[1] For many of the facts set forth in this article the writer is
indebted to Miss Fannie M. Richards, Robert A. Pelham, and C. G. Woodson.
[1a] Woodson, The Ed. of the Negro Prior to 1861, pp. 92, 217, 218.
[2] The law was as follows: Be it enacted by the General Assembly that
if any free person of color, whether infant or adult, shall go or be
sent or carried beyond the limits of this Commonwealth for the purpose
of being educated, he or she shall be deemed to have emigrated from the
State and it shall not be lawful for him or her to return to the same;
and if any such person shall return within the limits of the State
contrary to the provisions of this act, he or she being an infant shall
be bound out as an apprentice until the age of 21 years, by the
overseers of the poor of the county or corporation where he or she may
be, and at the expiration of that period, shall be sent out of the State
agreeably to the provisions of the laws now in force, or which may
hereafter be enacted to prohibit the migration of free persons of color
to this State; and if such person be an adult, he or she shall be sent
in like manner out of the Commonwealth; and if any persons having been
so sent off, shall hereafter return within the State, he or she so
offending shall be dealt with and punished in the same manner as is or
may be prescribed by law in relating to other persons of color returning
to the State after having been sent therefrome. Acts of the General
Assembly of Virginia, 1838, p. 76.
[3] The following enactments of the Virginia General Assembly will give
a better idea of the extent of this humiliation:
4. Be it further enacted that all meetings of free Negroes or
mulattoes at any school house, church, meeting-house or other place
for teaching them reading or writing, either in the day or night,
under whatsoever pretext, shall be deemed and considered as an
unlawful assembly; and any justice of the county or corporation,
wherein such assemblage shall be, either from his own knowledge, or
on the information of others, of such unlawful assemblage or
meeting, shall issue his warrant directed to any sworn officer or
officers, authorizing him or them to enter the house or houses where
such unlawful assemblage or meeting may be, for the purpose of
apprehending or dispersing such free Negroes or mulattoes and to
inflict corporal punishment on the offender or offenders at the
discretion of any justice of the peace, not exceeding 20 lashes.
5. Be it further enacted that if any white person or persons
assemble with free Negroes or mulattoes, at any school house,
church, meeting-house, or other place for the purpose of instructing
such free Negroes or mulattoes to read or write, such person or
persons shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not
exceeding fifty dollars, and moreover may be imprisoned at the
discretion not exceeding two months.
6. Be it further enacted that if any white persons for pay or
compensation, shall assemble with any slaves for the purpose of
teaching and shall teach any slave to read or write, such persons or
any white person or persons contracting with such teacher so to act,
who shall offend as aforesaid, shall for each offence, be fined at
the discretion of a jury in a sum not less than ten nor exceeding
one hundred dollars, to be recovered on an information or
indictment. Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, 1831, p. 107.
I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia that no slave,
free Negro or mulatto, whether he shall have been ordained or
licensed or otherwise, shall hereafter undertake to preach, exhort
or conduct or hold any assembly or meeting, for religious or other
purposes, either in the day time or at night; and any slave, free
Negro or mulatto so offending shall for every such offence be
punished with stripes at the discretion of any justice of the peace,
not exceeding 39 lashes; and any person desiring so to do, shall
have authority without any previous written precept or otherwise, to
apprehend any such offender and carry him before such justice.
