. ^\- University of Michigan HISTORICAL STUDIES PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO V THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO A History of Race Prejudice in a Typical Northern State. FRANK u/qUIIJJN, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND ECONOMICS KNOX COLLEGE. A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Lit- erature, Science, and the Arts, of the University of Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN GEORGE WAHR 1913 Copyright, 1913 BY FRANK U. QUILLIN Gift "Efca Uuiverstt* *PR '6 1113 THl ANN AREOR PRESS PRINTERS TO GEORGE D. SELBY WHO HOWEVER PROSPEROUS CAN NEVER BE LARGER OF PURSE THAN OF HEART, THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED PREFACE. Eight years ago while a student doing post-grad- uate work in Harvard University, I received from Professor Albert P>ushnell Hart the inspiration to in- vestigate the feeling of the people of the North to- ward the negroes living amongst them. I wrote out at first a brief story of the treatment of the negroes in my home town in Ohio. At the suggestion of Pro- fessor Hart this article was submitted to The Inde- pendent and published. Soon it was copied in scores of newspapers throughout the country, giving evi- dence that the treatment of the negroes was of great interest to the American people. From the publication of the above article until the present time I have been a student of this partic- ular phase of the negro question. For five years I have been carrying on my investigations under the supervision of Professor Claude H. Van Tyne, of the department of History in the University of Michigan. For the history of the feeling against the negro I have had recourse to many good libraries, the best of which I found to be the Ohio State Library at Columbus, Ohio, in which I spent many profitable weeks. For the knowledge of present day conditions I have de- pended upon an original or "first-hand" investigation, travelling about for months and interviewing many hundreds of white and colored men. The book is divided into two parts, Part I giving the history of the feeling toward the negro, and Part II showing present day conditions. Either part may be read first. The casual reader will probably find more interest in the book if he reads Part II first . In these pages there will be found, I hope, no de- fense of race prejudice or sentimental regard for the negroes. The book will portray conditions only, and for this reason will appeal for its readers to a wider X THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO public. The author of this book is descended on his mother's side from the Pennsylvania Dutch and on his father's side from Virginia English. He was born and brought up on the north bank of the Ohio River, while many of his relatives lived just across the river in "Dixie Land," where he often visited- He is a native of the great State of Ohio which led in the anti-slavery crusade, but which now in its treatment of the liber- ated blacks is like so many of the other Northern States— in a way to be developed in the following pages. For these and other reasons the author hopes to be able to narrate facts about the treatment of the ne- gro in the North without a partisan temper or a biased mind. I am indebted to hundreds of people in various parts of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Mich- igan, for the information in this book. But I desire to express my special obligations to Professor A. B. Hart of Harvard University for getting me started on the work, to Professor U. B. Phillips, of the Universi- ty of Michigan, for reading the proof and making many valuable suggestions, to Mr. C. B. Galbreath, of the Ohio State Library for most courteous treatment during the time spent with him in the summer of 1909, to my wife for the many hours spent in tedious work upon the maps, and for many most valuable sugges- tions, and to The Independent, of New York City, for the privilege of incorporating in this book several ar- ticles written by the author and published in that ex- cellent magazine during the last few years. To Pro- fess. >r ( Maude H. Van Tyne, of the University of Mich- igan, who has for live years encouraged me at every step of the way but who has not been content with anything but what he considered thorough, I acknowl- edge my deepest obligations. Frank U. Quillin. Galesburg, Illinois, September, 1912. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Purpose and method of the inquiry — Comparison of views with those of Alfred H. Stone in his recent Studies in the American Race Problem — Nation-wide features of the problem of racial adjustments— Ohio a typical Northern State. PART I. THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. CHAPTER I. FEELING TOWARD THE NEGRO SHOWN IN THE CONSTITU- TIONAL CONVENTION, 1802.. The first Ohio Constitutional Convention — Mo- tions regarding the status of free negroes — Votes for and against negro rights — The question of introducing slavery — Slavery prohibited — Little evidence of sec- tional vote — Race prejudice evident. CHAPTER II LEGAL STATUS OF NEGRO, 1802 — 1849. Status of negro in the State constitution — First Black Laws passed— Law of 1807; negroes forbid- den to enter State, etc.