Banishment of the People of Colour from Cincinnati
Prof. T. G. Steward of Wilberforce University directs attention to the following from The Friend which carries an important document bearing on the Free Negroes of Ohio:
In the course of the present year, a law of this state has been brought into view, by the trustees of Cincinnati township, requiring people of colour to give bond and security not to become chargeable to the public, and for their good behaviour—also imposing a fine on those who may employ them. This law was passed upwards of twenty years ago, and I believe has remained inoperative, or nearly so, to the present year. In order that the effects and bearing of the law may be correctly understood, I subjoin the proclamation or notice by the trustees.
To the Public
The undersigned, trustees and overseers of the poor, of the township of Cincinnati hereby give notice, that the duties required of them, by the act of the general assembly of Ohio, entitled An Act to Regulate Black and Mulatto Persons, and the act amendatory thereto, will be rigidly enforced, and all black and mulatto persons, now residents of said Cincinnati township, and who emigrated to, and settled within the township of Cincinnati, without complying with the requisitions of the first section of the amended act, aforesaid, are informed, that unless they enter into bonds as the said act directs, within thirty days from this date, they may expect at the expiration of that time, the law to be rigidly enforced.
And the undersigned would further insert herein, for the information of the citizens of Cincinnati township, the third section of the amendatory act aforesaid, as follows: That if any person being a resident of this state, shall employ, harbour, or conceal any such negro or mulatto person aforesaid, contrary to the provision of the first section of this act, any person so offending, shall forfeit and pay for such an offence, any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, one half to the informer, and the other half for the use of the poor of the township, in which such person may reside, to be recovered by action of debt before any court having competent jurisdiction, and moreover to be liable for the maintenance and support of such negro or mulatto, provided he, she, or they shall become unable to support themselves. The co-operation of the public is expected in carrying these laws into full effect.
William Mills,
Benjamin Hopkins,
George Lee,Trustees of Cincinnati Township.
Comment
When this proclamation was issued, there were upwards of 2,000 people of colour, residing in this city, and nearly all obnoxious to the operations of the law; many of them had resided here for a considerable time, and were comfortably situated—they became unsettled and deprived of employment by this act of banishment and proscription, and much suffering and distress ensued. They deputed two of their number to select and provide a place for them to remove to, who procured a tract of land in Canada. In the meantime some of them commenced making preparations to leave the country, and as the time was very short which the trustees allowed them, they had to incur great losses in disposing of their property, selling for twenty dollars, what cost one hundred dollars. When the thirty days expired, and it was ascertained all did not, or could not comply with the requisitions of the trustees, mobs assailed them at different times, stoning their houses and destroying their property; in the progress of these disgraceful transactions one white man was killed and others wounded.
It is thought about five hundred have gone to Canada, many of these with means exceedingly limited to provide necessaries in a wilderness country, and encounter the rigours of a northern winter; one of their agents, a coloured man, informed me of an instance where twenty-eight persons had set out with a sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars. I confess my mind has been impressed with fearful apprehensions that they will greatly suffer or perish with hunger and cold! Some of them view this act of banishment with so much horror, they have told me the white people had better take them out in the commons and shoot them down, than send them to Canada to perish with hunger and cold!
The Friend, Nov. 28, 1829.