The study of the history of the Negroes of Cincinnati is unusually
important for the reason that from no other annals do we get such
striking evidence that the colored people generally thrive when
encouraged by their white neighbors. This story is otherwise significant
when we consider the fact that about a fourth of the persons of color
settling in the State of Ohio during the first half of the last century
made their homes in this city. Situated on a north bend of the Ohio
where commerce breaks bulk, Cincinnati rapidly developed, attracting
both foreigners and Americans, among whom were not a few Negroes.
Exactly how many persons of color were in this city during the first
decade of the nineteenth century is not yet known. It has been said that
there were no Negroes in Hamilton County in 1800.[1] It is evident, too,
that the real exodus of free Negroes and fugitives from the South to the
Northwest Territory did not begin prior to 1815, although their
attention had been earlier directed to this section as a more desirable
place for colonization than the shores of Africa.[2] As the reaction
following the era of good feeling toward the Negroes during the
revolutionary period had not reached its climax free persons of color
had been content to remain in the South.[3] The unexpected immigration
of these Negroes into this section and the last bold effort made to
drive them out marked epochs in their history in this city. The history
of these people prior to the Civil War, therefore, falls into three
periods, one of toleration from 1800 to 1826, one of persecution from
1826 to 1841, and one of amelioration from 1841 to 1861.
In the beginning the Negroes were not a live issue in Cincinnati. The
question of their settlement in that community was debated but resulted
in great diversity of opinion rather than a fixedness of judgment among
the citizens. The question came up in the Constitutional Convention of
1802 and provoked some discussion, but reaching no decision, the
convention simply left the Negroes out of the pale of the newly
organized body politic, discriminating against them together with
Indians and foreigners, by incorporating the word white into the
fundamental law.[4] The legislature to which the disposition of this
question was left, however, took it up in 1804 to calm the fears of
those who had more seriously considered the so-called menace of Negro
immigration. This body enacted a law, providing that no Negro or mulatto
should be allowed to remain permanently in that State, unless he could
furnish a certificate of freedom issued by some court in the United
States. Negroes then living there had to be registered before the
following June, giving the names of their children. No man could employ
a Negro who could not show such a certificate. Hiring a delinquent black
or harboring or hindering the capture of a runaway was punishable by a
fine of $50 and the owner of a fugitive thus illegally employed could
recover fifty cents a day for the services of his slave.[5]
As the fear of Negro immigration increased the law of 1804 was found to
be inadequate. In 1807, therefore, the legislature enacted another
measure providing that no Negro should be permitted to settle in Ohio
unless he could within twenty days give a bond to the amount of $500,
guaranteeing his good behavior and support. The fine for concealing a
fugitive was raised from $50 to $100, one half of which should go to the
informer. Negro evidence against the white man was prohibited.[6] This
law together with that of 1830 making the Negro ineligible for service
in the State militia, that of 1831 depriving persons of color of the
privilege of serving upon juries, and that of 1838 prohibiting the
education of colored children at the expense of the State, constituted
what were known as the "Black Laws."[7]
Up to 1826, however, the Negroes of Cincinnati had not become a cause of
much trouble. Very little mention of them is made in the records of this
period. They were not wanted in this city but were tolerated as a
negligible factor. D. B. Warden, a traveler through the West in 1819,
observed that the blacks of Cincinnati were "good-humoured, garrulous,
and profligate, generally disinclined to laborious occupations, and
prone to the performance of light and menial drudgery." Here the
traveler was taking effect for cause. "Some few," said he, "exercise the
humbler trades, and some appear to have formed a correct conception of
the objects and value of property, and are both industrious and
economical. A large proportion of them are reputed, and perhaps
correctly, to be habituated to petit larceny." But this had not become a
grave offence, for he said that not more than one individual had been
corporally punished by the courts since the settlement of the town.[8]
When, however, the South reached the conclusion that free Negroes were
an evil, and Quakers and philanthropists began to direct these
unfortunates to the Northwest Territory for colonization, a great
commotion arose in Southern Ohio and especially in Cincinnati.[9] How
rapid this movement was, may be best observed by noticing the statistics
of this period. There were 337 Negroes in Ohio in 1800; 1,890 in 1810;
4,723 in 1820; 9,586 in 1830; 17,342 in 1840; and 25,279 in 1850.[10]
Now Cincinnati had 410 Negroes in 1819;[11] 690 in 1826;[12] 2,255 in
1840;[13] and 3,237 in 1850.[14]
It was during the period between 1826 and 1840 that Cincinnati had to
grapple with the problem of the immigrating Negroes and the poor whites
from the uplands of Virginia and Kentucky. With some ill-informed
persons the question was whether that section should be settled by white
men or Negroes. The situation became more alarming when the Southern
philanthropic minority sometimes afforded a man like a master of
Pittsylvania County, Virginia, who settled 70 freedmen in Lawrence
County, Ohio, in one day.[15] It became unusually acute in Cincinnati
because of the close social and commercial relations between that city
and the slave States. Early in the nineteenth century Cincinnati became
a manufacturing center to which the South learned to look for supplies
of machinery, implements, furniture, and food.[16] The business men
prospering thereby were not advocates of slavery but rather than lose
trade by acquiring the reputation of harboring fugitive slaves or
frightening away whites by encouraging the immigration of Negroes, they
began to assume the attitude of driving the latter from those parts.