— Debarred from serving in militia — Forbidden to sit on juries — Shut out from school privileges — Summary of Black Laws — Supreme Court decisions affecting negroes — Why the Black Laws were passed — The number of negroes entering Ohio — Report of legislative committee on the negro question, 1832 — Enforcement of the Black Laws- Great expulsion of negroes from Cincinnati, 182!) — Conclusion. x ji THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO CHAPTER III. REPEAL OE THE BLACK LAWS, 1849. The negro question in Ohio before 1830 — Anti- slavery's defense of free negroes — Petitions to Legis- lature; for repeal of Black Laws — Repeal accom- plished, 1840 — Reasons for the repeal — W. H. Sew- ard's speech in Cleveland, 1848— Attitude of the Free- st »il party — Make-up of the State Legislature — Bal- ance of power held by two men — The "deal" made by these men and the Democratic party — The repeal not in accord with the popular will — Summary. CHAPTER IV. SOCIAL POSITION OF NEGRO, 1802 — 1849. Negroes generally regarded "as an excrescence on the body politic" — William Jay's discussion of free negro status in the United States — Attitude of the people of Ohio toward schooling for negroes — School troubles in Cincinnati — Oberlin College and its atti- tude on the question — Opposition to "nigger schools" throughout the State — Negroes denied religious priv- ileges — No protest by colored people — Committee report on condition of negroes in Cincinnati in 1834 — Negroes denied the right of petitioning the Legisla- ture — Slaves actually held in Ohio — White men's views of racial discriminations — Report of legislative committee, 1827 — Editorial opinion — Report of leg- islative committee, 1832 — The expression of a justice of the Supreme Court of the State — Summary. CHAPTER V. PEELING TOWARD THE NEUltO AS EXPUESSE1) IX THE CON- STITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1 S.">() — 1851. The growth of race prejudice — Proceedings of the Convention as expressing public opinion toward the negro — Petitions, number and kinds — Petitions on CONTENTS xiii behalf of the negroes bitterly assailed — A typical petition — Division of Ohio into a "North" and a "South' 1 — Comparison of negro types and numbers in the two sections — Consequences — Votes in the con- vention upon motions regarding negroes — (1) To en- roll them in the State militia— (2) To give them the suffrage — (3) To throw open public schools to white and black children on equal terms- CHAPTER VI. LEGAL STATUS, 1850 — 1912. Legal Status of negro in 1850 — New school law of 1853 — Supreme Court decisions upon this — Chief Jus- tice Peck on the situation as regards the negro — Suit of colored boy for remedy, 1870 — A similar suit in a Federal Court, 1881 — New enactment throwing Pub- lic schools open to whites and blacks, 1887 — Reception of this law in the State — Colored schools retained by many towns in spite of the law — The struggle for ne- gro suffrage — Attitude of the Legislature in 1859 — Attitude of the Democratic party, 1865 — The popular vote, 1807, upon granting negro suffrage — Action upon the proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution — The effect of the amendment in Ohio — Act of 1884 securing equal rights to the negro. CHAPTER VII. SOCIAL STATUS, 1850 — 1912. "Equal rights" on the statute books and "equal rights" in actual life — A judge refuses a colored preacher a license to perform marriages — A colored woman ejected from street car in Cincinnati, 1859, solely on account of color — Wilberfore College burned to the ground by negro haters — Convention of colored people of Ohio, 1873, and their resolutions — Colored man put up for office to appease his race — A colored XIV THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO boy tries to join a company of cadets in a Columbus school — Colored man refused admittance to certain section of theatre in Columbus — He assaults the door- keeper — City Council refuses to prohibit discrimina- tions — A picture of race-prejudice in one of the small- er towns of the State — Negro Lynchings in Ohio — In Adams County, 1856, 189-1— In Crawford County, 1882, — At Washington Court House, Fayette County, 1894,— In Clermont County, 1895,— At Urbana, Champaign County, 1897, — The Akron race riot, 1900 — The Springfield race riots and lynchings — The re- fusal of the white people to give "equal rights" to ne- groes — Attempts of colored people to collect damages as provided for in the equal rights act of 1884 — De- feated by the State Supreme Court — Conclusion. PART II. PRESENT DAY CONDITIONS. CHAPTER