The Unfinished Tale: Free Blacks in America

African Americans have been free since the end of the Civil War. This is a fact that gets taken for granted in the minds of people today. Lost in the history textbooks is the struggles of those free blacks during slavery. Neglect of historical knowledge leaves many in today’s world in a complete state of ignorance of the hardships that today’s African Americans face. Knowledge of the history leads to understanding of the present. Free blacks during the Antebellum period faced numerous struggles in attaining freedom. Keeping freedom, along with aspiring to prosper, resulted in even more hurdles to dodge. The hurdles were set in place by the government who deemed blacks unequal in the “White American Society.” These barriers kept African American men from attaining high-paying jobs, or in some instances, any jobs at all. This began a vicious downward spiral that destabilized the African American family, which led to a lack of discipline in children. This combination of extreme poverty and the unavailability of steady jobs ultimately produced a higher crime rate in the segregated and isolated inner-city communities. The earliest arrivals to the “New World” from Africa saw this country as a land of opportunity. Since then, the door was shut on most Africans and African Americans who attempted to create better lives for themselves and their kin. It has been a long and tumultuous journey since those first Africans arrived to the Americas in the late 15th century through the early 17th century. A once bright future has been extinguished in a steady stream of slave labor, unjust legislation, and a refusal to confront the issues of wrongdoing’s past.

My discussion of free blacks in North America begins with the Atlantic Creoles of the African West Coast. Many Creoles and the Africans before them served as moderators who negotiated between African merchants and European sea captains. Trading posts like Elmina soon developed into breeding grounds for European men who took African wives and mistresses. The offspring became acquainted with local norms, European dress and deportment, and were fluent in multiple languages. According to Dr. (not Professor) Albert W. Black Jr., Atlantic Creoles had an “insider’s knowledge of both African and European ways,” but were “denied full acceptance in either culture.” If the Creoles adopted African ways of dress or culture, the Europeans referred to them as “outcasts.” Likewise, if the Creoles adopted European culture, then the Africans would limit their opportunities of succeeding in Africa. Rather than choose one culture over the other, the Creoles formed their own culture and their own language. This did not win respect from either nationalities, but they used it to their advantage. Some even became rich and powerful as the Atlantic Creoles proved to be keen traders.

Their quick adaptation of multiple cultures and languages influenced European explorers who took many Atlantic Creoles on journeys to the Western Hemisphere. Some followed the explorers like Balboa who “discovered” the Pacific Ocean. Others were placed on plantations in the Caribbean who worked on farms as early African slaves. At first, Creole communities also sprouted in South America. Eventually, they found their way north, finally becoming part of black America’s charter generation.

Those who made it to the Chesapeake region were transported on small Dutch ships. Most had already been living in the Western Hemisphere, down in Latin America, so they knew the Spanish and English languages. In the Chesapeake, for the first 50 years of English and African settlement, whites and blacks lived and worked together, ignorant of racial preference or racist ideals. There were no set slavery laws in Colonial America, so many escaped and made a decent living on their own. Of the few free blacks in the Southern colonies at the time, most were of biracial backgrounds who were given a release after a specified time of servitude.

In the North, the Atlantic Creoles sought out the most powerful to work for, since these powerful whites had the best chance of improving their position in the new world. They realized that slavery was an inevitable state, so they made the best of their situation. The Dutch had founded the area which is today New York. Manumission, or an early form of indentured servitude had been the policy of the area up to the point of the English conquest in 1664. By that time, one out of every five black people were free. New York had the largest population of free blacks in the first century of colonization in the New World.

Florida was a prominent Spanish colony in the late 17th century. Spanish officials in the area brought up slaves from the Caribbean area to compete with the Northern English colonies. Soon, Florida developed a policy of not returning refugee and stolen slaves from the North. As long as these slaves enveloped Catholicism, then they could enjoy everything freedom granted minus the title. These refugee slaves, in turn, joined Spanish militias and raided their former masters in the English colony of South Carolina. Slaves found that Florida was more desirable as the chance of liberty loomed in the air of the Spanish colony. Alas, in 1763, control of Florida was taken by the English and many of the Florida refugee slaves sought refuge in Cuba where they were granted land.

As stated in the first volume of lecture notes written by Dr. Black, “the growth of plantation societies and the degradation of the status of being a free black were simultaneous processes.” Black Codes were set in place in many colonies, although they differed from region to region. Different colonies set up limitations on blacks voting, marrying, holding office, owning land, and serving in militias. Basically, any black person acting as if they were equal to white people was prohibited. Free blacks were taxed more heavily than whites, among other special burdens which detracted the black race from succeeding in the New World.

The American Revolution brought with it a doorway to freedom. Most in the North were so inspired by the bravery of the black soldiers that every Northern state had a provision for eventual emancipation by 1805. Some of the larger states like New York and New Jersey depended on slave labor, not to the extent that the south would later experience, yet still enough to have motions fail in their respective legislatures during this time after the Revolution. Indeed, even though the war ended too early to damage the name of slavery in the South, by the 19th century, over 100,000 blacks were freed in that region. Still, abolition was met with fierce competition, even in the Northern states. Compensation by the government was a key factor in releasing slaves. As one would travel further south, one would find farmers who were more and more against abolition as their profits depended solely on slave labor tending to their crops.