From this time until the forties the Negroes were a real issue in
Cincinnati. During the late twenties they not only had to suffer from
the legal disabilities provided in the "Black Laws," but had to
withstand the humiliation of a rigid social ostracism.[17] They were
regarded as intruders and denounced as an idle, profligate and criminal
class with whom a self-respecting white man could not afford to
associate. Their children were not permitted to attend the public
schools and few persons braved the inconveniences of living under the
stigma of teaching a "nigger school." Negroes were not welcome in the
white churches and when they secured admission thereto they had to go to
the "black pew." Colored ministers were treated with very little
consideration by the white clergy as they feared that they might lose
caste and be compelled to give up their churches. The colored people
made little or no effort to go to white theaters or hotels and did not
attempt to ride in public conveyances on equal footing with members of
the other race. Not even white and colored children dared to play
together to the extent that such was permitted in the South.[18]
This situation became more serious when it extended to pursuits of
labor. White laborers there, as in other Northern cities during this
period, easily reached the position of thinking that it was a disgrace
to work with Negroes. This prejudice was so much more inconvenient to
the Negroes of Cincinnati than elsewhere because of the fact that most
of the menial labor in that city was done by Germans and Irishmen. Now,
since the Negroes could not follow ordinary menial occupations there was
nothing left them but the lowest form of "drudgery," for which employers
often preferred colored women. It was, therefore, necessary in some
cases for the mother to earn the living for the family because the
father could get nothing to do. A colored man could not serve as an
ordinary drayman or porter without subjecting his employer to a heavy
penalty.[19]
The trades unions were then proscribing the employment of colored
mechanics. Many who had worked at skilled labor were by this prejudice
forced to do drudgery or find employment in other cities. The president
of a "mechanical association" was publicly tried in 1830 by that
organization for the crime of assisting a colored youth to learn a
trade.[20] A young man of high character, who had at the cabinet-making
trade in Kentucky saved enough to purchase his freedom, came to
Cincinnati about this time, seeking employment. He finally found a
position in a shop conducted by an Englishman. On entering the
establishment, however, the workmen threw down their tools, declaring
that the Negro had to leave or that they would. The unfortunate
"intruder" was accordingly dismissed. He then entered the employ of a
slaveholder, who at the close of the Negro's two years of service at
common labor discovered that the black was a mechanic. The employer then
procured work for him as a rough carpenter. By dint of perseverance and
industry this Negro within a few years became a master workman,
employing at times six or eight men, but he never received a single job
of work from a native-born citizen from a free State.[21]
The hardships of the Negroes of this city, however, had just begun. The
growth of a prejudiced public opinion led not only to legal proscription
and social ostracism but also to open persecution. With the cries of the
Southerners for the return of fugitives and the request of white
immigrants for the exclusion of Negroes from that section, came the
demand to solve the problem by enforcing the "Black Laws." Among certain
indulgent officials these enactments had been allowed to fall into
desuetude. These very demands, however, brought forward friends as well
as enemies of the colored people. Their first clash was testing the
constitutionality of the law of 1807. When the question came up before
the Supreme Court, this measure was upheld.[22] Encouraged by such
support, the foes of the Negroes forced an execution of the law. The
courts at first hesitated but finally took the position that the will of
the people should be obeyed. The Negroes asked for ninety days to comply
with the law and were given sixty. When the allotted time had expired,
however, many of them had not given bonds as required. The only thing to
do then was to force them to leave the city. The officials again
hesitated but a mob quickly formed to relieve them of the work. This was
the riot of 1829. Bands of ruffians held sway in the city for three
days, as the police were unable or unwilling to restore order. Negroes
were insulted on the streets, attacked in their homes, and even killed.