I— CINCINNATI Purpose and method of this inquiry — The equal- rights law a dead letter in Cincinnati — Physicians — The fire department — Parks, hotels and restaurants — Pullman cars — The Y. M. C. A. — Theatres — The real- estate market — Labor unions — The industrial status of negroes, and the reasons therefor. CHAPTER II— DAYTON. Exclusion of the negroes from the better class of stores, soda fountains and saloons — Theatres — Real- estate — Employments — Explanation of the regime contributed by while and negro citizens. CONTENTS xv CHAPTER III— SPRINGFIELD. The labor unions — The race riots of 1904 and 190o — The present bitter hostility toward negroes. CHAPTER IV— COLUMBUS. Change in feeling toward negroes — Bad effect of recent negro immigration from the South — A strained situation — Racial discriminations — Divisions among the negroes — The views of upper-class negroes. CHAPTER V— CLEVELAND. Remarkable absence of racial antipathy and dis- criminations — Negroes in the trades and professions — Social segregation — Causes of the Cleveland condi- tions. CHAPTER VI— SYRACUSE, A NEGRO-HATING SMALL TOWN. Negroes prohibited from spending a night in Syr- acuse — The town's reputation — A negro family on the outskirts — A son and daughter in school — The exclu- sion of a would-be negro resident — Ohio town condi- tions in general — Feeling in the state as a whole. xv i THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO MAPS. PAGE No. 1— Negro Population of Ohio, 1800 18 No. 2 — Votes in Constitutional Convention of 1802 on Status of Negroes 19 No. 3— Negro Population of Ohio, 1830 27 No. 4 — Negro Population of Ohio, 1850 71 No. 5 — Votes in Constitutional Convention of 1850-'51 on Status of Negroes 75 No. G — Votes by Counties in 1807 on Giving Suf- frage to Negroes 100 No. 7— Negro Population of Ohio, 1870 101 No. 8— Negro Population of Ohio, 1900 121 INTRODUCTION. This book was written as the fruit of an investiga- tion of race relations in the history of Ohio. It con- tains generalizations which I consider important and which at the time I reached them I thought were orig- inal contributions as well as independent conclusions. They had been forced upon me by the weight of the facts revealed by my own investigations in Ohio, and were not obtained from the works of oilier writers. One of the readers of my manuscript, a Southern gentle- man, who had made an extensive study of the race question kindly pointed out that many of my conclu- sions were familiar to the special students of the ne- gro problem. I then looked more deeply into the lit- erature bearing upon the larger phases of race rela- tions. Among other works, I read a book written by a Southerner living in the "black belt," a book enti- tled Studies in the American Race Problem by Alfred Holt Stone, which not only contains my "important conclusions" but which emphasizes them as his important conclusions; he a planter in the far Southern State of Mississippi and I a school-master in the most northern State of the Northwest Territory ; he, after fifteen years' study of the relation of the white and colored races throughout America, and I after studying for several years the feeling between the races in one of the largest of the Northern States. come to these conclusions: 1. That the prejudice of the white man against the negro increases according to the growth of the negro population; 2. Thai the average negro is worse off in the North than in the South because he is here so completely shut out from the more advantageous industrial opportunities; 3. That social equality between the races in the North as well as in the South is a myth; 4. That civil rights for whites and negroes in the North are the same tech- 2 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO nically, but that actual discriminations are just as numerous as in any Southern State; 5. That there is much more prejudice against the negro race today than there was at the close of the Civil War ; 6. That it is essential to the Northern man, if he would really know the truth of his own section, to get it from the lips and hearts of the colored people themselves. Although I have been disillusioned as to some of my conclusions being discoveries I am more than satis- fied for the sake of truth and harmony to find that the same conclusions have been arrived at by another, and he a Southerner. The conclusions arrived at by such independent investigations must necessarrily have greater significance for those who desire a mutu- al understanding between the North and the South on this important race question. As Mr. Stone says, "There would be precious little room for misunder- standing between us here, if each of us were only more thoroughly acquainted with his own and the other's ground." 1 "We would do well to sweep our own door- steps before calling attention to the condition of our neighbor's. It is a fundamental principle of every pro- ceeding in equity that the complainant come into court with clean hands." 