The Fugitive-Slave Law bred great irregularity and injustice to the freedmen. The occasion was thus made for kidnapping the free Negroes, transporting them to distant regions where identification would be difficult, and the subsequent sale of the captives or their involuntary servitude. Societies were established, here and there, to prevent these heartrending tragedies. All the States had laws against it, and practically no failure to convict is recorded when the offender was brought to judgment. But the crime was so comparatively easy, that the wonder is, that the freedmen increased so steadily and normally.
An interesting phase of the life of the freedman is illustrated by the census of urban workers. The United States Census of 1850 gives, in parallel columns, the occupations of free colored labor, above 15 years of age, in New York and New Orleans, respectively. In the former there were 3,337, and in the latter 1,792. New York had 4 lawyers and 3 druggists, New Orleans none; the ministers were 21 to 1; the physicians, 9 to 4; merchants, 3 to 64; jewelers, 3 to 5; clerks, 7 to 61; teachers, 8 to 12. New Orleans also had 4 capitalists, 2 planters, 11 overseers, 9 grocers, and 2 collectors, while New York had none of these. New York had three times as many barbers as New Orleans, and twice as many butchers; but, while New Orleans had 355 carpenters, New York had only 12, and no masons as against 278 for New Orleans. A like proportion was shown in all the skilled trades.
In New York, one-third of the freedmen were unskilled laborers; while, in New Orleans, barely a tenth were of this class. This was due to the greater discrimination against colored labor in the North, which was true then as now. The laws in various Northern States excluded free immigrants, and discriminated against those who were already in their borders. In industrial life, they were very generally excluded from the trades. On the other hand, in the South, while the laws were even more severe, they were interpreted far more leniently, and the practice of the Whites was more kindly, with the result revealed in the Census quoted.
In view of the difficult condition of the freedman, it is remarkable that so few accepted the invitations, so widely given, to emigrate to other and free lands. The Colonization Society offered facilities to move to Liberia, beginning with 1819; the Haitien Government offered special inducement in 1824 and again in 1859, even promising free transportation and free lands to the French-speaking Negroes of Louisiana. In 1840, an Immigration Society offered free transportation to British Guiana. But few availed themselves of these opportunities, preferring the ills they suffered, along with very general security and prosperity to those they knew not of in the distant lands.
It is also remarkable that so few real uprisings against the white slave-holders should have occurred. These were generally led by the freedmen, and many are reported; but, in most cases, the reports were much like the flaring headlines of a modern newspaper, and must be attributed to the nervous dread of such possibilities. This, more than the few real happenings, led to the enactment of stringent laws; but the generally harmonious life was rewarded with very lax execution of such laws. In truth, the proportion of slave-holding, free Negroes in some localities, such as New Orleans and Charleston, too nearly approached that of the white slave-holders, to warrant a persistent suspicion of danger. In spite of all these difficulties, a few free Negroes of note, both men and women, appear in every generation.
Dr. James Derham, born a slave in Philadelphia in 1762, became the slave of a physician in New Orleans, who trained and used him as an assistant. He bought his freedom, and became the first recognized negro physician of whom there is record. “Dr. Benjamin Rush,” says the Negro Year Book, “the celebrated physician, published an account of Derham and spoke in the highest terms of his character and skill as a physician.”
Dr. Kelly Miller tells us that “the first real impetus to bring free Negroes in considerable numbers into the professional world, came from the American Colonization Society which, in the early years, flourished in the South, as well as in the North ... and undertook to prepare professional leaders of their race for the Liberian Colony.” The Society began its work about 1817, and sent teachers, trained in the South and the North alike, to the Colony established shortly after. Among these teachers were Doctors Taylor, Fleet, and DeGrasse.
A century earlier, Benjamin Banneker, born in Baltimore in 1731, was the first man in America to make a clock which struck the hours.
Phyllis Wheatley, born in Africa, and brought to Boston where she was sold to John Wheatley, and educated, wrote verses which were highly endorsed. They were published in London, and covered a variety of topics, religious and moral chiefly. To these names of Negroes who attained distinction, should be added that of Daniel A. Payne, of Baltimore, the founder of Union Seminary (consolidated in 1863 with Wilberforce University), who became a Bishop of the African Methodist Church. Others will appear in our study of the religious development of the race.
Commercially, the freedmen were not without conspicuous examples of thrift and material success. There was “John Jones, the colored proprietor of a popular hotel in Charleston, who lived in the same manner as his white patrons, accumulated property to the value of some $40,000, and maintained a reputation for high business integrity and talent.” Others there were among the free people of that city, respected and prosperous, with considerable establishments served by slaves. In New Orleans, a still larger number of wealthy colored people lived. Thomy Lafon, a merchant and money lender, was distinguished both for his wealth and philanthropy. He died about 30 years ago at the age of 82, leaving an estate valued at nearly half a million, from which many charities benefited. Unfortunately, wealth and good repute are not indissolubly united anywhere or among any people; it is therefore pleasant to recall them wedded in the person of a Negro.