About a thousand or twelve hundred of them found it advisable to leave
for Canada West where they established the settlement known as
Wilberforce.[23]
This upheaval, though unusually alarming, was not altogether a bad omen.
It was due not only to the demands which the South was making upon the
North and the fear of the loss of Southern trade, but also to the rise
of the Abolition Societies, the growth of which such a riotous condition
as this had materially fostered. In a word, it was the sequel of the
struggle between the proslavery and the anti-slavery elements of the
city. This was the time when the friends of the Negroes were doing most
for them. Instead of frightening them away a group of respectable white
men in that community were beginning to think that they should be
trained to live there as useful citizens. Several schools and churches
for them were established. The Negroes themselves provided for their own
first school about 1820; but one Mr. Wing had sufficient courage to
admit persons of color to his evening classes after their first efforts
had failed. By 1834 many of the colored people were receiving systematic
instruction.[24] To some enemies of these dependents it seemed that the
tide was about to turn in favor of the despised cause. Negroes began to
raise sums adequate to their elementary education and the students of
Lane Seminary supplemented these efforts by establishing a colored
mission school which offered more advanced courses and lectures on
scientific subjects twice a week. These students, however, soon found
themselves far in advance of public opinion.[25] They were censured by
the faculty and to find a more congenial center for their operations
they had to go to Oberlin in the Western Reserve where a larger number
of persons had become interested in the cause of the despised and
rejected of men.
During the years from 1833 to 1836 the situation in Cincinnati grew
worse because of the still larger influx of Negroes driven from the
South by intolerable conditions incident to the reaction against the
race. To solve this problem various schemes were brought forth. Augustus
Wattles tells us that he appeared in Cincinnati about this time and
induced numbers of the Negroes to go to Mercer County, Ohio, where they
took up 30,000 acres of land.[26] Others went to Indiana and purchased
large tracts on the public domain.[27] Such a method, however, seemed
rather slow to the militant proslavery leaders who had learned not only
to treat the Negroes as an evil but to denounce in the same manner the
increasing number of abolitionists by whom it was said the Negroes were
encouraged to immigrate into the State.
The spirit of the proslavery sympathizers was well exhibited in the
upheaval which soon followed. This was the riot of July 30, 1836. It was
an effort to destroy the abolition organ, _The Philanthropist_, edited
by James G. Birney, a Southerner who had brought his slaves from
Huntsville, Alabama, to Kentucky and freed them. The mob formed in the
morning, went to the office of _The Philanthropist_, destroyed what
printed matter they could find, threw the type into the street, and
broke up the press. They then proceeded to the home of the printer, Mr.
