at all costs
represented an assault upon their own treasured rights. It was a
lonely and humiliating battle, almost without allies. Although a
vigorous septuagenarian, Adams was openly scorned as a dotard by
his enemies. He was at least twice threatened with
assassination. At one point, the ex-President was nearly
censured for daring to attempt to submit what his colleagues
believed was a petition from a group of Maryland slaves. "Had
anyone, before today, ever dreamed that the appellation of the
people' embraced slaves?" demanded Aaron Vanderpoel, an
influential New York Democrat and frequent apologist for
slavery. (Bordewich, Fergus M., Arguing About Slavery: The Great
Battle in the United States Congress; book review of book by
William Lee Miller, Smithsonian December, 1996)
"All petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions or papers
relating in any way or to any extent whatsoever to the subject
of slavery shall, without either being printed or referred, be
laid on the table and that no further action whatever shall be
had thereon."
1836/05/26
Congress passes a resolution, stating that it has no authority
over state slavery laws. (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James
Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
1836
Anti-Masonic leaders joined the new Whig Party. (Vermont,"
Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. 1993-1997)
1836
Death of the National Bank Jackson interpreted his election as a
popular mandate to proceed against the Bank of the US and
started removing Federal funds, depositing them in select state
banks beginning in October, using 23 state banks, called "pet
banks," by the end of 1833. Jackson justified his actions in his
annual message to Congress, claimed complete responsibility for
removing the deposits on the grounds that the bank had tried to
influence elections.
Henry Clay introduced two resolutions in the Senate which
censured the actions of the Treasury and of Jackson over this
issue, both of which were adopted. Jackson supporters in the
House passed 4 resolutions in support of his Bank policy.
Jackson's conciliatory actions toward the Senate were rejected,
as well as Taney , his nomination for the Treasury. Senator
Benson successfully expunged the censure from the Senate record
(January 1837)
The Bank died and was rechartered as the Bank of the US of
Philadelphia. g. Deposit Act required the Secretary of the
Treasury to designate at least one bank in each state and
territory as the place of public deposit (1) The banks were
assigned the general services previously given to the national
government by the Bank of the US. (2) It also required that
surplus revenue in excess of $5 million be distributed among the
states as a loan subject to recall although it was never
recalled.
Specie Circular July 1836. The use of paper currency was
expanded by Biddle's banking policies, causing inflation and
land speculation to increase. (1) In 1823 the average Bank notes
issued was $4.5 million but by 1831 it increased to $19 million
(2) The bank also made credit and currency more abundant in the
West and South, causing land sales to skyrocket ($2,623,000 in
1832 to $24,877,000 in 1836). Jackson ordered the issuance of
the Specie Circular which provided that after 15 August 1836,
only gold, silver or Virginia land scrip would be accepted by
the government in payment for public lands, although paper money
was permitted until 15 December for parcels of land up to 320
acres purchased by actual settlers or bona fide residents of the
state in which the save was made.
The purpose -- to repress "alleged frauds" from "the monopoly of
the public lands in the hands of speculators and capitalists"
and the "ruinous extension" of bank notes and credit d. Although
public-land sales were reduced in the West, the circular taxed
the inadequate resources of the state "pet" banks, drained
specie from the East, led to hoarding, and weakened public
confidence in the state banks. After Jackson defended the
circular in his annual message in December 1836, and recommended
that land sales be limited to actual settlers, Congress passed a
measure that rescinded the Specie Circular, but it was
pocket-vetoed by Jackson. The Specie Circular was not repealed
until a joint resolution in May 1838. (Growth Of The Nation 1800
- 40 Jefferson's Administrations Stephen F. Austin State
University, Nacogdoches, TX )
1836
President Jackson issues his Specie Circular. The circular lays
down that future purchases of government land must be paid in
gold or silver, or their strict equivalent, rather than in local
notes or promises to pay. This has the effect of swelling the US
government's coffers with specie. p 479 (A Comparative
Chronology of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day, 1830
- 1849, Based on the book: A History of Money from Ancient Times
to the Present Day by Glyn Davies, rev. ed. Cardiff: University
of Wales Press, 1996. 716p. ISBN 0 7083 1351 5.)
1837
Congress enacts a gag law to suppress debate on the slavery
issue. (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS
Bookshelf.)
1837
Country suffers severe depression. (Stefan Lorant, The
Presidency, NY Macmillan, 1951, page 148-150. Cited by Cited by
Dolores T. Williams, Preliminary Checklist of Non-Official
Imprints for the District of Columbia, 1836-37, with a
Historical Introduction)
1837
Panic of 1837. The reckless land speculation and the specie
circular resulted in a serious downturn in the US economy which
worsened as Van Buren took office. The price of cotton fell by
one-half in New Orleans. New York's unemployed demonstrated
against high rents and inflated food and fuel prices and one mob
broke into food warehouses and sacked their supplies. Several
banks, beginning in New York, suspended specie payments. Public
land sales fell from 20 million acres (1836) to 3 1/2 million
acres (1838). The effects of the panic persisted until 1842-43
particularly in the South and West. (Growth Of The Nation 1800 -
40 Jefferson's Administrations Stephen F. Austin State
University, Nacogdoches, TX)
The uncontrolled, chaotic expansion of banking in the US is
slowed, then partly reversed by a financial crisis in which
every bank is forced to suspend specie payment of notes. The
crisis leads to a depression in the economy which lasts until
1843.( p 480,483-484. A Comparative Chronology of Money from
Ancient Times to the Present Day, 1830 - 1849, Based on the
book: A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day
by Glyn Davies, rev. ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press,
1996. 716p. ISBN 0 7083 1351 5. )
1837-41
Martin Van Buren becomes President as Democrat. VP is Richard M.
Johnson
1837/03/04
Martin Van Buren presidential Inaugural Address deals with
Slavery in the District of Columbia, "Fellow-Citizens: I then
declared that if the desire of those of my countrymen who were
favorable to my election was gratified. I must go into the
Presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of
every attempt on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia against the wishes of the slaveholding
States, and also with a determination equally decided to resist
the slightest interference with it in the States where it
exists. I submitted also to my fellow-citizens, with fullness
and frankness, the reasons which led me to this determination."
Two weeks after Van Buren`s inauguration a financial panic
struck the New York commercial and financial community. Years
earlier, Jackson decentralized the national bank, which allowed
many state and local banks to engage in land and profit
speculation. This speculation continued throughout Jackson`s
final four years in office and into Van Buren`s administration.
However, in 1837, the wild speculation ended, and a panic
concerning the stability of the financial markets, the banks,
and even in the government, spread across the nation. These
fears caused a wide spread recession, ultimately ending in a
depression, to engulf the nation. (The Depression of 1837;
Economic Issues ))
1837
Victorian Style, trends in British architecture and furniture in
the Victorian era (1837-1901). An especially widespread
tendency, called Eclectic Revivalism, was to adapt earlier
styles to industrial-age needs... (Encarta 98 Desk Encyclopedia
Microsoft Corporation.)
1838
The "underground railway" organized by U.S. abolitionists
transports southern slaves to freedom in Canada, but slaving
interests at Philadelphia work on the fears of Irish immigrants
and other working people who worry that freed slaves may take
their jobs. A Philadelphia mob burns down Pennsylvania Hall May
17 in an effort to thwart antislavery meetings. (The People's
Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
A book, co-authored by a professor at Howard University, pieces
together a story of how quilts made by slaves before and during
the Civil War were stitched with patterns that formed a secret
code, part of a network of communication that helped slaves
escape to freedom.
Existence of such coded quilts had long been suspected among
those familiar with African-American quilting traditions,
according to Raymond Dobard, professor of art history at Howard
and co-author of "Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts
and the Underground Railroad" (Doubleday; 272 pages; $27.50).
But the new book by Dobard and University of Denver professor
Jacqueline Tobin adds a scholarly dimension to what had been
largely a story preserved in oral tradition, passed down from
generation to generation. The research effort began when Tobin
learned of the story from Ozella McDaniel Williams, an
African-American quilter from South Carolina. The code Williams
described had three main components: a series of 10 symbols that
told slaves where and when escapes were planned, what routes to
take and instructions about how to survive in the wilderness; an
enigmatic story passed down by oral tradition that explained
what the symbols meant; and spirituals whose titles and lyrics
have long been recognized as covert traveling instructions
("Wade in the Water," "Steal Away"). (Fern Robinson "Underground
Railroad Signals" Washington Post. Thursday, February 18, 1999;
Page T04)
(Conducting Underground Railroad Research? See http://www.ugrr.org/research.htm
& http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/exugrr/exuggr5.htm which has an
excellent bibliography on slavery. see also underground railroad
bibliography at http://education.ucdavis.edu/NEW/STC/lesson/socstud/railroad/Books.htm)
1838
Presbyterians divide over slavery. (Slavery and Religion in
America: A timeline 1440-1866. By the Internet Public Library
1838
Frederick Douglas escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Sept. 3.
(Major Revolts and Escapes, Lerone Bennett, Before the
Mayflower)
1839
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal started in 1828 reaches 134 miles
west of Georgetown but runs into financial difficulties (see
1850). (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS
Bookshelf.)
1839-42
William Grason Governor of Md. (MD info from Maryland A
Chronology & Documentary Handbook, 1978 Oceana Publications,
Inc.)
1840
Roughly a 30 per cent of the inhabitants of the District of
Columbia were Negroes. (Letitia W Brown, Residence Patterns of
Negroes in the District of Columbia, 1800-1860, Records of the
Columbia Historical Society of Washington DC, 1969-70, p68)
1840
The World's Anti-Slavery Convention opens at London, but Boston
abolitionist William Garrison refuses to attend, protesting the
exclusion of women (see 1831). The U.S. antislavery movement has
split into two factions in the past year largely because of
Garrison's advocacy of women's rights, including their right to
participate in the antislavery movement (see first Women's
Rights Convention, 1848). (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by
James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
.At the World's Anti-slavery Convention, African American
Charles Remond refused to be seated when he learned that women
were being segregated in the gallery (Denise Pazur, The Plain
Dealer, Jan 31, 1993, page 8)
1840
United States Census pages for President Van Buran and
Congressperson John Q. Adams missing (DC Census 1840 Roll 35
page 5 microprint 0006)
1841
A court at Washington, D.C., rules March 9 that Cinque and his
fellow mutineers aboard the Spanish slave ship Amistad last year
are not guilty and orders their release. Madrid protests. (The
People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
The 1839 case involved about 50 Africans who, against
international law, had been captured and shipped to Havana,
Cuba, where they seized the schooner Amistad, which was taking
them to a plantation. Two crewmen were killed in the fight, and
the rest of the crew were put ashore. Then the Africans ordered
the owners to sail the ship back to Africa. However, the Amistad
was seized by a U.S. brig off the Atlantic coast, and the
Africans were imprisoned in Connecticut. The Connecticut court
referred the case to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in 1841. Adams argued that the
United States should treat as free any persons escaping from
illegal bondage. He denounced the administration of President
Martin Van Buren for favoring the return of the captives to the
Spanish planters who claimed ownership of them. The court
decided for the Africans and, with money raised by
abolitionists, 32 of them were returned to their homeland of
Sierra Leone. The others had died at sea or while awaiting
trial. ("Adams, John Quincy," Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia.
Microsoft Corporation.)
1841
The Second Bank of the United States crashes. By this time it is
simply a private bank and no longer a national institution. When
it ran into difficulties during the 1837 crisis it was still the
largest bank in the world, but it finally crashes in 1841. p 484
(A Comparative Chronology of Money from Ancient Times to the
Present Day, 1830 - 1849, Based on the book: A History of Money
from Ancient Times to the Present Day by Glyn Davies, rev. ed.
Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1996. 716p. ISBN 0 7083 1351
5.)
William H. Harrison, Whig becomes President. VP John Tyler
Journal Article traces the controversy stemming from the reply
of Julia Gardiner Tyler, wife of former President John Tyler, to
the 1852 address of an English duchess which called on American
women to support gradual abolition, immediate ending of the
breakup of slave families, and improvement of slave education.
Mrs. Tyler claimed that British social conditions were worse
than those of American slaves, and attacked the British
"Affectionate and Christian Address . . . " mainly as
unwarranted interference in US domestic affairs. She defended
southern womanhood and questioned the motivation of British
appealers. 63 notes. (Pugh, Evelyn L., Women And Slavery: Julia
Gardiner Tyler And The Duchess Of Sutherland. Virginia Magazine
of History and Biography 1980 88 (2): 186-202.)
1841
Slave revolt on slave trader 'Creole' which was en route from
Hampton, Va., to New Orleans, La., Nov 7. Slaves overpowered
crew and sailed vessel to Bahamas where they were granted asylum
and freedom. (Major Revolts and Escapes, Lerone Bennett, Before
the Mayflower,)
Maryland passed a law requiring a penalty of ten to twenty years
imprisonment for any free black having any materials relating to
abolition in his possession. In 1858, Samuel Green, a minister
from Dorchester County, was sentenced to a ten year prison term
for possessing a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Green was also
suspected of having actively participated in the Underground
Railroad. (Roland C. McConnell, Editor, Three Hundred and Fifty
years: A Chronology of the Afro-American in Maryland, 1634-1984,
1985)
1842/03/01
Supreme Court rules in Prigg v. Pennsylvania that state
officials are not required to assist in the return of fugitive
slaves. (Underground Railroad Chronology, National Park
Service))
The owner of a fugitive slave may recover him under the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1793, the Supreme Court rules March 1 in Prigg v.
Pennsylvania. The court overturns an 1826 Pennsylvania law that
made kidnapping a slave a felony, saying an owner cannot be
stopped from recovering a slave, but it says also that state
authorities are under no obligation to help the slaveowner. (The
People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
In 1848, William Craft (d. 1900) and Ellen Craft (d. 1890),
slaves on a Georgia plantation, escaped to Philadelphia and
later moved to Boston where they remained until Congress passed
the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Their owners then demanded
extradition of the Crafts to Georgia. Despite aid from
antislavery groups, extradition appeared inevitable, forcing the
Crafts to flee to Great Britain where they remained until the
American Civil War ended. In England, the Crafts played
prominent roles in helping British abolitionist groups oppose
slavery. Based on archival, newspaper, and secondary sources; 54
notes. (Blackett, R. J. M. Title: Fugitive Slaves In Britian:
The Odyssey Of William And Ellen Craft . Journal of American
Studies [Great Britain] 1978 12(1): 41-62. Also see the National
Park Service Biographies of the Crafts Taken from: The African
Meeting House in Boston: A Sourcebook, by William S. Parsons &
Margaret A. Drew)
1842/09/21
The Council of the District of Columbia passed an Act to created
an auxiliary night police to patrol the streets of the city and
in part to enforce the 10pm "colored curfew." At 10: PM, all
"colored" people out without a pass were liable to arrest, fine
and flogging. The floggings were administered sometimes at the
guard post and sometimes at the whipping-post of the jail, on
the northeast corner of Judiciary Square. "In place of the
baton, each officer carried a stick surmounted by an iron
spear-head, intended originally to pry open doors in case of
fire or when in pursuit of thieves...some of the officers became
so proficient as to make it a formidable weapon either when used
as a club or thrown as a javelin." (Richard Sylvester, District
of Columbia Police, Policemen's Fund, Washington, DC 1894 page
29)
1843 Africa
-- November 29 to December 16. Four United States vessels
demonstrated and landed various parties (one of 200 marines and
sailors) to discourage piracy and the slave trade along the
Ivory coast, and to punish attacks by the natives on American
seamen and shipping. (Instances of Use of United States Forces
Abroad, 1798 - 1993 by Ellen C. Collier, Specialist in U.S.
Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division
Washington DC: Congressional Research Service -- Library of
Congress -- October 7, 1993 )
1844/01/10
The law that now exists in the District of Columbia, relative to
fugitive slaves, compels a Negro under arrest to prove that he
was born free. (The Sun (Baltimore) Jan 9-15, 1844, reprinted
January 9th 1994)
1844
Mexico-. President Tyler deployed U.S. forces to protect Texas
against Mexico, pending Senate approval of a treaty of
annexation. (Later rejected.) He defended his action against a
Senate resolution of inquiry. (Instances of Use of United States
Forces Abroad, 1798 -1993 by Ellen C. Collier, Specialist in
U.S. Foreign Policy, Congressional Research Service -Oct 7,
1993,)
The questions of slavery in the territories and slavery in the
Mexican province of Texas divided the nation. Before 1836, the
Mexican border with the United States was Louisiana, Arkansas
territory, and the Indian lands of Oklahoma. As one of Spain's
New World colonies, slavery was legally protected in Mexico.
Still, there was little slavery in the underpopulated province
of Texas until, at almost the same time that Mexicans rose in
revolt against Spanish domination (1819), American slaveholders
moved into Texas and began to carve out plantations with slave
labor. The newly-independent Mexicans wanted Texas to be
settled, but they did not want American slavery to be a
permanent part of their new nation. The Mexican legislature
agreed in 1827 that, after the adoption of its constitution, no
one would be born a slave on Mexican soil. American efforts to
get around this by registering their slaves as indentured
servants ultimately failed. This tension over slavery was a
primary cause for American Texans to seek independence from
Mexico and to establish the Republic of Texas (1836-1848).50
(See Randolph Campbell, An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar
Institution in Texas, 1821-1865 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press, 1989 cited in The Underground Railroad In
American History, The National Park Service)
1844/12/03
The gag rule was revoked when Northern Democrats, breaking ranks
with their Southern counterparts, voted against the rule. The
gag rule was overturned, after an alliance of Northern and
Southern Democrats at last began to fissure. But it would take a
civil war before the questions raised by Adams were finally
answered. Yet, in those debates of the 1830s, tectonic plates
had shifted. Adams had shaken the "immense, rooted institution"
of slavery as no one had before. The effort to silence Adams and
his handful of allies had only intensified popular concern over
the moral and political cost of protecting slavery. . (Bordewich,
Fergus M., Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United
States Congress; book review of book by William Lee Miller,
Smithsonian December, 1996)
1844
Morse invented the telegraph (Selected Review Of Important Media
Related Historical Events And Facts. Oklahoma Baptist
University)
Daniel Reaves Goodloe of Louisburg began his career as an
anti-slavery journalist in Washington, D.C. (Some Notable Events
and Persons, in the First 200 Years of Franklin County's North
Carolina History, Compiled by Dr. George-Anne Willard, )
1845-49
James Knox Polk, Democrat becomes President. VP George M.
Dallas.
In a cost cutting measure Sarah Polk wife of the President
replaced White House servants with slaves and rearranged the
White House Basement into slave quarters. (William Seale, "The
President's House: a History," White House Historical
Association with the Cooperation of the National Geographic
Society and Harry N Abrams, 1986, vol. 1, pages 256 see
Commissioner's letters sent, May-Oct 184, passim: see also
Polk's financial records in Polk papers LC not draft of July 20,
1846, to for January 9, 1847, Feb 2, 1847 and Jan 1, N.D. for
purchase of slaves.)
Her primary economic measure had been tried by previous southern
Presidents, a substantial reduction of the numbers in the
salaried staff and their replacement with slaves. About ten
hired servants were let go, and their positions were taken by a
combination of slaves from the Polk's home place in Tennessee
and several more slaves purchased from relatives and friends
during the first three years of Polk's Presidency. (The
President's House: a History by William Seale, White House
Historical Association with the Cooperation of the National
Geographic Society and Harry N Abrams, 1986, vol. 1, page 257)
1845
The Methodist Episcopal Church in America splits into northern
and southern conferences after Georgia bishop James O. Andrews
resists an order that he give up his slaves or quit his
bishopric. (The People's Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from
MS Bookshelf.)
"It is well known that the rift came over Georgia Bishop James
O. Andrew's acquisition of slaves. Ironically, Andrew was chosen
bishop by the General Conference of 1832, because he owned no
bondsmen (although servants belonging to others were provided
for his use). In an age when a woman's property routinely passed
at marriage to her husband, Owen became a slaveholder when he
remarried, following the death of his first wife. The bishop
thought that he could avoid controversy by deeding his human
property back to his spouse, but northern delegates to the 1844
General Conference demanded his resignation. A peacemaker,
Andrew would have given up his post, except for the southern
delegation's strong urging that he stand firm. The southerners
feared that they would lose influence at home, if they gave into
northern "ultraism."
In the end Methodists, North and South, agreed to an amicable
divorce, with a prorated division of church assets. Both sides
displayed a measure of moderation, with the Georgia Methodists
supporting the legalization of slave marriages and keeping
antislavery references in their _Discipline_ until 1857, and the
northern Methodist Episcopal Church waiting almost to the end of
the Civil War before barring slaveholders from membership.
(Christopher H. Owen. _The Sacred Flame of Love: Methodism and
Society in Nineteenth-Century Georgia. Athens and London: The
University of Georgia Press, 1998. xx + 290 pp. Notes,
bibliography, and index. $50.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-8203-1963-5.
Reviewed for H-AmRel by Thomas A. Scott <tscott@ksumail.kennesaw.edu>,
Department of History and Philosophy, Kennesaw State University,
Georgia)
In the 1840's pastors and congregations of the Methodist church
were expressing their views on slavery in no uncertain terms. In
Alexandria Virginia, the Methodists presented a house dived unto
itself. Trading in slaves must have been considerable as the
slave pen, located at 1318 Duke Street, was known as "The
Norman". The tense feeling of the day was reflected in the views
of two outstanding pastors: Norval Wilson, a man of strong
Southern views who preached at the Alexandria Station in 1850
and Alfred Griffith pastor in this city in 1843 and 1844, whose
deep anti-slavery views crystallized the break that came in the
General Conference in 1844. The General Conference of 1844
agreed upon a Plan of Separation. The Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, became a distinct organization. The split in
Alexandria Virginia was finalized in 1849 when the Virginia
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, with The
Reverend J. H. Davis presiding met. The new congregation had
made arrangements with Benjamin Hollowell, Quaker schoolmaster
and president of the Lyceum organization to use that building
which then was comparatively new, being only fourteen years old.
(Washington Street United Methodist Church, Alexandria,
Virginia, Reflections 1849-1989. Researcher and Editor Kathryn
Pierpoint Hedman, 1989)
In 1843, 1,200 Methodist ministers owned 1,500 slaves, and
25,000 members owned 208,000 slaves, the Methodist Church as a
whole remained silent and neutral on the issue of slavery.
(Growth Of The Nation, 1800 - 40 Jefferson's Administrations
Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX))
1845
Samuel Morse hired Andrew Jackson's former postmaster general,
Amos Kendall, as his agent in locating potential buyers of the
telegraph. Kendall realized the value of the device, and had
little trouble convincing others of its potential for profit. By
the spring he had attracted a small group of investors. They
subscribed $15,000 and formed the Magnetic Telegraph Company.
