2 apprentices 3 barkeepers 4 bakers
1 blacksmith 122 barbers 21 boarding house keepers
28 boatmen 33 butchers 8 cigar makers
12 carpenters 39 carmen 95 cooks
107 coachmen 2 confectioners 1 gunsmith
24 farmers 7 gardeners 3 merchants
2 hatters 11 ink makers 1144 laborers
3 jewelers 21 ministers 4 painters
24 musicians 434 mariners 2 mechanics
15 marketmen 4 printers 23 tailors
44 stewards 808 servants 23 shoemakers
12 sextons 8 teachers
207 engaged in other
occupations
Many Negroes used wisely the money which they obtained from these businesses. Out of a free population of 50,000 Negroes, 5,447, or about one in ten was in school during this period. In a pamphlet entitled the Present Condition of Free People of Color published by James Freeman Clarke in 1859, the author stated that they were no less neat in person and attire than their white neighbors.[30] One year during the period from 1850 to 1860 Negroes of New York City invested in business carried on by themselves $775,000; in businesses of Brooklyn $76,000. That same year these free Negroes purchased real estate in New York worth $733,000, and in Brooklyn $276,000.[31]
With complete freedom in New York, free Negroes made more efforts to improve their condition. There were established several newspapers which served not only to present their cause to the public but also as economic factors. First of these must be mentioned a publication called Freedom's Journal or The Rights of All. This paper, edited by James B. Russworm, the first Negro college graduate in the United States, and Rev. Samuel F. Cornish, was established in March, 1827.[32] Another journal, styled The Weekly Advocate, changing its name later to The Colored American, appeared in New York, March 4, 1837. The editor was Philip A. Bell. Later Charles Bennett Ray became one of the proprietors and editors. Finally, mention must be made of such journals of this period as The Elevator, of Albany, edited by Stephen Myers; The Genius of Freedom, by David Ruggles; People's Press, by Thomas Hamilton; and North Star, by Frederick Douglass. Concerning the last named publication, it was generally said that it was conducted on a higher plane than any of the others and that it was among the first newspapers of the country.
Arnett G. Lindsay.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Census of New York before 1790:
Year Number 1664 "very few"
1678 "very few"
1698 King's County, 293.
1703, 5 counties about N. Y. City 1,301.
1712, 5 counties about N. Y. City 1,775.
1723 6,171
1731 7,231
1746 9,717
1774 21,717
1790 21,324
1800 20,903
1810 15,017
1820 10,088
1830 75
1840 4
NEW YORK CITY SLAVES.
1703 801
1712 960
1731 1,571
1737 1,719
1746 2,444
Morgan, Slavery in New York, page 38.
[2] New York Emancipation Law—African Repository, Vol. 31, page 155.