Pugh, but finding no questionable matter there, they left it
undisturbed. The homes of James G. Birney, Mr. Donaldson and Dr. Colby
were also threatened. The next homes to be attacked were those of Church
Alley, the Negro quarter, but when two guns were fired upon the
assailants they withdrew. It was reported that one man was shot but this
has never been proved. The mob hesitated some time before attacking
these houses again, several of the rioters declaring that they did not
care to endanger their lives. A second onset was made, but it was
discovered that the Negroes had deserted the quarter. On finding the
houses empty the assailants destroyed their contents.[28]
Yet undaunted by this persistent opposition the Negroes of Cincinnati
achieved so much during the years between 1835 and 1840 that they
deserved to be ranked among the most progressive people of the
world.[29] Their friends endeavored to enable them through schools,
churches and industries to embrace every opportunity to rise. These
2,255 Negroes accumulated, largely during this period, $209,000 worth of
property, exclusive of personal effects and three churches valued at
$19,000. Some of this wealth consisted of land purchased in Ohio and
Indiana. Furthermore, in 1839 certain colored men of the city organized
"The Iron Chest Company," a real estate firm, which built three brick
buildings and rented them to white men. One man, who a few years prior
to 1840 had thought it useless to accumulate wealth from which he might
be driven away, had changed his mind and purchased $6,000 worth of real
estate. Another Negro, who had paid $5,000 for himself and family, had
bought a home worth $800 or $1,000. A freedman, who was a slave until he
was twenty-four years old, then had two lots worth $10,000, paid a tax
of $40 and had 320 acres of land in Mercer County. Another, who was
worth only $3,000 in 1836, had seven houses in Cincinnati, 400 acres of
land in Indiana, and another tract in the same county. He was worth
$12,000 or $15,000. A woman who was a slave until she was thirty was
then worth $2,000. She had also come into potential possession of two
houses on which a white lawyer had given her a mortgage to secure the
payment of $2,000 borrowed from this thrifty woman. Another Negro, who
was on the auction block in 1832, had spent $2,600 purchasing himself
and family and had bought two brick houses worth $6,000 and 560 acres of
land in Mercer County, said to be worth $2,500.[30]
This unusual progress had been promoted by two forces, the development
of the steamboat as a factor in transportation and the rise of the Negro
mechanic. Negroes employed on vessels as servants to the travelling
public amassed large sums received in the form of "tips." Furthermore,
the fortunate few, constituting the stewards of these vessels, could by
placing contracts for supplies and using business methods realize
handsome incomes. Many Negroes thus enriched purchased real estate and
went into business in Cincinnati.[31] The other force, the rise of the
Negro mechanic, was made possible by overcoming much of the prejudice
which had at first been encountered. A great change in this respect had
taken place in Cincinnati by 1840. Many who had been forced to work as
menial laborers then had the opportunity to show their usefulness to
their families and to the community. Colored mechanics were then getting
as much skilled labor as they could do. It was not uncommon for white
artisans to solicit employment of colored men because they had the
reputation of being better paymasters than master workmen of the more
favored race.[32] White mechanics not only worked with colored men but
often associated with them, patronized the same barber shop, and went to
the same places of amusement.[33]
In this prosperous condition the Negroes could help themselves. Prior to
this period they had been unable to make any sacrifices for charity and
education. Only $150 of the $1,000 raised for Negro education in 1835
was contributed by persons of color. In 1839, however, the colored
people raised $889.30 for this purpose, and thanks to their economic
progress, this task was not so difficult as that of raising the $150 in
1835. They were then spending considerable amounts for evening and
writing schools, attended by seventy-five persons, chiefly adults. In
1840 Reverend Mr. Denham and Mr. Goodwin had in their schools sixty-five
pupils each paying $3 per quarter, and Miss Merrill a school of
forty-seven pupils paying the same tuition. In all, the colored people
were paying these teachers about $1,300 a year. The only help the
Negroes were then receiving was that from the Ladies' Anti-Slavery
Society, which employed one Miss Seymour at a salary of $300 a year to
instruct fifty-four pupils. Moreover, the colored people were giving
liberally to objects of charity. Some Negroes burned out in 1839 were
promptly relieved by members of their own race. A white family in
distress was befriended by a colored woman. The Negroes contributed also
to the support of missionaries in Jamaica and during the years from 1836
to 1840 assisted twenty-five emancipated slaves on their way from
Cincinnati to Mercer County, Ohio.[34]
During this period they had made progress in other than material things.