Many new telegraph companies were formed as Morse sold licenses
wherever he could. (Smithsonian Institution, Resources for the
history of invention Collections on Invention and Innovation in
the NMAH, Archives Center. Register of the Western Union
Telegraph Company Collection 1848-1963 by Robert S. Harding
Archives Center, National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution )
Amos Kendall's Expositor, was published in Washington DC, One
issue of June 16, 1841 was sold at auction, described as "A
lively political sheet produced by Amos Kendall, a
self-appointed watchdog for the new Whig administration of
Harrison and Tyler. Interesting opinions on the functioning of
the government and special interests lobbyists show that very
little has really changed! (Old World Auctions. Antique
Newspapers )
Kendall would also edit along with other the Globe according to
auction. [Harrison, William Henry}. Extra Globe, Containing
Official Discussions, Documentary Props, Etc., [Washington, D.
C.]. Vol. 6 # 1-27. May 16, 1840 - Jan. 29, 1841. Contemporary
half morocco. First edition. A Jacksonian periodical which
covers the entire election season ( May - Oct) 1840. Much on
abolition, J. C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, presidential election
returns, Amos Kendall, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Daniel
Webster, etc. Each number contains valuable material. Very
scarce. Edited by Blair, Rives, and Kendall. 450.00 (Michael
Ginsberg Books, Sharon, MA.)
1846
The slow economic development of the city of Washington in the
early years, coupled by the political disincentives of having no
vote for representation in the Congress or the presidential
election, spurred discussion of retrocession among the residents
almost immediately. In 1846, the residents of Alexandria City
successfully won their fight for retrocession into Virginia,
thus leaving the District its current size. Residents in the
Virginia portion also feared the impending abolition of the
slave trade in the federal city as Alexandria was a slave port
(Harris, Congress and the Governance of the Nation's Capital:
The Conflict of Federal and Local Interests, p. 4). (District of
Columbia Home Rule Charter Review in collaboration with the
Federal City Council )
Alexandria given back to Virginia. DC had been called "the very
seat and center of the slave trade." (John Hope Franklin and
Alfred A. Moss, Jr. From Slavery to Freedom, 1947, 1997 pages
114-115 in LC reference.) See also William T. Laprade, "The
Domestic Slave-Trade in the District of Columbia," Journal of
Negro History, XI (January, 1926 pp 17-34)
Smithsonian Institution research institution founded by the
bequest of the English scientist James Smithson. Although it was
held by John C. Calhoun and other members of Congress that the
federal government had no power to accept such a gift, it was
finally secured, largely through the efforts of John Quincy
Adams, and in 1846 the institution was established by
congressional act at Washington, D.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica
On-Line)
The Cornerstone of the Smithsonian Institution was laid in 1847
by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons, Benjamin
B. French in the presence of President James K Polk. (Ray Baker
Harris, The Laying of cornerstones, Supreme Council 33°, Ancient
& Accepted Scottish Rite, Washington DC, 1961)
Scholars generally agree that the Industrial Revolution occurred
in the United States beginning at about the middle of the 19th
century.
1845
Irish immigration increases due to the potato famine.
1846/04/24 - 1848/05/30
War against Mexico adds territory to the United States (Dates
given by US Navy & Marine Casualty WEB page )
On May 13,1846, the United States recognized the existence of a
state of war with Mexico. After the annexation of Texas in 1845,
the United States and Mexico failed to resolve a boundary
dispute and President Polk said that it was necessary to deploy
forces in Mexico to meet a threatened invasion. (Instances of
Use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798 -1993 by Ellen C.
Collier, Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy, Congressional
Research Service -Oct 7, 1993)
1847
Escaped slave Frederick Douglas, 30, begins publication at
Rochester, N.Y., of an abolitionist newspaper, the North Star.
The Massachusetts Antislavery Society published Douglas's'
autobiography 2 years ago and he has earned enough from lecture
fees in Britain, Ireland, and the United States to buy his
freedom. (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager
from MS Bookshelf.)
About 1000 slaves per year escaped to the North during the
pre-Civil War decades, most from the upper South. This
represented only a small percentage of those who attempted to
escape, however, since for every slave who made it to freedom,
several more tried. Other fugitives remained within the South,
heading for cities or swamps, or hiding out near their
plantations for days or weeks before either returning
voluntarily or being tracked down and captured. ("Slavery in the
United States," Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. Microsoft
Corporation.)
1847
Steam powers a U.S. cotton mill for the first time at Salem,
Mass., where the Maumkoag Steam Cotton Mill begins production.
(The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager from MS
Bookshelf.)
1847/07/26
Liberia declares independence from American Colonization
Society. (D.T.'s Chronology of History 1840-1849! )
1847-48
The Virginia Legislature has enacted (Sess. Acts 1847-8, ch. 10,
§ 24,) that "any free person who, by speaking or writing, shall
maintain that owners have not right of property in their slaves,
shall be punishable by confinement in the jail, not more than
twelve months, and by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars."
(Bacon v. The Commonwealth. Supreme Court Of Virginia, 48 Va.
602; 1850 Va. Lexis 43; 7 Gratt. 602, June Term, 1850)
1848
Gold Rush in California. The discovery of gold in California
leads in the following decade to a massive increase in the
production of gold coins by the mint with the result that in
practice the US moves away from bimetallism towards a gold
standard. p 481 (A Comparative Chronology of Money from Ancient
Times to the Present Day, 1830 - 1849, Based on the book: A
History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day by Glyn
Davies, rev. ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1996. 716p.
ISBN 0 7083 1351 5. ))
1848
Work begun on the Washington Monument, DC Obelisk honoring the
first U.S. president. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996
from MS Bookshelf)
1848/03/10
Mexican War ends, expanding U.S. slave territory into Texas.
1848/04/15
Daniel Drayton attempted to smuggle 76 slaves on the ship Pearl
out of Washington to Freedom in the North. The slaves belonged
to "41 of the most prominent families in Washington and
Georgetown and were valued at $100,000." The Pearl got as far as
Chesapeake but ran into headwinds. "A steamer was chartered by
owners and friends armed to the teeth with guns pistols and
bowie knives for the pursuit. The steamer took Drayton's vessel
into tow, and brought them back to Washington. A mob had
assembled on 4th street and rushed the group when they reached
Pennsylvania avenue shouting Lynch them, Lynch them. (George
Rothwell Brown, Capital Silhouettes, Washington Post March 10,
1924)
According to Josephine Pacheco, professor emeritus of history at
George Mason University, former first lady Dolley Madison owned
one slave heading for the Pearl. Abolitionist William Lloyd
Garrison claimed that another worked in President James K.
Polks's White House. (Mary Kay Ricks, Escape on the Pearl,,
Washington Post, Horizon August 12, 1998.)
"The public was infuriated and tended to blame Dr. Gamaliel
Bailey, the editor of the antislavery newspaper, the National
Era, for conceiving and planning the whole affair. A crowd
formed before the office of Bailey's newspaper and pelted the
building with stones until they were dispersed by the police
(National Era, April 27, 1848; The Liberator, April 28 1848
cited in Dorothy Sproles Provine, The Free Negro In the District
of Columbia 1800-1860, Thesis Louisiana State University
Department of History, 1959, 1963)
Drayton, Daniel. Personal Memoir Of Daniel Drayton, (For Four
Years And Four Months A Prisoner (For Charity's Sake In
Washington Jail, Negro Universities Press, 1969 122pp) including
a narrative of the voyage and capture of the schooner Pearl.
First published in 1855 by Bela. Drayton, born in Cumberland
County, NJ, plied a vessel between Delaware Bay and Virginia's
eastern shore, coming into frequent contact with the
African-American slaves in the Chesapeake region. Soon, he was
helping slaves escape North aboard his schooner "Pearl," until
he was seized on the Potomac and imprisoned.
For the Role of Paul Jennings in the Pearl escape, see (G.
Franklin Edwards and Michael R. Winston, Commentary: The
Washington of Paul Jennings-White House Slave, Free Man, and
Conspirator for Freedom. White House Historical Association.)
In Washington DC, a description of conditions just beyond the
city limit, Florida Avenue "The slaves are watched by the
patrols, who ride about to try to catch them off the quarters,
especially at the house of a free person of color. I have known
the slaves to stretch clothes lines across the street, high
enough to let the horse pass, but not the rider; then the boys
would run, and the patrols in full chase would be thrown off by
running against the lines. The patrols are poor white men, who
live by plundering and stealing, getting rewards for runaways,
and setting up little shops on the public roads. They will take
whatever the slaves steal, paying in money, whiskey, or whatever
the slaves want. They take pigs, sheep, wheat, corn- - any thing
that's raised they encourage the slaves to steal: these they
take to market next day. It's all speculation- - all a matter of
self- interest, and when the slaves run away, these same traders
catch them if they can, to get the reward. If the slave
threatens to expose his traffic, he does not care- - for the
slave's word is good for nothing- - it would not be taken." ("My
Bedstead Consisted Of A Board Wide Enough To Sleep On". Francis
Henderson was 19 when he managed to escape from a slave
plantation outside of Washington, D.C., in 1841. Here, he
describes conditions on his plantation. Source: Benjamin Drew, A
North- Side View of Slavery (Boston, 1856). (For a description
of the conditions of slave just outside Washington, DC see slave
narrative)
Another well-known example of abolitionist activity in the South
was the case of the ship Pearl which attempted to leave
Washington City in April, 1848, with 77 slaves who were to leave
the ship as free persons when it docked in New York. Betrayed by
an offended black man, the Pearl was seized and its captain,
Daniel Drayton, and owner, Sayres, were arrested and tried in
Washington. The trial lasted six weeks in the summer of 1848 and
Drayton was sentenced to prison while Sayres paid a fine of
$10,000. Drayton, whose release was gained in April 1853 by
black Boston lawyer Robert Morris after he served four years,
committed suicide in New Bedford in 1857.
Leonard Grimes, born to free parents in Leesburg, Virginia,
became a hackman in Washington, D.C., and part of a large group
of African Americans, both free and fugitive, who had grown up
in the south and were intimately acquainted with its geography
and many of its people. These residents of Washington were well
positioned to aid runaways -- and they did so. Grimes was
apprehended by the local authorities on one of his trips to
Virginia while attempting to transport a free black man and his
slave family out of the state. He served two years in the
Virginia penitentiary. After his release, he moved north and
became the minister of the Twelfth Baptist Church in Boston
where he and his congregation continued to aid fugitives.
1847-48
Free-Soil party, U.S. political party born in 1847-48 to oppose
the extension of slavery into territories newly gained from
Mexico. In 1848 the Free-Soil party ran Martin Van Buren and
Charles Francis Adams for president and vice president; by
polling 300,000 votes it gave New York State to the Whigs and
thus made Zachary Taylor president. After the Compromise of 1850
seemed to settle the slavery-extension issue, the group known as
the Barnburners left the Free-Soilers to return to the
Democratic party, but radicals kept the Free-Soil party alive
until 1854, when the new Republican party absorbed it. (The
Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, 1995 by Columbia University Press
from MS Bookshelf.)
A third party took part in the election of 1848. Called the
Free-Soil Party, it included Democrats and Whigs who disagreed
with their parties, and abolitionists, who wanted an immediate
end to slavery. The Free-Soil Party nominated former president
Martin Van Buren of New York for president and Massachusetts
legislator Charles Francis Adams for vice president. (Fillmore,
Millard, Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia.)
1848
Congress passed the Oregon Territory bill, which prohibited
slavery in the area. President James K. Polk signed the bill
because the Oregon Territory lay north of the Missouri
Compromise line. Later proposals tried to extend the line by law
across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. These efforts failed.
The Missouri Compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act
of 1854. (Political Compromises: Missouri Compromise, The World
Book, African American Journey.)
