The Philadelphia Negro. W. E. B. Du Bois

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СКАЧАТЬ effects of slavery. The first set of men emancipated by law were freed in 1808, and probably many entitled to freedom were held longer than the law allowed or sold out of the State. As late as 1794 some Quakers still held slaves, and the papers of the day commonly contain such advertisements, as :

      “To be Sold for want of Employ, For a term of years, a smart active Negro boy, fifteen years of age. Enquire at Robert McGee's board yard, Vine street wharf.”³⁵

      1 Cf. Scharf-Wcstcott's “History of Philadelphia,” I, 65, 76. DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” p. 24.

      2 Hazard's “Annals,” 553. Thomas’ “Attitude of Friends Toward Slavery,” 266.

      3 There is some controversy as to whether these Germans were actually Friends or not; the weight of testimony seems to be that they were. See, however, Thomas as above, p. 267, and Appendix. “Pennsylvania Magazine,” IV, 28–31; The Critic, August 27, 1897. DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” p. 20, 203. For copy of protest, see published fac-simile and Appendix of Thomas. For further proceedings of Quakers, see Thomas and DuBois, passim.

      4 “Colonial Records,” I, 380–81.

      5 Thomas, 276; Whittier Intro, to Woolman, 16.

      6 See Appendix B.

      7 “Statutes-at-Large,” Ch. 143, 881. See Appendix B.

      8 “Statutes-at-Large,” III, pp. 250, 254; IV, 59 ff. See Appendix B.

      9 DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” p. 23, note. U. S. Census.

      10 See Appendix B. Cf. DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” passim.

      11 DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” p. 206.

      12 Scharf-Westcott's “History of Philadelphia,” I, 200.

      13 Watson's “Annals,” (Ed. 1850) I, 98.

      14 See Appendix B.

      15 Cf. Chapter XIII.

      16 “Colonial Records,” VIII, 576; DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” p. 23.

      17 Cf. Pamphlet: “Sketch of the Schools for Blacks,” also Chapter VIII.

      18 Cf. Thomas’ “Attitude of Friends,” etc., p. 272.

      19 Dallas’ “Laws,” I, 838, Ch. 881; DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” p. 225.

      20 Cf. Watson's “Annals” (Ed. 1850), I, 557, 101–103, 601, 602, 515.

      21 The American Museum, 1789, pp. 61–62.

      22 For life of Allen, see his “Autobiography,” and Payne's “History of the A. M. E. Church.”

      23 For life of Jones, see Douglass’ “Episcopal Church of St. Thomas.”

      24 The testimonial was dated January 23, 1794, and was as follows: “Having, during the prevalence of the late malignant disorder, had almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to bury the dead, I, with cheerfulness give this testimony of my approbation of their pro ceedings as far as the same came under my notice. Their diligence, attention and decency of deportment, afforded me at the time much satisfaction. WILLIAM CLARKSON, Mayor.”

      From Douglass’ “St. Thomas'Church.”

      25 See Thomas, p. 266.

      26 See Allen's “Autobiography,” and Douglass’ “St. Thomas”

      27 Douglass’ “St. Thomas’.”

      28 There is on the part of the A. M. E. Church a disposition to ignore Allen's withdrawal from the Free African Society, and to date the A. M. E. Church from the founding of that society, making it older than St. Thomas. This, however, is contrary to Allen's own statement in his “Autobiography.” The point, however, is of little real consequence.

      29 Carey & Bioren, Ch. 394. DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” p. 231.

      30 The constitution, as reported, had the word “white,” but this was struck out at the instance of Gallatin. Cf. Ch. XVII.

      31 Cf. DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” Chapter VII.

      32 “Annals of Congress,” 6 Cong., ISess., pp. 229–45. DuBois’ “Slave Trade,” pp. 81–83.

      33 Quoted by W. C. Bolivar in Philadelphia Tribune.

      34 Delany's “Colored People,” p. 74.

      35 Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser, July 4, 1791. William White had a large commission-house on the wharves about this time. Considerable praise is given the Insurance Society of 1796 for its good management. Cf. “History of the Insurance Companies of North America.” In 1817 the first convention of Free Negroes was held here, through the efforts of Jones and Forten.

CHAPTER IV.

      THE NEGRO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1820–1896.

10. Fugitives and Foreigners, 1820–1840.—Five social developments made the decades from 1820 to 1840 critical for the nation and for the Philadelphia Negroes ; first, the impulse of the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century ; second, the reaction and recovery succeeding the War of 1812 ; third, the rapid increase of foreign immigration ; fourth, the increase of free Negroes and fugitive slaves, especially in Philadelphia ; fifth, the rise of the Abolitionists and the slavery controversy.

      Philadelphia was the natural gateway between the North and the South, and for a long time there passed through it a stream of free Negroes and fugitive slaves toward the North, and of recaptured Negroes and kidnapped colored persons toward the South. By 1820 the northward stream increased, occasioning bitterness on the part of the South, and leading to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1820, and the counter acts of Pennsylvania in 1826 and 1827.¹ During this time new installments of Pennsylvania freedmen, and especially their children, began to flock to Philadelphia. At the same time the stream of foreign immigration to this country began to swell, and by 1830 aggregated half a million souls annually. The result of these movements proved disastrous to the Philadelphia Negro ; the better classes of them—the Joneses, Aliens and Fortens—could not escape into the mass of white population and leave the new Negroes to fight out their battles with the foreigners. No distinction was drawn between Negroes, least of all by the new Southern families who now made Philadelphia their home and were not unnaturally stirred to unreasoning prejudice by the slavery agitation.

      To this was added a fierce economic struggle, a renewal of the fight of the eighteenth century against Negro workmen. The new industries attracted the Irish, Germans and other immigrants ; Americans, too, were flocking to the city, and soon to natural race antipathies was added a determined effort to displace Negro labor—an effort which had the aroused prejudice of many of the better classes, and the poor quality of the new black immigrants to give it aid and comfort. To all this was soon added a problem of crime and poverty. Numerous complaints of petty thefts, house-breaking, and assaults on peaceable citizens were traced to certain classes of Negroes. In vain did the better class, led by men like Forten, protest by public meetings their condemnation of such crime ²;the tide had set against the Negro strongly, and the whole period from 1820 to 1840 became a time of retrogression for the mass of the race, and of discountenance СКАЧАТЬ