Their improvement in religion and morals was remarkable. They then had
four flourishing Sabbath Schools with 310 regular attendants, one
Baptist and two Methodist churches with a membership of 800, a "Total
Abstinence Temperance Society" for adults numbering 450, and a "Sabbath
School or Youth's Society" of 180 members. A few of these violated their
pledges, but when we consider the fact that one fourth of the entire
colored population belonged to temperance organizations while less than
one tenth of the whites were thus connected, we must admit that this was
no mean achievement. Among the Negroes public sentiment was then such
that no colored man could openly sell intoxicating drinks. This growing
temperance was exhibited, too, in the decreasing fondness for dress and
finery. There was less tendency to strive merely to get a fine suit of
clothes and exhibit one's self on the streets. Places of vice were not
so much frequented and barber shops which on Sundays formerly became a
rendezvous for the idle and the garrulous were with few exceptions
closed by 1840. This influence of the religious organizations reached
also beyond the limits of Cincinnati. A theological student from the
State of New York said after spending some time in New Orleans, that the
influence of the elevation of the colored people of Cincinnati was felt
all the way down the river. Travelers often spoke of the difference in
the appearance of barbers and waiters on the boats.[35]
It was in fact a brighter day for the colored people. In 1840 an
observer said that they had improved faster than any other people in the
city. The _Cincinnati Gazette_ after characterizing certain Negroes as
being imprudent and vicious, said of others: "Many of these are
peaceable and industrious, raising respectable families and acquiring
property."[36] Mr. James H. Perkins, a respectable citizen of the city,
asserted that the day school which the colored children attended had
shown by examination that it was as good as any other in the city. He
said further: "There is no question, I presume, that the colored
population of Cincinnati, oppressed as it has been by our state laws as
well as by prejudice, has risen more rapidly than almost any other
people in any part of the world."[37] Within three or four years their
property had more than doubled; their schools had become firmly
established, and their churches and Sunday Schools had grown as rapidly
as any other religious institutions in the city. Trusting to good
conduct and character, they had risen to a prosperous position in the
eyes of those whose prejudices would "allow them to look through the
skin to the soul."[38]
The colored people had had too many enemies in Cincinnati, however, to
expect that they had overcome all opposition. The prejudice of certain
labor groups against the Negroes increased in proportion to the
prosperity of the latter. That they had been able to do as well as they
had was due to the lack of strength on the part of the labor
organizations then forming to counteract the sentiment of fair play for
the Negroes. Their labor competed directly with that of the whites and
began again to excite "jealousy and heart burning."[39] The Germans, who
were generally toiling up from poverty, seemed to exhibit less
prejudice; but the unfortunate Irish bore it grievously that even a few
Negroes should outstrip some of their race in the economic struggle.
In 1841 there followed several clashes which aggravated the situation.
In the month of June one Burnett referred to as "a mischievous and
swaggering Englishman running a cake shop," had harbored a runaway
slave. When a man named McCalla, his reputed master, came with an
officer to reclaim the fugitive, Burnett and his family resisted them.
The Burnetts were committed to answer for this infraction of the law and
finally were adequately punished. The proslavery mob which had gathered
undertook to destroy their home but the officials prevented them.
Besides, early in August according to a report, a German citizen
defending his blackberry patch near the city was attacked by two Negroes
and stabbed so severely that he died. Then about three weeks thereafter,
according to another rumor, a very respectable lady was insultingly
accosted by two colored men, and when she began to flee two others
rudely thrust themselves before her on the sidewalk. But in this case,
as in most others growing out of rumors, no one could ever say who the
lady or her so-called assailants were. At the same time, too, the
situation was further aggravated by an almost sudden influx of
irresponsible Negroes from various parts, increasing the number of those
engaged in noisy frolics which had become a nuisance to certain white
neighbors.[40]
Accordingly, on Tuesday, the twenty-ninth of August, there broke out on
the corner of Sixth and Broadway a quarrel in which two or three persons
were wounded. On the following night the fracas was renewed. A group of
ruffians attacked the Dumas Hotel, a colored establishment, on
McCallister Street, demanding the surrender of a Negro, who, they
believed, was concealed there. As the Negroes of the neighborhood came
to the assistance of their friends in the hotel the mob had to withdraw.
On Thursday night there took place another clash between a group of
young men and boys and a few Negroes who seriously wounded one or two of
the former. On Friday evening the mob incited to riotous acts by an
influx of white ruffians, seemingly from the steamboats and the Kentucky
side of the river, openly assembled in Fifth Street Market without being
molested by the police, armed themselves and marched to Broadway and
Sixth Street, shouting and swearing. They attacked a colored
confectionery store near by, demolishing its doors and windows. James W.
Piatt, an influential citizen, and the mayor then addressed the
disorderly persons, vainly exhorting them to peace and obedience to the
law. Moved by passionate entreaties to execute their poorly prepared
plan, the assailants advanced and attacked the Negroes with stones. The
blacks, however, had not been idle. They had secured sufficient guns and
ammunition to fire into the mob such a volley that it had to fall back.