Zachary Taylor, Whig becomes President. VP Millard
Fillmore.Taylor brought house slaves from Louisiana to work at
the White House. There were approximately 15, including
children; one was the body servant who had accompanies General
Taylor to Mexico. (The President's House: a History by William
Seale , White House Historical Association with the Cooperation
of the National Geographic Society and Harry N Abrams, 1986,
vol. 1, page 282)
1849
Abraham Lincoln as Representative, unsuccessfully proposed a
bill for the "compensated emancipation of slaves in the District
of Columbia. (Mary Kay Ricks, Escape on the Pearl, Washington
Post, Horizon August 12, 1998.)
1849
Maryland slave Harriet Tubman, 29, escapes to the North and
begins a career as "conductor" on the Underground Railway that
started in 1838. Tubman will make 19 trips back to the South to
free upward of 300 slaves including her aged parents whom she
will bring North in 1857. (The People's Chronology 1995, 1996 by
James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
1850
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal begun in 1828 finally reaches
Cumberland, Md., which the B&O Railroad reached in 1842. The $22
million 184.5-mile canal with its 74 lift locks is obsolete,
plans to continue it 180 miles westward to Pittsburgh are
abandoned, but it will be used until 1924. (The People's
Chronology, 1994 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
1850/09/18
Compromise of 1850 attempts to settle slavery issue. As part of
the Compromise, a new Fugitive Slave Act is added to enforce the
1793 law and allows slaveholders to retrieve slaves in northern
states and free territories. (Underground Railroad Chronology,
National Park Service, http://www.cr.nps.gov/htdocs1/boaf/urrtim~1.htm)
The Fugitive Slave Law passed in September 1850 allowed escaped
slaves to be captured and brought back to their masters. The law
also prosecuted anyone who helped hide slaves or who aided
fugitive slaves in any way. The law was very expensive to the
United States of America as it cost thousands of dollars to
return all slaves to the places from where they had escaped. A
boom also began in the slave catching business. It was easy to
take any black person, free or not and say they escaped. Slave
catchers roamed the whole continent looking for black people.
Because of this law many blacks escaped to Canada in the 1850's
and 60's. The Fugitive Slave Law was responsible for the
escalation of blacks in Chatham and Buxton (Canadian towns), as
they were final stations of the Underground Railroad. (The
Buxton Settlement -Cultural Landscape. North Buxton Ontario,
Canada. This information is taken from a Black History project
completed by students and Staff from Chatham Collegiate
Institute in Chatham, Ontario. Material was compiled from the
collections of the Chatham - Kent sites of the African Canadian
Heritage Tour.)
Congress enacted the famous Compromise of 1850. A provision of
the Compromise relating to slavery included the outlawing of the
slave trade in Washington, D.C. but the retention of slavery
itself. (Alton Hornsby, JR,. Chronology of African American
History, Gale Research 1991, in LC reference)
The Compromise of 1850 stiffened existing fugitive slave laws
and allowed claimants to recover fugitives by applying to
federal judges and commissioners to establish ownership. The
testimony of fugitives was not admitted as evidence. Anyone who
interfered with the enforcement of these laws was subject to
punishment. Many of the cases in this publication contain only
the warrants for arrest, and others contain papers relating to
proof of ownership. (Description of Federal Court Records: A
Select Catalog Of National Archives Microfilm Publications (Part
6) National Archives)
The Compromise of 1850 strengthened the fugitive slave law. "All
good citizens" were required to obey it on pain of heavy
penalty; jury trial and the right to testify were prohibited to
fugitives. The Abolitionists and new personal-liberty laws
defied these provisions. Notable fugitive slave trials stirred
up public opinion in both the North and South. Northern
Nullification of the fugitive slave laws was cited in 1860 by
South Carolina as a cause of secession. Congress repealed both
laws in 1864, during the Civil War. (The Concise Columbia
Encyclopedia, 1995 by Columbia University Press from MS
Bookshelf.)
"Relatively few [slaves] escaped permanently. . . The federal
census of 1850 recorded the escapes to free territory of only
1,010 slaves. In 1860, the number was 803. They came principally
from the border states. An organization of Quakers and
antislavery people in the border states and in the North aided
some slaves to escape to Canada; however, their assistance has
been vastly exaggerated in the legend of the Underground
Railroad. The more valuable aid given to escaping slaves was by
free Negroes and fellow slaves ... They hid the fugitives in the
daytime and gave directions to them" (From Clement Eaton, Growth
of Southern Civilization New York: Harper, 1961 page 73, cited
in The Underground Railroad In American History, The National
Park Service)
1850
Sen. Henry Clay's Compromise of 1850 admitted California as 31st
state Sept. 9, slavery forbidden; made Utah and New Mexico
territories without decision on slavery; made Fugitive Slave Law
more harsh; ended District of Columbia slave trade. (The World
Almanac and Book of Facts 1996 from MS Bookshelf)
The Compromise of 1850 was worked out by Henry Clay to settle
the dispute between North and South. On January 29, 1850, it was
introduced to the Senate as follows:
1. California should be admitted immediately as a free state;
2. Utah should be separated from New Mexico, and the two
territories should be allowed to decide for them selves whether
they wanted slavery or not;
3. The land disputed between Texas and New Mexico should be
assigned to New Mexico;
4. In return, the United States should pay the debts which Texas
had contracted before annexation;
5. Slavery should not be abolished in the District of Columbia
without the consent of its residents and the surrounding state
of Maryland, and then only if the owners were paid for their
slaves.
6. Slave-trading (but not slavery) should be banned in the
District of Columbia;
7. A stricter fugitive slave law should be adopted.
(Jordan, W. et al. (1985): The Americans. p. 310) The Compromise
resulted in heavy debates in the Senate. Especially the leader
of the Conscience Whigs, William H. Seward, criticized it. He
argued that there was "a higher law than the Constitution"
(Jordan, W. et al. (1985): The Americans. p. 311.), and alluded
to the law of God, which forbade slavery. Still the people
seemed to accept the Compromise with some hesitation. President
Zachory Taylor was truly against the plan and created a
deadlock, but as he died, and was succeeded by Vice- President
Millard Fillmore, the whole thing got a new turn. He
successfully convinced the Whig party. However, the Compromise
was turned down in Congress. Henry Clay withdrew from politics
due to poor health and Stephen A. Douglas took over the task of
dealing with the Compromise. (Andreas Sandgren, "Causes Of The
Civil War In America, 1861-1865" Lund, Spyken, 1993)
1850
Zachary Taylor died in office on July 9. Millard Fillmore, as a
Whig Took the presidential oath the following day. There was no
Vice president
1851
Myrtilla Miner founded a "school for colored girls," which the
University of the District of Columbia looks back to as it's
roots. (History and Mission of the University of the District of
Columbia. Updated: April 29, 1998)
Mytilla Miner, alarmed the city's white citizens by opening the
Normal School for Colored Girls, a college preparatory school in
a city where slavery remained legal. In 1854, Minor wrote"
"Emily (Edmonson) and I lived here alone, unprotected, except by
God. The rowdies occasionally stone our house in the evening.
Emily and I have been seen practicing shooting with a pistol.
The family (Paul and Amelia Edmonson) have come with a dog."
(Mary Kay Ricks, Escape on the Pearl,, Washington Post, Horizon
August 12, 1998.)
She selected the District "because it was the common property of
the nation and because the laws of the District gave her the
right to educate free colored children, and she attempted to
teach none others." (Special Report of the Commissioner of
Education on the Condition and Improvement of Public Schools in
the District of Columbia. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office, 1871.)
Within two months the enrollment grew from 6 to 40, and, despite
hostility from a portion of the community, the school prospered.
Contributions from Quakers continued to arrive, and Harriet
Beecher Stowe gave $1,000 of her Uncle Tom's Cabin royalties.
The school was forced to move three times in its first two
years, but in 1854 it settled on a three-acre lot with house and
barn on the edge of the city. In 1856 the school came under the
care of a board of trustees, among whom were Henry Ward Beecher
and Johns Hopkins. While the school offered primary schooling
and classes in domestic skills, its emphasis from the outset was
on training teachers. Miner stressed hygiene and nature study in
addition to rigorous academic training. By 1858 six former
students were teaching in schools of their own. By that time
Miner's connection with the school had been lessened by her
failing health, and from 1857 Emily Howland was in charge. In
1860 the school had to be closed, and the next year Miner went
to California in an attempt to regain her health. A carriage
accident in 1864 ended that hope, and Miner died on December 17,
1864, shortly after her return to Washington, D.C. (Women in
American History by Encyclopedia Britannica)
Why are little girls familiar with Louisa May Alcott rather than
Margaret Fuller, with Scarlett O'Hara and not Myrtilla Miner,
with Florence Nightingale and not Fanny Wright. Why have they
never heard of the Grimke Sisters, Sojourner Truth, Inez
Milholland, Prudence Crandall, Ernestine Rose, Abigail Scott
Duniway, Harriet Tubman, Clara Lemlich, Alice Paul, and many
others in a long list of brilliant courageous people? Something
smells fishy when scarcely fifty years after the vote was won,
the whole WRM is largely forgotten, remembered only by a few
eccentric old ladies. May I suggest the reason for this, why
women's history has been hushed up just as Negro history has
been hushed up, so that the black child learns, not about Nat
Turner but about the triumph of Ralph Bunche, or George
Washington Carver and the
peanut.http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/notes/)
Her students were insulted and attacked by white men along the
streets. The building was stoned and set afire. But Miss miner
stood her ground. Using some of their leisure time, she and
Emily Edmondson (of the famous case of the Pearl) warned
hoodlums of their mettle by firing pistols at a target in the
yard. (Washington, City and Capital, Federal Writers' Project,
Works Progress Administration, American Guide Series.
Washington, 1937, USGPO. P73)
Myrtilla Miner's Papers are available at the (Manuscript Reading
Room at the Library of Congress.)
1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published as a
response to the pro-slavery argument. (Underground Railroad
Chronology, National Park Service)
Anthony Bowen, a freed slave, founded the (first
African-American YMCA in Washington, D.C)
1852
Jossiah Priest publishes Bible defence of slavery. (Slavery and
Religion in America: A timeline 1440-1866. By the Internet
Public Library)
1853-57
Franklin Pierce Democrat becomes President. VP William R. King,
1853 and Apr 1853-Mar 1857
1857/03/05
Dred Scott decision by U.S. Supreme Court Mar. 6 held, 6-3, that
a slave did not become free when taken into a free state,
Congress could not bar slavery from a territory, and blacks
could not be citizens. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts
1996, from MS Bookshelf.)
Supreme Court declares in Scott v. Sandford that blacks are not
U.S. citizens, and slaveholders have the right to take slaves in
free areas of the county. (Underground Railroad Chronology,
National Park Service)
1857/03/06
The Dred Scott decision announced by Supreme Court Chief Justice
Roger Brooke Taney, 79, March 6 enrages abolitionists and
encourages slaveowners. The fugitive slave Dred Scott, now 62,
brought suit in 1848 to claim freedom on the ground that he
resided in free territory, but the court rules that his
residence in Minnesota Territory does not make him free, that a
black may not bring suit in a federal court, and in an obiter
dicta by Taney, that Congress never had the authority to ban
slavery in the territories, a ruling that in effect calls the
Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. (The People's
Chronology 1995, 1996 by James Trager from MS Bookshelf.)