2 Before proceeding with the discussion of prej- udice in the abstract let us Northerners "sweep our own doorsteps," let us "come into court with clean hands." A picture drawn by another Southern writer to show racial discriminations in the South requires but slight retouching to portray conditions in Ohio. Here the public places of honor and profit, which are open to every white man, have been and are closed to the black man as by iron doors. In the learned pro- fessions, in the direction of corporate enterprises and important industrial agencies, in the higher industrial and mechanical occupations, even in the factories and 1 Stone, American Race Problem, 23. 2 Stone, American Race Problem, 34. INTRODUCTION 3 workshops, where some small degree of skill and in- telligence is required of the operatives, he has had and now has no standing or place whatever among white men. As a professor, teacher, merchant, lawyer, phy- sician, journalist, he receives some little countenance and patronage from his own race, and he looks for no other ; porter, drayman, hod-carrier, coachman, butler, barber, cook or waiter, he may be at pleasure, and find service; but when in touch with the whites it is ever the service of the inferior to the superior that is exact- ed from him. The negro is admitted to some hotels and other public resorts; but his place is on his feet while there, or is fixed apart by some special provision in his be- half. He cannot sit at the table, public or private, with a white man. If he attends the white man's church (which he seldom does), he is assigned a place where he will have much more space than he really needs for comfort. He has no seat in the congrega- tion and none at the communion table. He is excluded without ceremony from the councils of the laity. He is sexton and organ-blower and bell-ringer. His posi- tion in the household of faith is the same as in the household of fashion, — that of a door-keeper and ser- vitor. In the theater and the circus, the camp-meet- ing and the court-room, the hospital and the prison, the cemetery and the potter's field, his place is his alone, and is readily located. Wherever he goes or stays, works or worships, plays or suffers, lives or dies, the lines are drawn sharply around and about him, and there is no transgressing them — from his side. The two races have been and are utterly separat- ed. As the Cincinnati (Ohio) Commercial Gazette of June 15, 1889, said : "The color-line is everywhere. It is in every church. It is in society. It is in politics. And there is no class that knows this better than the colored people There may be a sentiment in fa- vor of wiping out the color-line, but it is not honest." 4 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO Exceptions there are to all the above restrictions on the negroes, but we are concerned not with excep- tions but with general conditions, — with the views of the white people in general toward the negroes dwell- ing in their midst, and with the adjustments result- ing. Some readers will say that this picture is over- drawn, others will say that it is wholly untrue. I was born and reared in Ohio. I love her as I love no other State, and I have no reason whatever for misrepre- senting her. I shall give the facts as I found them. Ohio is not alone among the Northern States in her discriminations against the negro race. "There is not a State in the Union, from Massachusetts to Cal- ifornia, which through some element of its population, does not today, somewhere within its borders, in some way discriminate against the negro race. The laws and customs of every State, from the beginning until this hour, have been influenced by the factor of the relative numerical strength of the negro." 3 As Mr. Stone goes on to say, wherever the negro population increases in numbers there you may find the discrimi- nations also increasing. Ohio is but typical of all the Northern States and for this reason I entitle this book Tli e Color Line In Ohio, a History of Race Prejudice in a Typical Northern State. "On the evening of December 17, 1855, there as- sembled a gathering of the colored citizens of the city of Boston to do honor to a member of their race. The man was William C. Nell. The occasion was the pre- sentation to him of a testimonial of appreciation of his labors in behalf of the removal of the color line from the public schools of Boston. The e\ent com- memorated the crowning achievement of a purpose formed and work begun some twenty-six years before. It marked the close of a quarter century of patient and unremitting struggle with established law and cus- tom. The meeting was made memorable by the pres- 8 Stone, American Race Problem, 13. INTRODUCTION 5 ence of such men as Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison, who rejoiced with their colored breth- ren that "the prejudice against color was dying