The aggressors rallied again, however, only to be in like manner
repulsed. Men were wounded on both sides and carried off and reported
dead. The Negroes advanced courageously, and according to a reporter,
fired down the street into the mass of ruffians, causing a hasty
retreat. This mélée continued until about one o'clock when a part of the
mob secured an iron six pounder, hauled it to the place of combat
against the exhortations of the powerless mayor, and fired on the
Negroes. With this unusual advantage the blacks were forced to retreat,
many of them going to the hills. About two o'clock the mayor of the city
brought out a portion of the "military" which succeeded in holding the
mob at bay.[41]
On the next day the colored people in the district under fire were
surrounded by sentinels and put under martial law. Indignation meetings
of law-abiding citizens were held on Saturday to pass resolutions,
denouncing abolitionists and mobs and making an appeal to the people and
the civil authorities to uphold the law. The Negroes also held a meeting
and respectfully assured the mayor and citizens that they would use
every effort to conduct themselves orderly and expressed their readiness
to give bond according to the law of 1807 or leave the city quietly
within a specified time. But these steps availed little when the police
winked at this violence. The rioters boldly occupied the streets without
arrest and continued their work until Sunday. The mayor, sheriff and
marshal went to the battle ground about three o'clock but the mob still
had control. The officers could not even remove those Negroes who
complied with the law of leaving. The authorities finally hit upon the
scheme of decreasing the excitement by inducing about 300 colored men to
go to jail for security after they had been assured that their wives and
children would be protected. The Negroes consented and were accordingly
committed, but the cowardly element again attacked these helpless
dependents like savages. At the same time other rioters stormed the
office of _The Philanthropist_ and broke up the press. The mob continued
its work until it dispersed from mere exhaustion. The Governor finally
came to the city and issued a proclamation setting forth the gravity of
the situation. The citizens and civil authorities rallied to his support
and strong patrols prevented further disorder.[42]
It is impossible to say exactly how many were killed and wounded on
either side. It is probable that several were killed and twenty or
thirty variously wounded, though but few dangerously. Forty of the mob
were arrested and imprisoned. Exactly what was done with all of them is
not yet known. It seems that few, if any of them, however, were severely
punished. The Negroes who had been committed for safe keeping were
thereafter disposed of in various ways. Some were discharged on
certificates of nativity, others gave bond for their support and good
behavior, a few were dismissed as non-residents, a number of them were
discharged by a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and the rest were
held indefinitely.[43]
This upheaval had two important results. The enemies of the Negroes were
convinced that there were sufficient law-abiding citizens to secure to
the refugees protection from mob violence; and because of these riots
their sympathizers became more attached to the objects of their
philanthropy. Abolitionists, Free Soilers and Whigs fearlessly attacked
the laws which kept the Negroes under legal and economic disabilities.
Petitions praying that these measures be repealed were sent to the
legislature. The proslavery element of the State, however, was equally
militant. The legislators, therefore, had to consider such questions as
extradition and immigration, State aid and colonization, the employment
of colored men in the militia service, the extension of the elective
franchise, and the admission of colored children to the public
schools.[44] Most of these "Black Laws" remained until after the war,
but in 1848 they were so modified as to give the Negroes legal standing
in courts and to provide for their children such education as a school
tax on the property of colored persons would allow[45] and further
changed in 1849[46] so as to make the provision for education more
effective.
The question of repealing the other oppressive laws came up in the
Convention of 1850. It seemed that the cause of the Negroes had made
much progress in that a larger number had begun to speak for them. But
practically all of the members of the convention who stood for the
Negroes were from the Western Reserve. After much heated discussion the
colored people were by a large majority of votes still left under the
disabilities of being disqualified to sit on juries, unable to obtain a
legal residence so as to enter a charitable institution supported by the
State, and denied admission to public schools established for white
children.[47]
The greatest problem of the Negroes, however, was one of education.