The notoriety surrounding Dred Scott v. Sandford (US, 1857) has
frequently hindered historians' efforts to understand the
policy-making role of the antebellum Supreme Court. The Dred
Scott case was neither exceptional nor anomalous. It was,
however, the natural result of judicial doctrines and tendencies
that had been developing for several years. John Marshall,
though opposed to slavery in the abstract, believed that a
judge's moral instincts should not influence his rulings in
light of the law. Roger Taney, as Chief Justice, was determined
to destroy antislavery constitutional ideas argued in cases
before him. Even before the famous Dred Scott case, Supreme
Court decisions involving Groves (1841), Prigg (1842), and Van
Zandt (1847) consistently undermined antislavery constitutional
ideas argued before the Court. The Dred Scott decision was no
aberration. 89 notes. (Wiecek, William M. Slavery And Abolition
Before The United States Supreme Court, 1820-1860. Journal of
American History 1978 65(1): 34-59.)
Excerpts from Dred Scott Decision, "But there are two clauses in
the Constitution which point directly and specifically to the
Negro race as a separate class of persons, and show clearly that
they were not regarded as a portion of the people or citizens of
the Government then formed.
One of these clauses reserves to each of the thirteen States the
right to import slaves until the year 1808, if it thinks proper.
And the importation which it thus sanctions was unquestionably
of persons of the race of which we are speaking, as the traffic
in slaves in the United States had always been confined to them.
And by the other provision the States pledge themselves to each
other to maintain the right of property of the master, by
delivering up to him any slave who may have escaped from his
service, and be found within their respective territories. By
the first above mentioned clause, therefore, the right to
purchase and hold this property is directly sanctioned and
authorized for twenty years by the people who framed the
Constitution. And by the second, they pledge themselves to
maintain and uphold the right of the master in the manner
specified, as long as the Government they then formed should
endure. And these two provisions show, conclusively, that
neither the description of persons therein referred to, nor
their descendants, were embraced in any of the other provisions
of the Constitution; for certainly these two clauses were not
intended to confer on them or their posterity the blessings of
liberty, or any of the personal rights so carefully provided for
the citizen.
No one of that race had ever migrated to the United States
voluntarily; all of them had been brought here as articles of
merchandise. The number that had been emancipated at that time
were but few in comparison with those held in slavery; and they
were identified in the public mind with the race to which they
belonged, and regarded as a part of the slave population rather
than the free. It is obvious that they were not even in the
minds of the framers of the Constitution when they were
conferring special rights and privileges upon the citizens of a
State in every other part of the Union." (See Dred Scott,
Plaintiff In Error v John F. A. Sandford. December Term, 1856
Justice Catrpm, Justice Wayne, Justice Nelson, Justice Grier,
Justice Daniel, and Justice Campbell concurring in separate
opinions. Justice McLean and Justice Curtis dissenting in
separate opinions)
1857/06/01
"Confrontation with mob during election violence outside City
Hall, Washington DC," leaves two US Marines wounded. (US Navy
and Marine Casualties)
1857-61
James Buchanan Democrat becomes President. VP John C.
Breckinridge On slavery he favored popular sovereignty and
choice by state constitutions. He denied the right of states to
secede. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996, from MS
Bookshelf.)
1859
The last slave ship arrives. During this year, the last ship to
bring slaves to the United States, the Clothilde, arrived in
Mobile Bay, Alabama. (Timeline of African American History,
1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1859/10/16
Abolitionist John Brown with 21 men seized U.S. Armory at
Harpers Ferry (then Virginia) Oct. 16. U.S. Marines captured
raiders, killing several. Brown was hanged for treason by
Virginia Dec. 2. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996, from
MS Bookshelf.)
Marine assault on building occupied by abolitionist John Brown
and followers, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, 18 Oct. 1859. One
Marine killed and one Wounded. (US Navy & Marine Casualties )
Census data
Total number of slaves in the Lower South : 2,312,352 (47% of
total population).
Total number of slaves in the Upper South: 1,208758 (29% of
total population).
Total number of slaves in the Border States: 432,586 (13% of
total population).
Almost one-third of all Southern families owned slaves. In
Mississippi and South Carolina it approached one half. The total
number of slave owners was 385,000 (including, in Louisiana,
some free Negroes). As for the number of slaves owned by each
master, 88% held fewer than twenty, and nearly 50% held fewer
than five. (A complete table on slave-owning percentages is
given at the bottom of this page.)
For comparison's sake, let it be noted that in the 1950's, only
2% of American families owned corporation stocks equal in value
to the 1860 value of a single slave. Thus, slave ownership was
much more widespread in the South than corporate investment was
in 1950's America.
On a typical plantation (more than 20 slaves) the capital value
of the slaves was greater than the capital value of the land and
implements. (Selected Statistics on Slavery in the United
States. part of This Civil War Circuit site by Jim Epperson see
Causes of the Civil War for pointers on the Civil War )
From the United States Historical Census Data Browser.
1861
Methodist southern bishops kept their regional denomination from
officially backing secession. After the Confederacy became a
reality, white Georgia Methodists supported it, since their
church _Discipline_ required obedience to whatever government
was in power. After southern defeat, they had no difficulty
submitting again to the authority of the U.S.A. in secular
matters, while yielding to no one but God in matters sacred.
Owen believes that the southern church actually came out of the
war stronger than ever. An institution not under government
control, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS), gave
white Wesleyans a refuge from northern cultural and political
domination. Meanwhile, black Methodists flocked out of the
Caucasian-controlled denomination into the African Methodist
Episcopal (AME) and the Colored Methodist Episcopal (CME)
Church, where former bondsmen found bastions against the
destructive influence of white supremacy. (Christopher H. Owen.
_The Sacred Flame of Love: Methodism and Society in
Nineteenth-Century Georgia. Athens and London: The University of
Georgia Press, 1998. xx + 290 pp. Notes, bibliography, and
index. $50.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-8203-1963-5. Reviewed for H-AmRel
by Thomas A. Scott <tscott@ksumail.kennesaw.edu>, Department of
History and Philosophy, Kennesaw State University, Georgia)
The US Civil War. The Confederacy finances its war effort mainly
by printing money. In addition to the Confederate notes, the
States, railway, insurance and other companies also issue notes.
The resulting hyperinflation renders Confederate paper
worthless. By comparison inflation in the North is relatively
moderate as the Union government raises very substantial sums of
money by taxation and borrowing. p 485-488 (A Comparative
Chronology of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day, 1860
- 1879, Based on the book: A History of Money from Ancient Times
to the Present Day by Glyn Davies, rev. ed. Cardiff: University
of Wales Press, 1996. 716p. ISBN 0 7083 1351 5)
For a Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War with
Links, see Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery,
Freedom, and the Civil War published by The New Press, c/o W. W.
Norton & Co
(The Macon Telegraph)
1861/08/06
First Confiscation Act nullifies owners' claims to fugitive
slaves who had been employed in the Confederate war effort..
(Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War for the brief
chronology, adapted from the version published in Free at Last:
A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War,
lists important events in the history of emancipation during the
Civil War.)
Did Blacks fight for the Confederacy? …what many historians find
outrageous are the claims being made by men like Charlie Condon
(South Carolina's attorney general) . Though he later revised
his estimate to 50,000 blacks who "served in the Confederate
Army," Edward Smith at American University puts the number of
black rebels "actually shooting people" at 30,000. Most
historians regard this figure as inflated- by almost 30,000.
"It's pure fantasy," contends James McPherson, a Princeton
historian and one of the nation's leading Civil War scholars.
Adds Edwin Bearss, historian emeritus at the National Park
Service: "It's b.s., wishful thinking." Robert Krick, author of
10 books on the Confederacy, has studied the records of 150,000
Southern soldiers and found fewer than a dozen were black. "Of
course, if I documented 12, someone would start adding zeros,"
he says. Tainted History? These and other scholars say claims
about black rebels derive from unreliable anecdotes, a blurring
of soldiers and laborers, and the rapid spread on the Internet
of what McPherson calls "pseudohistory." Thousands of blacks did
accompany rebel troops- as servants, cooks, teamsters and
musicians. Most were slaves who served involuntarily; until the
final days of the war, the Confederacy staunchly refused to
enlist black soldiers. Some blacks carried guns for their
masters and wore spare or castoff uniforms, which may explain
eyewitness accounts of black units. But any blacks who actually
fought did so unofficially, either out of personal loyalty or
self-defense, many historians say. (Shades of Gray: Did Blacks
Fight Freely For the Confederacy?)
It Is Possible Mr. Nelson Did; Some Historians See a Rebel
Whitewash By Tony Horowitz Staff Reporter of The Wall Street
Journal )
1862/04/16
Slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia by Congress on
this day. One million dollars was appropriated to compensate
owners of freed slaves, and $100,000 was set aside to pay
district slaves who wished to emigrate to Haiti, Liberia or any
other country outside the United States. (Jet Magazine, This
Week in Black History, Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. April
21, 1997)
President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the
District of Columbia. Passage of this act came 9 months before
President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The act
brought to conclusion decades of agitation aimed at ending what
antislavery advocates called "the national shame" of slavery in
the nation's capital.
The law provided for immediate emancipation, compensation of up
to $300 for each slave to loyal Unionist masters, voluntary
colonization of former slaves to colonies outside the United
States, and payments of up to $100 to each person choosing
emigration. Over the next 9 months, the federal government paid
almost $1 million for the freedom of approximately 3,100 former
slaves.
The District of Columbia Emancipation Act is the only example of
compensated emancipation in the United States. Though its
three-way approach of immediate emancipation, compensation, and
colonization did not serve as a model for the future, it was an
early signal of slavery's death. Emancipation was greeted with
great jubilation by the District's African-American community.
For many years afterward, black Washingtonians celebrated
Emancipation Day on April 16 with parades and festivals.
(National Archives and Records Administration Featured Document)
The District of Columbia Emancipation Act
Lincoln was certainly not an abolitionist. He found slavery
personally abhorrent, but ending it was not his first priority.
He was in many ways what we would consider in modern terms a
typical cautious liberal -- a compromiser on serious moral
issues, only moving on them when pushed by social movements. As
a Congressman, he was opposed to the Mexican War (which was
designed to add slave territory) but still voted to finance it.
He would not speak publicly against the Fugitive Slave Act,
wrote to a friend "I confess I hate to see the poor creatures
hunted down...but I bite my lips and keep quiet." He was a
lawyer, with a legalistic approach to slavery: the Constitution
did not give the federal government the power to interfere with
slavery in the states. The District of Columbia was not a state,
and he did offer a resolution, while in Congress, to abolish
slavery there, but accompanied this with a fugitive slave
provision that escaped slaves coming into D.C. must be returned.
Wendell Phillips, the militant Boston abolitionist, called
Lincoln "that slavehound from Illinois". During the Civil War he
would not do anything about slavery for fear of alienating the
states fighting on the side of the North which still had
slavery, said plainly that his main aim in the war was not to
end slavery but to get the South back into the Union, and would
do this even if it meant retaining slavery. The Whig Party which
became the Republican Party which elected Lincoln represented
economic interests which wanted a large country with a huge
market for goods, with high tariffs to protect manufactures
(which Southern states opposed). The South stood in the way of
capitalist expansion. If you look at the legislation passed by
Congress during the War, with the South no longer an obstacle,
you see the economic interests: Railroad subsidies, high
tariffs, contract labor law to bring in immigrant workers for
cheap labor and to use as strikebreakers, a national bank
putting the government in a partnership with banking interests.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a weak document for freeing
slaves, but did have great moral force. I deal with all this in
my book A Peoples History Of The United States. There's an
excellent chapter on Lincoln in Richard Hofstadter's book The
American Political Tradition. (Howard Zinn, A Selection of
Zinn's Posts from the ZinnZine Forum)
1864/11/01
Maryland slaves emancipated by State Constitution of 1864.
(Maryland Historical Chronology )
1865
Robert E. Lee surrendered 27,800 Confederate troops to Grant at
Appomattox Court House, VA, Apr. 9. J. E. Johnston surrendered
31,200 to Sherman at Durham Station, NC, Apr. 18. Last rebel
troops surrendered May 26.
