The Negroes of Cincinnati Prior to the Civil War

Abstract

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 per

Toward a New Legal History of Capitalism and Unfree Labor: Law, Slavery, and Emancipation in the American Marketplace

“…In Cincinnati, a major disembarkation point for the indigenous antislavery of the enslaved South, incoming black migrants were embracing the capitalist institution of private property. For them, property ownership could be seen as a bulwark against white coercion, guarding against one of the primary characteristics of being a slave (Woodson 1916). That is, private property could be seen as taking on the role that it once was theorized as playing back in Europe's early modern days as “a wild, boundless, and revolutionary force” (Hirschman 1977, 128).…”

Black-Owned Businesses in the South, 1790–1880

“…Virginia's Robert Gordon sold slack from his white father's coal yard before purchasing his freedom in 1846 and moving to Ohio. 11 Kentucky's Frank McWorter set up a crude saltpeter manufactory (the principal ingredient in gunpowder) in Pulaski County. 12 Mississippi's Benjamin Montgomery, a favorite slave of cotton planter Joseph Davis (brother of the future president of the Confederacy), operated a retail dry goods store at Davis Bend, thirty miles south of Vicksburg, selling items to his fellow slaves in exchange for wood, vegetables, chickens, and eggs.…”

Spatial Organization and the Residential Experience: Black Cincinnati in 1850

“…It is of signal importance, however, that these black cluster concentrations were not areas of black spatial dominance (Lammermeier, 1970;Taylor, 1983;Katzman, 1973). Bucktown, Little Africa, and Little Bucktown were actually white-dominated areas, with these colloquial appellations apparently referring to the relatively large numbers of black residents in these sections as compared to the rest of the city 6 (Wade, 1954;Woodson, 1916).…”

“…The primitive state of transportation technology made intraurban transportation extremely expensive, and the distance to work was a critical economic issue for most residents of the walking city. Blacks generally held the lowestpaying and must unstable jobs in the city, 7 jobs primarily located at the base of the transportation and personal service industries (Taylor, forthcoming;Riley, 1971: 63-65;Hershbergand Dockhorn, 1976: 49-98;Woodson, 1916). These jobs were often available only on a day-to-day or short-term basis, which meant that black workers were also forced to "go the rounds"-on footfrequently in search of work (Ward, 1981:107).…”

“…African-Americans shared a strong "congregational instinct" (Conzen, 1975: 149) and in the face of the high levels of racial animosity which made Cincinnati a hostile environment for blacks, black Cincinnati perceived itself as an alien, oppressed minority. As they struggled to survive in the city and to build a better life for themselves and their families, black Cincinnatians in every section of the city clustered together for protection, mutual aid, and cultural reinforcement (Dula, 1984a;Wade, 1954;Harding, 1977;Woodson, 1916;Horton, 1984;Curry, 1981;Taylor, 1984;Riley, 1971;Ellwein, 1964). It should be noted, however, that residential patterns were not a racial issue in antebellum Cincinnati, and that the historical data show no indication of any violent racial incidents triggered by animosity over the living place (Woodson, 1916;Wade, 1954).…”