There were more persons interested in furnishing them facilities of
education than in repealing the prohibitive measures, feeling that the
other matters would adjust themselves after giving them adequate
training. But it required some time and effort yet before much could be
effected in Cincinnati because of the sympathizers with the South. The
mere passing of the law of 1849 did not prove to be altogether a
victory. Complying with the provisions of this act the Negroes elected
trustees, organized a system, and employed teachers, relying on the
money allotted them by the law on the basis of a per capita division of
the school fund received by the board of education. So great was the
prejudice of people of the city that the school officials refused to
turn over the required funds on the grounds that the colored trustees
were not electors and, therefore, could not be office-holders, qualified
to receive and disburse funds. Under the leadership of John I. Gaines,
therefore, the trustees called an indignation meeting and raised
sufficient money to employ Flamen Ball, an attorney, to secure a writ of
mandamus. The case was contested by the city officials, even in the
Supreme Court, which decided against the officious whites.[48]
This decision did not solve the whole problem in Cincinnati. The amount
raised was small and even had it been adequate to employ teachers, they
were handicapped by another decision that no portion of it could be used
for building schoolhouses. After a short period of accomplishing
practically nothing the law was amended in 1853[49] so as to transfer
the control of such schools to the managers of the white system. This
was taken as a reflection on the blacks of the city and tended to make
them refuse to cooperate with the white board. On account of the failure
of this body to act effectively prior to 1856, the people of color were
again given power to elect their own trustees.[50]
During this contest certain Negroes of Cincinnati were endeavoring to
make good their claim to equal rights in the public schools. Acting upon
this contention a colored man sent his son to a public school which, on
account of his presence, became a center of unusual excitement. Isabella
Newhall, the teacher, to whom he went, immediately complained to the
board of education, requesting that he be expelled because of his color.
After "due deliberation" the board of education decided by a vote of 15
to 10 that the colored pupil would have to withdraw. Thereupon two
members of that body, residing in the district of the timorous teacher,
resigned.[51]
Many Negroes belonging to the mulatto class, however, were more
successful in getting into the white schools. In 1849 certain parents
complained that children of color were being admitted to the public
schools, and in fact there were in one of them two daughters of a white
father and a mulatto mother. On complaining about this to the principal
of the school in question, the indignant patrons were asked to point out
the undesirable pupils. "They could not; for," says Sir Charles Lyell,
"the two girls were not only among the best pupils, but better looking
and less dark than many of the other pupils."[52]
Thereafter, however, much progress in the education of the colored
people among themselves was noted. By 1844 they had six schools of their
own and before the war two well-supported public schools.[53] Among
their teachers were such useful persons as Mrs. M. J. Corbin, Miss Lucy
Blackburn, Miss Anne Ryall, Miss Virginia C. Tilley, Miss Martha E.
Anderson, William H. Parham, William R. Casey, John G. Mitchell and
Peter H. Clark.[54] The pupils were showing their appreciation by
regular attendance, excellent deportment, and progress in the
acquisition of knowledge. Speaking of these Negroes in 1855, John P.
Foote said that they shared with the white citizens that respect for
education and the diffusion of knowledge, which has been one of their
"characteristics," and that they had, therefore, been more generally
intelligent than free persons of color not only in other parts of this
country but in all other parts of the world.[55] It was in appreciation
of the worth of this class to the community that in 1844[56] Nicholas
Longworth helped them to establish an orphan asylum and in 1858 built
for them a comfortable school building, leasing it with a privilege of
purchasing it within four years.[57] They met these requirements within
the stipulated time and in 1859 secured through other agencies the
construction of another building in the western portion of the city.
The most successful of these schools, however, was the Gilmore High
School, a private institution founded by an English clergyman. This
institution offered instruction in the fundamentals and in some
vocational studies. It was supported liberally by the benevolent element
of the white people and patronized and appreciated by the Negroes as the
first and only institution offering them the opportunity for thorough
training. It became popular throughout the country, attracting Negroes
from as far South as New Orleans[58] Rich Southern planters found it
convenient to have their mulatto children educated in this high
school.[59]
The work of these schools was substantially supplemented by that of the
colored churches. They directed their attention not only to moral and
religious welfare of the colored people but also to their mental
development. Through their well-attended Sunday-schools these
institutions furnished many Negroes of all classes the facilities of
elementary education. Such opportunities were offered at the Baker
Street Baptist Church, the Third Street Baptist Church, the Colored
Christian Church, the New Street Methodist Church, and the African
Methodist Church. Among the preachers then promoting this cause were
John Warren, Rufus Conrad, Henry Simpson, and Wallace Shelton. Many of
the old citizens of Cincinnati often refer with pride to the valuable
services rendered by these leaders.