President Lincoln was shot Apr. 14 by John Wilkes Booth in
Ford's Theater, Washington; died the following morning. Booth
was reported dead Apr. 26. Four co-conspirators were hanged July
7. Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, was ratified Dec.
6. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996, from MS
Bookshelf.)
1865 Amendment XIII. Slavery abolished.
Proposed by Congress Jan. 31, 1865; ratified Dec. 6, 1865. The
amendment, when first proposed by a resolution in Congress, was
passed by the Senate, 38 to 6, on Apr. 8, 1864, but was defeated
in the House, 95 to 66 on June 15, 1864. On reconsideration by
the House, on Jan. 31, 1865, the resolution passed, 119 to 56.
It was approved by President Lincoln on Feb. 1, 1865, although
the Supreme Court had decided in 1798 that the President has
nothing to do with the proposing of amendments to the
Constitution, or their adoption.)
1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation. (The World Almanac and Book of Facts
1996, from MS Bookshelf.)
Andrew Johnson, Democratic/National Union Party becomes
President
1865/06/19
Juneteenth or June 19, 1865, is considered the date when the
last slaves in America were freed. Although the rumors of
freedom were widespread prior to this, actual emancipation did
not come until General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas
and issued General Order No. 3, on June 19, almost two and a
half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the
Emancipation Proclamation. (For the History of Juneteenth see;
NJCLC National Juneteenth Christian Leadership Council's web
page)
1866/02/27
An act of the Virginia General legalized common law marriages
among free or enslaved Americans of African descent. The Act was
"rendered necessary to meet the abnormal condition that existed
among the colored race in consequence of the abolition of Negro
slavery in the South as a result of the Civil War. Without this
enabling act, slave-marriages which largely obtained among that
class of the population were invalid, because, being slaves, the
parties were incapable to make any contract, including that of
marriage. When, therefore, these former slaves were emancipated
and clothed with the rights and privileges of citizenship, the
good order of society demanded that these inchoate marriages
should be recognized as lawful and the children legitimated. And
the right of children of slave-marriages to inherit property
from the father was regarded of sufficient consequence to be
expressly secured both by the Constitutions of 1869 and of 1902
(Constitution of Virginia, 1869, sec. 9, Art. &I; and sec. 195,
Art. XIV, of the present Constitution). The act in question (now
section 2227 of the Code) declares that, "Where colored persons
prior to February 27, 1866, agreed to occupy the relation * * *
of husband and wife, and were cohabiting together * * * at that
date, whether the rites of marriage had been celebrated between
them or not, they shall be deemed husband and wife, and be
entitled to the rights and privileges, and subject to the duties
and obligations of that relation in like manner, as if they had
lawfully married; and all their children shall be deemed
legitimate, whether born before or after said date. And where
the parties ceased to cohabit before February 27, 1866, in
consequence of the death of the woman, or from any other cause,
all the children of the woman, recognized by the man to be his,
shall be deemed legitimate." (Francis and Others v. Tazewell and
Others, Supreme Court Of Virginia, 120 Va. 319; 91 S.E. 202;
1917 Va. Lexis 110, January 11, 1917)
"Professor John B. Minor, in his … discussion of slavery in
Virginia, observes: "Previous to February 27, 1866, the marriage
laws of Virginia did not contemplate nor include Negroes, not
even free Negroes, at least in respect to any penalties for
disregard of the laws touching license or prohibition of bigamy,
of incestuous marriages, or lewd cohabitation; and hence
marriages of free Negroes (those of slaves being void) were
governed altogether by the common law." 1 Minor's Inst. (4th
ed.), p. 268. The author, at page 188, says: "It is agreed that
[*812] slaves have no power to make contracts. Hence the
marriages of slaves are void." (Lemons v. Harris and Others,
Supreme Court Of Virginia, 115 Va. 809; 80 S.E. 740; 1914 Va.
Lexis 134, January 15, 1914)
Benjamin B. Minor (1818-1905), was a University of Virginia Law
Professor and a member of the Virginia Branch of the American
Colonization Society. (Introductory Material Mss3Am353a1,
American Colonization Society, Virginia Branch Minute Book,
1823-1859, Richmond, Virginia; also Liberia see
http://www.lexis-nexis.com/cispubs/guides/southern_hist/plantations/plantm4.htm)
1866/04/19 The African-American citizens of Washington, D.C.,
celebrated the abolition of slavery. A procession of 4,000 to
5,000 people assembled at the White House, where they were
addressed by President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875). Marching past
10,000 cheering spectators, the procession, led by two black
regiments, proceeded up Pennsylvania Avenue to Franklin Square
for religious services and speeches by prominent politicians. A
sign on top of the speaker's platform read: "We have received
our civil rights. Give us the right of suffrage and the work is
done."
"Celebration of the abolition of slavery in the District of
Columbia by the colored people in Washington, April 19, 1866,"
From Harper's Weekly, May 12, 1866, p. 300 Photomural from
woodcut Prints and Photographs Division (62)
1866
Presidential meeting for black suffrage. On February 2, a black
delegation led by Frederick Douglass met with President Andrew
Johnson at the White House to advocate black suffrage. The
president expressed his opposition, and the meeting ended in
controversy. (Timeline of African American History, 1852-1925 by
the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1866 Civil Rights Act. Congress overrode President Johnson's
veto on April 9 and passed the Civil Rights Act, conferring
citizenship upon black Americans and guaranteeing equal rights
with whites.(Timeline of African American History, 1852-1925 by
the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1866
The Fourteenth Amendment. On June 13, Congress approved the
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing due
process and equal protection under the law to all citizens. The
amendment would also grant citizenship to blacks. (Timeline of
African American History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library
of Congress))
1867
Black suffrage. On January 8, overriding President Johnson's
veto, Congress granted the black citizens of the District of
Columbia the right to vote. (Timeline of African American
History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1867
That year dealt the ruling white elite of the South a grave
blow. In the South, the substantial numbers of African-Americans
who had been able to vote steadfastly refused to return their
former masters to power. (Original Footnote: Wade, Wyn Craig,
The Fiery Cross. (Simon and Schuster, 1987)) At the national
level, Congress had grown impatient with the so-called
"Presidential" Reconstruction. Presidential Reconstruction
included the return of former Confederates to power, the
Southern states' unanimous rejection of the fourteenth
amendment, and the establishment of the notorious "Black Codes,"
which gravely limited the freedoms and citizenship's of
African-Americans in the South, and made it plain that the white
aristocrats who controlled the Southern state governments
"intended to yield none of their pre-war power over poor whites
and especially over Blacks." (Text footnote Southern Poverty Law
Center (SPLC), The Ku Klux Klan, a History of Racism and
Violence. (Klanwatch. 1988), 9) As a result, the Radical
Reconstructionists passed the Congressional Reconstruction Act,
which overturned the lenient reconstruction of Lincoln and
Johnson and invalidated the governments of every Southern state
but Tennessee, divided them into military districts, and
attempted to ensure the Civil rights of African-Americans. (Text
Footnote: Chalmers, David M., Hooded Americanism. (Duke
University Press, 1987), 11) The members of the Klan correctly
perceived these actions as a threat to continued white
supremacy, and quickly organized to combat them. In April of
1867, the Klan had held a secret meeting in Nashville to prepare
for the August elections, and decided to offer the leadership of
the Klan to a former Confederate Cavalry commander named Nathan
Bedford Forrest. (Wade, Wyn Craig, The Fiery Cross. (Simon and
Schuster, 1987), p 37) Nathan Bedford Forrest was described by
the Cincinnati Commercial as six feet one inch and a half in
height, with broad shoulders, a full chest... one hundred and
eighty-five pounds; dark-gray eyes, dark hair, mustache and
beard worn upon his chin." Text Footnote: Wade, Wyn Craig, The
Fiery Cross. (Simon and Schuster, 1987), A dashing example of
the Southern Caviler, he had been a millionaire slave-trader and
plantation owner prior to the war, and made a brilliant
reputation as a commander of cavalry during the war. He also,
however, commanded the troops which massacred captured
African-American soldiers at Fort Pillow in April of 1864. (Text
Footnote: Dictionary of American Biography, Volume III,
(American Council of Learned Societies: 1930), p532.) (Robert
Arjet History of the Ku Klux Klan: The First Era, found in
HateWatch which was originally called "A Guide to Hate Groups on
the Internet")
For a Chronology of lynchings see Timeline of African American
History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of Congress.
1868
Fourteenth Amendment ratified. On July 21, the Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, granting citizenship
to any person born or naturalized in the United States.
(Timeline of African American History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of
the Library of Congress)
1869
Fifteenth Amendment approved. On February 26, Congress sent the
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution to the states for
approval. The amendment would guarantee black Americans the
right to vote. (Timeline of African American History, 1852-1925
by the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1870
The 1870 census is usually the end of the line when tracing
African American genealogy. "African American slaves didn't
appear by name on federal censuses before 1870 because they were
property. But they were identified by name on other records.
They were named in deeds, wills and other court records. Court
records are the next step in the research process after the 1870
Census, particularly wills and intestate records. Intestate
records list the property the deceased person left behind if
that person did not leave a will.. In Chambers County, Alabama,
for instance, in many cases, slave families were sold or
otherwise passed on as units. Often, husbands, wives and small
children were sold as units. The exceptions were the young
people that were over 12 years old. They were able to work and
didn't require a mother's care, and were often sold away from
the family. The researcher tries to find former slaves by name.
Problem! Court records usually give only the first names of
slaves. However, you must identify your ancestors by surname.
How do you do this?
After emancipation former slaves were able to choose any name
they desired. In many cases they chose the name of their last
owner. In many cases they chose the name of a previous owner.
And in many cases they did not choose a name of any former
owner. They wanted to distance themselves from slavery. So how
do you find slave ancestors? Look through court records for
first names that you recognize as belonging to your 1870
families. (After the 1870 Federal Census, What Next? Where to
look and what to look for. By Cliff Murray in African American
Lifelines visit this site for many hints on genealogical
research. also see the genealogical links at AfriGeneas)
1871-1912
Height of global European Imperialism and the "scramble for
Africa" proceed, rationalized as a "civilizing mission" based on
white supremacy. Europeans assert their "spheres of interest" in
African colonies arbitrarily, cutting across traditionally
established boundaries, homelands, and ethnic groupings of
African peoples and cultures. Following a "divide and rule"
theory, Europeans promote traditional inter-ethnic hostilities.
"The European onslaught of Africa that began in the mid 1400s
progressed to various conquests over the continent, and
culminated over 400 years later with the partitioning of Africa.
Armed with guns, fortified by ships, driven by the industry of
capitalist economies in search of cheap raw materials, and
unified by a Christian and racist ideology against the African
'heathen,' aggressive European colonial interests followed their
earlier merchant and missionary inroads into Africa"(Mutere).
[See gold "Soul Washer's Badge" taken from the Asante king's
bedroom by Lieutenant R.C. Annesley of the 79th Queens Own
Cameron Highlanders, when a British military expedition captured
the Asante capital of Kumasi ["Gold Coast," now Ghana] on
February 4, 1874.] (African Timelines Table of Contents History,
Orature, Literature, & Film Part IV: Anti-Colonialism &
Reconstruction, compiled by Cora Agatucci, Central Oregon
Community College)
The conquest of Africa by Europe and the American acquisition of
lands in the Caribbean and Pacific which were inhabited by
darker peoples, were taken as clear evidence of racial
inequality even in the land which had been founded on the belief
in the equality of all men. Second-class citizenship for blacks
had become a fact which was accepted by Presidents, Congress,
the Supreme Court, the business community, and by labor unions.