II. Any slave, free Negro or mulatto who shall hereafter attend any
preaching, meeting or other assembly, held or pretended to be held
for religious purposes, or other instruction, conducted by any
slave, free Negro or mulatto preacher, ordained or otherwise; any
slave who shall hereafter attend any preaching in the night time
although conducted by a white minister, without a written permission
from his or her owner, overseer or master or agent of either of
them, shall be punished by stripes at the discretion of any justice
of the peace, not exceeding 39 lashes, and may for that purpose be
apprehended by any person, without any written or other precept:
_Provided_, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as
to prevent the master or owner of slaves or any white person to whom
any free Negro or mulatto is bound, or in whose employment, or on
whose plantation or lot such free Negro or mulatto lives, from
carrying or permitting any such slave, free Negro or mulatto, to go
with him, her or them, or with any part of his, her, or their white
family to any place of worship, conducted by a white minister in the
night time: And provided also, That nothing in this or any former
law, shall be construed as to prevent any ordained or licensed white
minister of the gospel, or any layman licensed for that purpose by
the denomination to which he may belong, from preaching or giving
religious instruction to slaves, free Negroes and mulattoes in the
day time; nor to deprive any masters or owners of slaves of the
right to engage, or employ any free white person whom they think
proper to give religious instruction to their slaves; nor to prevent
the assembling of slaves of any one owner or master together at any
time for religious devotion. Acts of the General Assembly of
Virginia, 1831-1832, pp. 20-21.
[4] Campbell, Political History of Michigan, 246.
[4a] Slavery did not immediately cease, however. The number of slaves in
the vicinity of Detroit in 1773 were ninety-six; 127 in 1778; and 175 in
1783. Detroit had a colored population of 15 in 1805 and two years later
a number had sufficiently increased for Governor Hull to organize a
company of militia among them. The increase had been due to the coming
of refugees from Canada. The Census of 1810 showed 17 slaves in Detroit;
that of 1830 shows 32 in Michigan and an enumeration subsequent to 1836
shows that all were dead or manumitted. See Census of the United States.
[5] Laws of Michigan, 1827.
[6] This riot occurred on June 14, 1833. Thornton Blackburn and his
wife, the alleged runaways from Kentucky, were lodged in jail pending
the departure of a boat. A crowd of colored men and women, armed with
clubs, stones and pistols, gathered in the vicinity of the jail. Upon
the pretext of visiting Blackburn's wife a colored woman was admitted to
the jail and by an exchange of clothing effected the escape of the
prisoner who immediately crossed into Canada. Some time thereafter the
sheriff attempted to take his other prisoner to the boat, but was
knocked down and badly beaten. During the encounter the sheriff fired
into the mob, but Blackburn was rescued and carried to Canada. This
caused a great disturbance among the white people. They armed themselves
and attacked the blacks wherever they could be found. The city council
convened and undertook to dispose of the trouble by enforcing the law of
1827 requiring that colored people should stay off the streets at night.
Utley, Byron and McCutcheon, "Michigan as a Province and State," II,
347.
[7] Five years after the organization of the Detroit Anti-Slavery
Society Henry Bibb, an ex-slave, came to the city and lectured for two
years under the auspices of the Liberty Association, which was promoting
the election of anti-slavery candidates. Public sentiment against
slavery was becoming such that the Legislature of Michigan passed a law
prohibiting the use of jails to detain fugitives. Frederick Douglass and
John Brown found many friends of their cause in Detroit. Of the many
organized efforts made to circumvent the law and assist fugitives one
society purchased land and established homes for as many as 50 families
between 1850 and 1872. Farmer, "History of Detroit and Michigan," I,
Chapter XLVIII.
[8] The immediate cause of the riot in Detroit was the arrest,
conviction, and imprisonment of a colored man called William Faulkner
charged with committing an assault on a little girl. Feeling that the
prisoner was guilty, bands of ruffians swept through the streets and
mercilessly beat colored people. Seven years later it was discovered
that Faulkner was innocent and to reimburse him for his losses and
humiliation the same ruffians raised a handsome sum to set him up in
business. See Farmer's History of Detroit and Michigan, Chapter XLVIII.
[8a] A study of the directories of Detroit shows that a considerable
number of Negroes had entered the higher pursuits of labor. See
especially the Detroit Directory for 1865.
[9] Simmons, "Men of Mark," 356.
[10] In 1853 Judge Ruffin moved with his parents from Richmond to
Boston, where he became judge of the Charleston District. Simmons, "Men
of Mark," 469.
[11] This information was obtained from newspaper clippings in the
possession of Miss Fannie M. Richards.