In things economic the Negroes were exceptionally prosperous after the
forties. Cincinnati had then become a noted pork-packing and
manufacturing center. The increasing canal and river traffic and finally
the rise of the railroad system tended to make it thrive more than ever.
Many colored men grew up with the city. A Negro had in the East End on
Calvert Street a large cooperage establishment which made barrels for
the packers. Knight and Bell were successful contractors noted for their
skill and integrity and employed by the best white people of the city.
Robert Harlan made considerable money buying and selling race horses.
Thompson Cooley had a successful pickling establishment. On Broadway
A. V. Thompson, a colored tailor, conducted a thriving business. J.
Pressley and Thomas Ball were the well-known photographers of the city,
established in a handsomely furnished modern gallery which was
patronized by some of the wealthiest people. Samuel T. Wilcox, who owed
his success to his position as a steward on an Ohio River line,
thereafter went into the grocery business and built up such a large
trade among the aristocratic families that he accumulated $59,000 worth
of property by 1859.[60]
A more useful Negro had for years been toiling upward in this city. This
man was Henry Boyd, a Kentucky freedman, who had helped to overcome the
prejudice against colored mechanics in that city by exhibiting the
highest efficiency. He patented a corded bed which became very popular,
especially in the Southwest. With this article he built up a creditable
manufacturing business, employing from 18 to 25 white and colored
men.[61] He was, therefore, known as one of the desirable men of the
city. Two things, however, seemingly interfered with his business. In
the first place, certain white men, who became jealous of his success,
burned him out and the insurance companies refused to carry him any
longer. Moreover, having to do chiefly with white men he was charged by
his people with favoring the miscegenation of races. Whether or not this
was well founded is not yet known, but his children and grandchildren
did marry whites and were lost in the so-called superior race.
A much more interesting Negro appeared in Cincinnati, however, in 1847.
This was Robert Gordon, formerly the slave of a rich yachtsman of
Richmond, Virginia. His master turned over to him a coal yard which he
handled so faithfully that his owner gave him all of the slack resulting
from the handling of the coal. This he sold to the local manufacturers
and blacksmiths of the city, accumulating thereby in the course of time
thousands of dollars. He purchased himself in 1846 and set out for free
soil. He went first to Philadelphia and then to Newburyport, but finding
that these places did not suit him, he proceeded to Cincinnati. He
arrived there with $15,000, some of which he immediately invested in the
coal business in which he had already achieved marked success. He
employed bookkeepers, had his own wagons, built his own docks on the
river, and bought coal by barges.[62]
Unwilling to see this Negro do so well, the white coal dealers
endeavored to force him out of the business by lowering the price to the
extent that he could not afford to sell. They did not know of his acumen
and the large amount of capital at his disposal. He sent to the coal
yards of his competitors mulattoes who could pass for white, using them
to fill his current orders from his foes' supplies that he might save
his own coal for the convenient day. In the course of a few months the
river and all the canals by which coal was brought to Cincinnati froze
up and remained so until spring. Gordon was then able to dispose of his
coal at a higher price than it had ever been sold in that city. This so
increased his wealth and added to his reputation that no one thereafter
thought of opposing him.
Gordon continued in the coal business until 1865 when he retired. During
the Civil War he invested his money in United States bonds. When these
bonds were called in, he invested in real estate on Walnut Hills, which
he held until his death in 1884. This estate descended to his daughter
Virginia Ann Gordon who married George H. Jackson, a descendant of
slaves in the Custis family of Arlington, Virginia. Mr. Jackson is now a
resident of Chicago and is managing this estate.[63] Having lived
through the antebellum and subsequent periods, Mr. Jackson has been made
to wonder whether the Negroes of Cincinnati are doing as well to-day as
Gordon and his colaborers were. This question requires some attention,
but an inquiry as to exactly what forces have operated to impede the
progress of a work so auspiciously begun would lead us beyond the limits
set for this dissertation.