Segregation was universal. In the North it was rooted in social
custom, but in the South it had been made a matter of law.
Separate facilities were inferior facilities. The basic
political and civil rights of the Afro-American were severely
limited in almost every state. (Norman Coombs, The Immigrant
Heritage of America, Twayne Press, 1972. , Chapter 4, All Men
Are Created Equal, Slavery and the American Revolution)
1868-75
Smallpox outbreaks hit New York, Philadelphia and other cities,
and it was discovered that many children had not been
vaccinated. The New York City Board of Health recommended that
all residents be vaccinated in 1870, but there was widespread
public resistance, since the vaccine itself was not without
risk, and people perceived the campaign as creating a panic
situation and allowing doctors to profit from it. (Some
Historically Significant Epidemics This list was compiled
largely from Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, edited by
George C. Kohn, and published by Facts On File, Inc., 1995)
1875
Civil Rights Act of 1875. Congress approved the Civil Rights Act
on March 1, guaranteeing equal rights to black Americans in
public accommodations and jury duty. The legislation was
invalidated by the Supreme Court in 1883. (Timeline of African
American History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of
Congress.
1877
The end of Reconstruction. A deal with Southern Democratic
leaders made Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) president, in
exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and
the end of federal efforts to protect the civil rights of
African-Americans. (Timeline of African American History,
1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of Congress.)
1878
Home rule ended in the District of Columbia. (1890 DC Census
Index)
1881
Segregation of public transportation. Tennessee segregated
railroad cars, followed by Florida (1887), Mississippi (1888),
Texas (1889), Louisiana (1890), Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and
Georgia (1891), South Carolina (1898), North Carolina (1899),
Virginia (1900), Maryland (1904), and Oklahoma (1907). (Timeline
of African American History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the
Library of Congress. )
1883
Civil Rights Act overturned. On October 15, the Supreme Court
declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional. The
Court declared that the Fourteenth Amendment forbids states, but
not citizens, from discriminating. (Timeline of African American
History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1887
Plessy V. Ferguson. As Americans we have been struggling since
the beginning of time to fight for what is right in our society.
After the Civil War many Southern states were determined to try
and limit the rights of former slaves. One of the biggest fears
in society was the mixing of the races, this was something the
white people vowed to stop. The government succeeded by using
the segregation laws, such as the one passed by Florida in 1887,
which required railroads operating in the state or passing
through the state to house black passengers in separate cars
from the whites. It was soon after this that separate car laws
were in forced in most of the South.
A group of New Orleans black businessmen decided to fight these
laws along with railroads who were also against the law. The
group decided to test the case, and a black man by the name of
Homer Plessy volunteered to break the law. Plessy boarded a East
Louisiana railroad train in New Orleans and took a seat in a
white-only car. He was asked to move and refused. He was then
arrested and brought before New Orleans Parish Judge John
Ferguson. Plessy and his attorney argued that the separate car
laws violated his civil rights. Ferguson found Plessy guilty and
he was charged with a twenty-five dollar fine.
However, this case was far from over, it went to the Supreme
Court and the law of separate cars was quickly found
constitutional. The Court ruled that "separate but equal
facilities" was proper under the 14th Amendment. After the case
was argued twice and almost two years later the court ruled 8-1
that Louisiana was correct.
On May 16, 1896, Brown wrote the majority opinion; Harlan
dissented. A state law requiring trains to provide separate but
equal facilities for black and white passengers does not
infringe upon federal authority to regulate interstate commerce
nor is it in violation of the 13th or 14th Amendments. The train
was local; a legal distinction between the two races did not
destroy the legal equality of the two races guaranteed by the
13th Amendment and the 14th Amendment protected only political,
not social, equality, the majority said.
John Marshall declared that the "Constitution is color blind and
neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." "Separate
but Equal" remained the law of the land for fifty-eight years,
until 1954 when the Court held in Brown v. Board of Education
that separate is "inherently unequal." References: Wagman,
Robert J. The Supreme Court. Pharos Books 1993. Witt, Elder.
Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court. Congressional quarterly Inc.
1979. (Prepared by Tamara L. Ort. History Of American Education
Web Project maintained by Robert N. Barger, University of Notre
Dame)
1889/03/02
President signs National Zoological Park into law. (Marion P.
McCrane, Zoologist to Eda B. Frost July, 28, 1967, SIA, RU 365,
NZP OPA 1805-1988 Box 35 Folder 9) Design by Frederick Law
Olmstead
Olmsted or Olmstead, Frederick Law, 1822-1903, American
landscape architect and writer; b. Hartford, Conn. In the 1850s
he attained fame for his travel books, which describe
slaveholding society in the South. When Central Park, N.Y.C.,
was projected (1856), he and Calvert Vaux prepared the plan that
was accepted, and he supervised its execution. This was the
first of many parks he designed; others are in Brooklyn
(Prospect Park), Chicago, Montreal, Buffalo, and Boston. He laid
out the grounds for the 1893 Columbian Exposition, Chicago (now
Jackson Park). (The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, 1995 by
Columbia University Press from MS Bookshelf.)
1890's
Throughout its history, America had been predominantly an
Anglo-Saxon and Protestant country. The Afro-American stood out
in sharp distinction to this picture both because of his color
and his African heritage. By the end of the nineteenth century
America was being flooded with immigrants from Southern and
Eastern Europe. They too were much darker than the dominant
strains of Northern Europe, and many were Catholics. There was a
growing feeling that these new immigrants, like the Negroes,
were inherently alien and intrinsically inassimilable. Liberals
in the progressive movement, who were concerned about protecting
the integrity and morality of American society, were in the
fore-front of those who feared the new hordes of "swarthy"
immigrants.
One of those who feared that the large influx of South and East
Europeans would undermine the quality of American life was
Madison Grant. In his book The Passing of the Great Race, he
warned that Nordic excellence would be swamped by the
faster-spawning Catholic immigrants. Originally these racial
stereotypes had some cultural and historical basis, but they
were gaining a new strength and authority from the sociological
and biological sciences centering in the concepts of Social
Darwinisn. Darwinism and related theories in anthropology and
sociology helped to give an aura of respectability to racism in
both Europe and America. The same kind of pseudo-scientific
thinking which was developed in Europe to justify anti-Semitism
was used in America to reinforce prejudices against Negroes as
well as against Jews and South Europeans.
In the first half of the nineteenth century the American
anthropologist Samuel George Morton argued that each race had
its own unique characteristics. Racial character, he believed,
was the result of inheritance rather than of environment.
Because these characteristics found specific environments
congenial, each race had gravitated to its preordained
geographic habitat. Darwin's theory of evolution offered another
explanation for the existence of differing species in the animal
kingdom, and anthropologists concluded that it would also
provide an explanation for racial differences in mankind. Early
anthropologists and sociologists were preoccupied with dividing
humanity into differing races and trying to catalog and explain
these differences. Phrenology was another pseudo-science which
attempted to construct a system according to which intellectual
and moral characteristics would be correlated with the size and
shape of the human head. On this basis many tried to divide
mankind into physical types and to assign to each its own
intellectual and moral qualities. (Norman Coombs, The Immigrant
Heritage of America, Twayne Press, 1972, Chapter 4, All Men Are
Created Equal, Slavery and the American Revolution.)
1890
African-Americans are disenfranchised. The Mississippi Plan,
approved on November 1, used literacy and "understanding" tests
to disenfranchise black American citizens. Similar statutes were
adopted by South Carolina (1895), Louisiana (1898), North
Carolina (1900), Alabama (1901), Virginia (1901), Georgia
(1908), and Oklahoma (1910). (Timeline of African American
History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1893-1897
Massive depression convinced many that equal opportunity was out
of reach for many Americans. (The Progressive Era, Polytechnic
School Pasadena, California, 1999 )
1895
Georgetown becomes part of the City of Washington. (1890 DC
Census Index)
1896
Plessy v. Ferguson. The Supreme Court decided on May 18 in
Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" facilities satisfy
Fourteenth Amendment guarantees, thus giving legal sanction to
Jim Crow segregation laws. (Timeline of African American
History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1900
Rayford W. Logan, in his book The Betrayal of the Negro
described the turn of the century as the low point in
Afro-American history. After Emancipation, he contended, the
hopes of the Negroes were betrayed. Again they were pushed down
into second-class status. It appeared that democracy was for
whites only. Actually, the increasing growth of racism and of
segregation as well, led inevitably to the development of
opposition groups bent on destroying this discrimination.
Segregation promoted the creation of Negro institutions which
then became the center for this counterattack. (Norman Coombs,
The Immigrant Heritage of America, Twayne Press, 1972. , Chapter
4, All Men Are Created Equal, Slavery and the American
Revolution)
1901
The last African-American congressman for 28 years. George H.
White gave up his seat on March 4. No African-American would
serve in Congress for the next 28 years.(Timeline of African
American History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of
Congress)
1908
Race Riot in Springfield Illinois leads to the creation of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) (The Springfield Race Riot of 1908, Deepak Madala,
Jennifer Jordan, and August Appleton)
1909
The NAACP is formed. On February 12 -- the centennial of the
birth of Lincoln -- a national appeal led to the establishment
of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, an organization formed to promote use of the courts to
restore the legal rights of black Americans. (Timeline of
African American History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library
of Congress)
1910
Segregated neighborhoods. On December 19, the City Council of
Baltimore approved the first city ordinance designating the
boundaries of black and white neighborhoods. This ordinance was
followed by similar ones in Dallas, Texas, Greensboro, North
Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, Norfolk, Virginia, Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma, Richmond, Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia, and St.
Louis, Missouri. The Supreme Court declared the Louisville
ordinance to be unconstitutional in 1917 (Timeline of African
American History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of the Library of
Congress)
1913
Federal segregation. On April 11, the Wilson administration
began government-wide segregation of work places, rest rooms and
lunch rooms. (Timeline of African American History, 1852-1925 by
the Staff of the Library of Congress)
1915
"D.W. Griffith's "Birth of A Nation" represented the essence of
racism in film. The movie set the stage for future portrayals of
blacks in film. Griffith showed blacks as, "endearing inferiors
duped into rising above their accustomed station by misinformed
abolitionists and vindictive reconstruction congressmen who had
betrayed Lincoln's benign plans for the defeated South." 'Birth
of a Nation' created a set of black comic figures studios used
as prototypes in film for years to come. (Television and Film)
One final factor made the United States in 1915 perhaps more
ready than it had ever been for Simmons's vision of a new Klan.
That year, a media phenomenon began that was to profoundly alter
the course of American race relations: D.W. Griffith's racist
epic film The Birth of a Nation debuted that fall, and
race-hatred would never be the same.
The Birth of a Nation occupies a seminal position in American
film. It introduced the very concept of the film epic to the
American people, and transformed the way Americans thought about
the motion picture. Unfortunately, its impact was at least as
influential on the Ku Klux Klan. The Birth of a Nation is
perhaps the greatest single piece of propaganda in the history
of mass media, both in its efficacy and in its reach, and its
prime beneficiaries have been the Klan. (Text Footnote:
Discussion of The Birth of a Nation literally fills volumes.