Manumission, however, did gain in popularity after the Revolution. In Maryland and Virginia alone, by the year 1810, approximately 34,000 and 30,000 blacks were reported free in each state respectively. According to Leon Litwack, in 1810, “the upper South had a free black population of 94,085 compared to the Northern free black population of 78,181.” Still, this lower number in the north accounted for a higher percentage of total blacks in this region. 74 percent were free in the North, compared to only 10.4 percent in the upper South. This shows how many slaves there actually were in the South, while this also reveals the dependency of slave labor in this region. In the deep south, refugees from Saint Domingue arrived and created a surge in the free black populations in those states. Georgia’s free black population grew over 300 percent in the period from 1790 through 1810. Manumission, however, was not as popular in the deep South. Southern plantation owners’ greed for money exceeded their national pride for their black soldiers. The only freed slaves were those who were illegitimate slave children of white masters. “Only 14,180 free black people lived in the deep South in 1810 (Litwack 99).”

Freed slaves took full advantage of freedom granted to them after the Revolution. Most changed their names in defiance to their cruel situation they had just escaped. This reversed the enslavement process and solidified their standings as free people in America. Many migrated North; some chose to leave the country in preference of a less oppressive society. Still, most who were freed in the South remained in the South, except many moved to urban areas rather than remain in the rural farm areas. Dr. Black mentions that by the 1840s, “more than a fifth of the nation’s free blacks resided in cities.” In urban areas, runaways as well as legal free blacks attained a sense of anonymity. They could also purchase their loved ones while away from the farm.

Animosity between free blacks and slaves soon sprung forth. Newly emancipated blacks desired to distinguish themselves from slaves, for they had their own interests to look into. These included presenting a positive and independent image for whites. Blacks with wealth saw themselves as elite, far above the class of slaves. They spoke as if they were not of African decent at all, like they had no connection whatsoever to slaves.

Some free blacks in the South purchased their freedom, were released by their masters for one reason or another, or were released by the state for exemplary service to the nation. Some of these former slaves even purchased slaves themselves, at least in the technical sense. A state like South Carolina, which abolished private manumissions because of the “extensive” free black population, had black slaveholders who bought their kin as slaves. Even though these people did not hire slaves for profit, others did choose this route.

Four types of profit-seeking black slaveowners emerged in the South. Those who owned large plantations or farms were most likely the offspring of former white masters who left the land to their children through an inheritance. Small farmers used additional slave labor to help with their crops. Free black artisans owned businesses and preferred slaves over wage-earners. The final type of black, profit-seeking slaveowners were those who simply hired out their slaves to other farmers or employers for profit. Black slaveowning for profit began in the 1700s and some even kept their slaves until the Civil War. These owners were, again, those of biracial ancestry who inherited their slaves from their white fathers. The Southern black slaveowners were so passionate about the institution of slavery and their ties to the white race that they decided to fight for the South in the Civil War and defend their right to keep slaves.

Employment of free blacks in the period leading up to the Civil War became a problem. Leonard P. Curry discussed the discrepancies among certain types of jobs in certain areas of the United States in 1850. The “Group A” jobs, or those with the lowest opportunity for improvement or wealth, were most prominent in the Northern regions and the upper South area of Virginia and Maryland (Curry 27). Incidentally, these were the areas with the highest populations of free blacks. Conversely, those free blacks who were artisans, those people who had the best opportunity to achieve a measure of economic success, were most likely to find those jobs in the lower South, where the lowest population of free blacks resided. 63.5 percent of all free blacks were artisans in the lower South in 1850, while only 20.5 percent were artisans in all regions of the North combined.

Education was denied to many free blacks in this same period. Litwack mentions that as early as the late 18th century, African Americans were requesting and achieving separate educational facilities in the northern states of New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey (Litwack 114). “By 1860, nearly every Northern state had provided for a public school system for African Americans.” However, Curry points out that in Albany, New York, 83.48 percent of white children attended schools while only 46.44 percent of black children attended in the school year of 1849-1850. Such inconsistencies were apparent throughout the country. In Charleston, South Carolina, for example, 70.65 percent of white children attended school, while only 5.44 percent of the black children were able to attend school (Curry 169). In every state, in every major city, these differences were rampant.

The Civil War was most definitely a turning point in black society. Northern free blacks, along with escapee slaves from the South volunteered for the Union army to no avail. This was thought, at least in the beginning, to be a “White Man’s War.” The Union was losing soldiers at an alarming rate though, so Lincoln was faced with no other option than to place black soldiers on the battle field to preserve the Union. He issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation which promised to free the Southern slaves on January 1, 1863, if the South did not rejoin the Union. This, of course, did not happen, and the Southern slaves were technically free. Abraham Lincoln held no power in the South, however, so Union troops had to free those slaves who had not already ran away. With the surge of black troops into the Union army, the North prevailed and Lincoln kept his promise of preserving the Union.