out." This was the keynote of all the addresses made — the faith that the final surrender of this long-stormed cit- adel marked the passing of the prejudice of race. "Fifty-two years later, in November, 1907, a great concourse of Boston's colored citizens assembled in Faneuil Hall to protest against the steady and wide increase of race prejudice in America. The meeting was addressed by the gray-haired son of the great abo- litionist, in tones which were far from sounding an echo of the hopeful, long forgotten words of his fath- er." 4 It was not in the South that one of the most sen- sitive and most cultured men identified with the negro race, W. E. DuBois, was first made to realize that he "was different from the others." It was away up in the hills of New England where he was made to feel the presence of "the shadow of the veil,'' 3 when a white girl schoolmate refused his card with a significant glance. In 1842 in the State of Massachusetts we find ne- groes excluded altogther from the cars on the New Bedford Traction Railroad. 6 In 1905 in the same State we find a clause in the warrant for the "town meeting" of Marion, providing for a vote on the ques- tion of employing only white men on town work. 7 In a town of northern Indiana in 1907 the proprietor of the leading hotel permitted a negro to sit down at the table with white customers, and as a result the travel- ling men and others boycotted the hotel and it was forced to close. In a contribution to a leading negr< i magazine a Southern negro in relating his experiences 4 Stone, American Race Problem, 211-212. G DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, 2. Samuel J. May, Some Recollections of our Anti-Slavery Con- flict, 399. Quoted by Stone, American Race Problem, 67. 1 Stone, American Race Problem, 7. 6 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO in a Northern university says that he found "not an ounce more of opposition" from Southern than from Northern students, but describes the former as more "frank" and the latter more "secretive" in their social atitudes. 8 In virtually all the States of the North there are cities which provide for the separate educa- tion of the black and white children. President Emer- itus Eliot, of Harvard, says, "In Northern towns, where negro children are proportionally numerous there is just the same tendency and desire to separate them from the whites as there is in the South. This separation may be effected by public regulations, but, if not, it will be effected by white parents procuring the transfer of their children to schools where negroes are few." 9 Many things might be mentioned here to show the truth of Mr. Stone's statements when he says, "A con- tention that the negro is treated as an equal in the North is not often made by sensible men, and it can- not be supported by facts. It is idle to point to a mu- latto upon whom Harvard has conferred a degree, or to one whom a G.A.R. post has elected its commander, and say to the world : 'Here we tolerate no racial dis- criminations.' The negro knows better, whether he considers the discrimination in either its social, polit- ical or economic aspect." 10 Having taken this hasty view of the social posi- tion of the negro in the North let us now turn to the industrial phase of his life in this section, and compare it with his treatment in the South. It has often been stated by people in the North that the negro is not given a fair industrial opportunity in the South. The negroes themselves are almost unanimous in saying that lack of industrial opportunity is found in the 8 William Pickens, The Voice of the Negro, April, 1905, pp. 235, 236. Quoted by Stone in American Race Problem, 23. " flic Work and Influence of Hampton, 1904, p. 9. Quoted by Stone, American Race Problem, 68. 10 Stone, American Race Problem, 23. INTRODUCTION 7 North more than in the South because the Northern- ers, especially trades-union people, will not think of working with them. As the negroes are the ones that hear the burdens of this prejudice it would seem that they ought to know whereof they speak. Booker T. Washington, in a plea for industrial educa- tion and opportunity, says : "No one can fully appreci- ate what I am saying who has not walked the streets of a Northern city day after day seeking employment, only to find every door closed against him on account of his color, except in menial service." 11 On the other hand, he says : "Whatever other sins the South may be called upon to bear, when it comes to business, pure and simple, it is in the South that the negro is given a man's chance in the commercial world." 