See, for example, The Birth of a Nation, a 1994 collection
edited by Robert Lang)
The Birth of a Nation depicts events in a Southern town before,
during and after the Civil War, giving special attention to the
"heroic" actions of the Klan, and depicting them as a noble
order of valiant white men who restored order and justice in a
chaotic time. While Birth propagated the false history of the
first-era Klan as discussed earlier, what the film added to Klan
lore was vitally important. First, Birth gave the Klan a visual
iconography that they had never before enjoyed. Contrary to
widespread belief, the first-era Klan did not burn crosses-that
practice was purely an invention of Thomas Dixon Jr., the author
of the books upon which Birth of a Nation was based. (Text note:
While the literature on Birth of a Nation is extensive, much
less attention is paid to the books on which the movie was
based. The Leopard's Spots and The Clansman, by Thomas Dixon,
Jr. These books were wildly popular in their day (early 1900s)
and laid the groundwork for 20th century racism in the United
States. See Joel Williamson's The Crucible of Race for a rare
investigation of Dixon's novels)
Likewise, the first-era Klan did not always wear the impressive
white robes depicted in the film. First-era uniforms were a
motley assortment, and often consisted of nothing more than a
flour bag thrown over the head for disguise.
The second effect that the film had for the Klan was that it
exposed millions of Americans to a rousing adventure story in
which the Klan were the saviors of all that was good, holy, and
pure about America. The sensation that The Birth of a Nation
created is hard to overestimate. Grossing an unheard-of $18
million dollars (the equivalent of 360 million today), Birth of
a Nation took the nation by storm. In Historian Wyn Craig Wade's
words, "In an astonishing few months, Griffith's masterpiece had
united white Americans in a vast national drama, convincing them
of a past that had never been." (Text Footnote: Wade, Wyn Craig,
The Fiery Cross. (Simon and Schuster, 1987) p 139)
Although the film's gross inaccuracies were strongly attacked,
especially by the NAACP, it should be noted that the film was
accurate according to the history books of its time. A
generation of (mostly Northern) scholars including future
president Woodrow Wilson and historian William A. Dunning had,
from 1873 to 1907, "systematically distorted the motives of
radical Republicans, falsified the behavior of Southern Blacks,
and glorified the Ku-Klux Klansmen as heroes." (Text Footnote:
Wade, Wyn Craig, The Fiery Cross. (Simon and Schuster, 1987) p
115)
As malicious as The Birth of a nation was, it was also a
"faithful composite of the "proven facts" and " authentic
evidence" contained in the most reputable history books of
1915." (Text Footnote: Wade, Wyn Craig, The Fiery Cross. (Simon
and Schuster, 1987) p 132)
The impact of The Birth of a Nation was not lost on Joseph
Simmons. He could tell that the public was receptive to the idea
of a heroic Klan, and made every effort to turn the sensation
the film caused into free advertising for his new Klan. In
addition, he was not above capitalizing on a gruesome murder and
subsequent lynching to advertise his "fraternal order." (Robert
Arjet, History of the Ku Klux Klan: The Second Era of the Ku
Klux Klan, 1915-1944, found in HateWatch was originally called
"A Guide to Hate Groups on the Internet")
The film "The Birth of a Nation" by David W. Griffith is
released. An adaptation of Rev. Thomas Dixon JR's. novel/play
The Klansmen or The Clansmen.
In its presentation of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as heroes and
Southern blacks as villains, it appealed to white Americans due
to its mythic view of the Old South, and its thematic
exploration of two great American issues: inter-racial sex and
the empowerment of blacks. Ironically, the film's major black
roles (stereotypically played) were filled with white actors -
in blackface. [The real blacks in the film only played in minor
roles.] Its climactic finale helped to assuage America's sexual
fears about the rise of defiant, strong (and sexual) black men.
"The propagandistic film was one of the biggest box-office
money-makers in the history of film - it made $18 million by the
start of the talkies. It caused immediate criticism by the NAACP
for its racist portrayal of blacks. They denounced the film as
"the meanest vilification of the Negro race." Riots broke out in
major cities, and subsequent lawsuits and picketing tailed the
film for years. Even President Woodrow Wilson during a private
screening at the White House is reported to have naively
exclaimed: "It's like writing history with lightning. And my
only regret is that it is all terribly true." (The Birth Of A
Nation (1915) reviewed by Tim Dirks, 1996, tdirks@filmsite.org,
full version on line))
Lynchings, Searching through America's past for the last 25
years, collector James Allen uncovered an extraordinary visual
legacy: photographs and postcards taken as souvenirs at
lynchings throughout America. With essays by Hilton Als, Leon
Litwack, Congressman John Lewis and James Allen, these
photographs have been published as a book "Without Sanctuary" by
Twin Palms Publishers and are on display at the New York
Historical Society through July 9. Experience the images as a
flash movie with narrative comments by James Allen, or as a
gallery of photos which will grow to over 100 photos in coming
weeks. Participate in a forum about the images, and contact us
if you know of other similar postcards and photographs.
1918
Writing (on the history of slavery) in the first half of the
twentieth century was that blacks were inferior to whites, that
races should be separated, and that therefore slavery was not so
bad after all. This perspective is best typified by Ulrich B.
Phillips's American Negro Slavery (1918), a classic work which
dominated the interpretation of southern history for the next
thirty years. Phillips depicted a plantation system in which
slaves were generally contented with their lot and unlikely to
resist. Those rare occasions in which resistance did occur were
more likely the result of slaves having lazy or criminal
characters rather than any legitimate complaint about their
conditions. Indeed, Phillips saw slavery as a system which was
economically unprofitable but socially desirable--a civilizing
institution necessitated by the racial inferiority of African
Americans. (Theresa Anne Murphy, Scholarship On Southern Farms
And Plantations 1996 American Studies Department of George
Washington University, for the National Park Service Web Page on
Slavery)
Journal article analyzes writings that provided important
American perceptions of Africa from colonial times through the
early 20th century when American impressions of Africa derived
substantially from commentators such as Theodore Roosevelt,
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, and Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
Generally American portrayals of Africa have been characterized
by distortions and frequently have served uniquely American
purposes such as justifying slavery and sanctioning racial
segregation. Since 1900, many American writers on Africa equated
the events of European colonization in Eastern and Southeastern
Africa with the processes that Americans popularly presumed were
inherent in the taming of American frontiers. Based on American
writings about Africa and on secondary sources; 43 notes.
(McCarthy, Michael. Africa And The American West. Journal of
American Studies [Great Britain] 1977 11(2): 187-201.)
1918
Flew epidemic then called the Spanish Influenza hits Washington,
DC. 35,000 become ill while 3,500 die. (WAMU Radio the 20th
Century Real Audio file. Broadcast May 8, 1999.)
1919/07/19
Whites riot against blacks in Washington, DC. The rampage by
about 400 whites initially drew only scattered resistance in the
black community, and the police were nowhere to be seen. When
the Metropolitan Police Department finally arrived in force, its
white officers arrested more blacks than whites, sending a clear
signal about their sympathies.
It was only the beginning. The white mob - whose actions were
triggered in large part by weeks of sensational newspaper
accounts of alleged sex crimes by a "Negro fiend" - unleashed a
wave of violence that swept over the city for four days. Nine
people were killed in brutal street fighting, and an estimated
30 more would die eventually from their wounds. More than 150
men, women and children were clubbed, beaten and shot by mobs of
both races. Several Marine guards and six D.C. policemen were
shot, two fatally.
The Washington riot was one of more than 20 that took place that
summer. With rioting in Chicago, Omaha, Knoxville, Tenn.,
Charleston, S.C., and other cities, the bloody interval came to
be known as "the Red Summer." Unlike virtually all the
disturbances that preceded it - in which white-on-black violence
dominated - the Washington riot of 1919 was distinguished by
strong, organized and armed black resistance, foreshadowing the
civil rights struggles later in the century.
Racial resentment was particularly intense among Washington's
several thousand returning black war veterans. They had proudly
served their country in such units as the District's 1st
Separate Battalion, part of the segregated Army force that
fought in France. These men had been forced to fight for the
right to serve in combat because the Army at first refused to
draft blacks for any role other than laborer. They returned home
hopeful that their military service would earn them fair
treatment.
Instead, they saw race relations worsening in an administration
dominated by conservative Southern whites brought here by
Woodrow Wilson, a Virginian. Wilson's promise of a "New Freedom"
had won him more black voters than any Democrat before him, but
they were cruelly disappointed: Previously integrated
departments such as the Post Office and the Treasury had now set
up "Jim Crow corners" with separate washrooms and lunchrooms for
"colored only." Meanwhile, the Ku Klux Klan was being revived in
Maryland and Virginia, as racial hatred burst forth with the
resurgence of lynching of black men and women around the country
- 28 public lynchings in the first six months of 1919 alone,
including seven black veterans killed while still wearing their
Army uniforms.
Washington's newspapers made a tense situation worse, with an
unrelenting series of sensational stories of alleged sexual
assaults by an unknown black perpetrator upon white women. The
headlines dominated the city's four daily papers - the Evening
Star, the Times, the Herald and The Post - for more than a
month. A sampling of these July headlines illustrates the
growing lynch-mob mentality: 13 SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN NEGRO HUNT;
POSSES KEEP UP HUNT FOR NEGRO; HUNT COLORED ASSAILANT; NEGRO
FIEND SOUGHT ANEW. Washington's newly formed chapter of the
NAACP was so concerned that on July 9 - 10 days before the
bloodshed - it sent a letter to the four daily papers saying
they were "sowing the seeds of a race riot by their inflammatory
headlines." (Excerpted from "Race Riot of 1919, Gave Glimpse of
Future Struggles" By Peter Perl Washington Post Staff Writer.
Monday, March 1, 1999; Page A1)
1921/06/01
Perhaps the nations deadliest racial confrontation begin in
Tulsa, Oklahoma. The exact number of people killed in the riot,
which destroyed a 30-square-block area of north Tulsa known as
Greenwood, a primarily black neighborhood, was never determined.
Newspaper accounts at the time varied, with some reporting as
many as 76 dead. But some historians, citing survivors'
accounts, have put the figure as high as 300. Blacks here have
long maintained that whites used airplanes to bomb homes,
churches and businesses in north Tulsa. By 1999, a special
commission to investigate the incident and determine
compensation was financed through a $50,000 grant from the
Oklahoma Historical Society. Scott Ellsworth, a former historian
at the Smithsonian Institution and author of "Death in a
Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921," is one of the
advisers to the commission. The historian John Hope Franklin,
whose father lost his home in the riot, is also an adviser to
the commission. Franklin last year headed the advisory board to
the President's Initiative on Race. (New York Times 2/21/99
Panel Tries to Get Clearer Picture of 1921 Race Riot)
An anti-lynching effort. On January 26, a federal anti-lynching
bill was killed by a filibuster in the United States Senate.
(Timeline of African American History, 1852-1925 by the Staff of
the Library of Congress)
1939
"Sit down" at segregated Barrett Library by five young African
American men: Otto L. Tucker, Edward Gaddis, Morris L. Murray,
William Evans, and Clarence Strange. The protest led the City to
open Alexandria's first library for African Americans, Robert
Robinson Library, in 1940. Today, the building houses the Black
History Resource Center (City of Alexandria Timeline)
1990's
A proliferating number of popular and scholarly books about
slavery are stripping away whatever is left of the velvety
romance of benign slaveholders presiding over docile slaves. And
they are emphasizing efforts of the enslaved to escape or rebel
and the punishments they faced that ranged from branding to
amputation. Much of the bleaker information emerges from the
faded pages of court records and antebellum divorce petitions.
But among the newly published books are some milder views
expressed in the memoirs of planters' wives, old handwritten
diaries and slave narratives. Much of the burst in publishing
about slavery has come in the 1990s, with 53 titles published
last year and 16 published so far this year, according to R.R.
Bowker's Books in Print. In previous decades, the yearly output
of titles was less than 12 a year. (Doreen Carvajal, Slavery's
Truths (and Tales) Come Flocking Home New York Times 3/28/99) |