The end of the Civil War and the induction of the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution officially ended all slavery in all of the United States. However, this did not guarantee a restful period in the lives of the African Americans affected. Land assumed by loyal blacks in the South was taken away from them when President Andrew Johnson reinstated most Confederate soldiers and families. Blacks were given little choice but to return to their former masters and work for them for poor wages. Black codes were instituted in all Southern states, for now they could not control the free blacks manually. The North had already gone through this transitional period when slavery was abolished there in the 1830s. Black codes had been in place in the North since that period, though it is not widely known today.

The violence in the South, however, was much more vicious than anything any Northerners did prior to the Reconstruction Era. Since African Americans were no longer slaves, they had little to no value in the minds of Southern whites. They needed blacks to work on their farms, but other than that, whites were free to abuse and kill any black at will. African Americans were denied the opportunity to prosecute whites; whites were not imprisoned for their violence. African Americans could be imprisoned for such minor offenses as being jobless. Vagrancy laws were put into place to keep blacks working for their former masters.

The agricultural sector of the economy provided jobs for African Americans up until the 1880s, when the country’s economy shifted to that of the industrial sector. Around this period, African American men in the South began to lose their jobs. Many went North, but they were also rejected. Work could not be found in the North or South until the beginning of World War I. When this war broke out, African Americans migrated North in large numbers. This would eventually shift the majority of the African American population to the Northern side of the country. Still, when the war ended, the jobs assumed by blacks in the North were dispensed to returning white soldiers.

This is the period when the differences between blacks in the North and South start to diminish. Violence from white supremacy groups continued to ravage African American communities, more so in the South. The Black Codes were more strictly enforced in Southern States; the “separate but equal” doctrine did encompass the entire nation, but was most prominent in the South. More similarities were starting to emerge, however. Job opportunities were shrinking in all areas for African Americans; poverty was continuous throughout the period of the Great Depression. Again, the second World War brought another migration to the North, with the same results after the war ended.

The way of life in the United States prior to 1954 went mostly unchanged. Blacks were segregated from everything associated with white people. African Americans were denied high paying jobs, and many were even denied regular jobs. Black students were languishing in poor quality African American schools. Segregation of the races led to segregation of the classes. The rich African Americans moved away from deteriorating inner-city communities to the suburbs. The extreme poverty of the inner cities segregated themselves from the rest of the world; thus, most businesses left those areas as well. A necessity to survive led many young blacks to “lives of crime.” This helped deteriorate these inner cities even more to the squalor that remains today.

The judgment passed in the landmark Brown v. the Board of Education case caused a stir in the dormant Civil Rights movement. Jim Crow laws were gradually becoming more relaxed before this time in the North, but the South took this as a shock to their culture and daily lives. The Civil Rights movement was fought long and hard in most Southern cities from the period of 1954 to 1965. There were protests, sit-ins, marches and boycotts. The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 was one of the more famous boycotts in the 1950s. Busses in the 1950s required African Americans to sit in the back of the bus, or if no space was available, then they were required to stand. The final straw was broken when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was most instrumental in the Civil Rights movement in the South during this period. Along with the Montgomery bus boycott, King arranged a march on Washington in 1963 where he delivered his famous speech “I Have A Dream.” Dr. King’s speeches and actions were most inspiring to the African Americans of the United States. Knowledge of his sympathy towards struggling African Americans gave inspiration and hope to those who had none.

The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a major victory in the movement. This act banned discrimination in public places, including restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and entertainment facilities, as well as schools, parks, and libraries. It also banned discrimination in employment and labor unions. Most importantly, what would inevitably get results at least in public places, was that the government could withhold funding from any program which practiced discrimination in its dealings. This act, however, did not change everything immediately. Whites still held preference in the workplace, whites were still most likely to gain promotions and raises in salary. With such an advantage economically, whites obtained better housing in better neighborhoods which had better schools in their districts. Still, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made whites acknowledge the fact that African Americans are equal, at least in the opinions of the government, and also that African Americans were a more powerful force than once believed. African Americans did care about social and political issues, they were instrumental in voting and speaking out for their causes. They could not be taken for granted anymore, they could not be pushed around anymore by oppressive white officials.

All of these events leading up to the present do not change the extensive class differences between African Americans and whites. With all of the advantages given to whites for all the centuries they have lived in America, African Americans have been left far behind in the so-called American race. Freedom came at a price; this was learned extensively by those African Americans living in the South after the Civil War. Whites were allowed to literally break the law in the violence they enacted and in their employment practices. Whites continually restricted African American voting after the Civil War, anything to get ahead and stay ahead of the so-called “inferior race.” The Great Depression brought with it the most staggering examples of African American poverty and destruction. Through it all, African Americans have persevered and finished the twentieth century with at least a glimmer of hope for the future. Their journey is far from complete in the United States. What lies ahead remains to be discovered. Will reparations be given? Will African Americans become more of a force in politics? Will poverty discrepancies diminish between African Americans and whites? Surely, an optimist would believe that these questions will be raised in the future. A pessimist would believe that, considering the state of this country’s political system, the politicians will continue to dodge the truly important issues surrounding African Americans in today’s society. Whatever the case, the “rollercoaster ride” is far from over; the story shall unfold in the coming decades.