1 " The Bulletin of the Inter-Municipal Committee on Household Research is authority for the statement that the Boston Reform League has been unable to se- cure an equal chance for colored girls in obtaining em- ployment, aud cannot secure places for more than half who apply. "Negroes who specialize in house- work duplicate the experience of a colored butler for whom the league tried for three months to find a place, but without success. He was neat in his person and good looking, and was highly recommended. He stat- ed that he had answered, in all, two hundred adver- tisements, but he was invariably refused the position simply because he was a colored man. It is not sur- prising, therefore, that on leaving Boston to return to New York, he said: 'These Boston people beat me. They will have mass-meetings and raise money to help Mr. Washington educate the miggers' down South, but they will let a decent Northerner starve before they will give him a chance to earn an honest living." 13 "Washington, Future of the American Negro, 76. 12 Washington, Up From Slavery, 219-220. 13 Bulletin, New York City, May 1905, p. 15. Quoted by Stone, American Race Problem, 161. 3 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO Dr. William N. D. Berry, for many years pastor of a Colored Congregational Church in Springfield, Mass., says that 86 per cent of the colored labor in his city on January 1, 1905, was confined to the lower strata of industry, because the large number fitted for other occupations were "debarred by pure race preju- dice," which has closed the door of industrial oppor- tunity against these men as a class," they suffering "a merciless industrial ostracism which shuts out the capapble and worthy negro because God chose to cre- ate him black." And Dr. Berry says that his study of conditions in Springfield should be "of more than local significance, inasmuch as the situation here in Spring- field is fairly typical of the black man's condition throughout the North." 14 Dr. Du Bois in The Philadelphia Negro says, "It is a paradox of the times that young men and women from some of the best negro families of the city . . have actually had to go to the South to get work, if they wished to be aught but chambermaids and boot- blacks." 15 The one great primal right of man is the right to labor and to live ; the right to have the proper wage of skill; the right to toil wherever human needs make work for human hands. Here is the foundation upon which the family is reared. This is the "door of hope," upon whose closing follow idleness and crime, destitu- tion and vice, vagrancy and death, for the masses of the race. The South has been much accused of clos- ing the "door of hope" to the negroes. According to the testimony of the sufferers themselves we of the North are surely far from guiltless in this respect in our relations with them. The first five chapters of this book will give a pic- of the status of the negro in Ohio before the Civil War, with especial attention to the legal obstacles put in his " Springfield Weekly Republican, Feb. 10, 1905. u The Philadelphia Negro 1899, pp. 395"396. INTRODUCTION 9 way to keep hiin out of the State and to keep hiin down after he once got into the State. These obstacles were the laws commonly known as the "Black Laws." These laws were found in every Northern State but were of varying degrees of rigor. They segregated the negroes as an inferior class under grave social, civil, and polit- ical disabilities. Without going into details, it may be said that in the Northwest free negroes could not tes- tify against a white, serve on juries, vote, or send their children to the public schools ; they were forbidden, in some cases, to enter the State without giving bonds against tneir becoming paupers. Indiana in 1S51 by an enormous majority, the vote standing 108,513 to 20,951, decreed that all negroes should be excluded from coming into the State. 10 Illinois on June 17, 1862, gave a majority of 100,590 out of a total of 213, 202 votes cast on the proposition, iu favor of the con- tinued exclusion of the negro from Illinois. Other States of the North excluded the negro and none of them wanted him. Suffrage was denied to the negro in almost all the Northern States before the Civil War. When the Fif- teenth Amendment was adopted in 1870 the negro could vote nowhere in the United States except in New York and five of the New England States. Connecti- cut, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Colorado in 1805 vot- ed on the question of giving the franchise to negroes, and in each case it was decided in the negative Many things more might be mentioned here, such as the treatment of the negroes in New York City dur- ing the draft riots of 1863 and the Springfield, Illi- nois, race riots of very recent years, to show that in the North generally there has been and still is the same race prejudice as in the State of Ohio with which this book is particularly concerned. With the author of Studies in the American Race Problem I believe 10 Indiana Statesman, Sept. 3, 1851. io THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO that "the people of this country cannot forever misun- derstand each other over this racial problem, — and in all this I hold no firmer conviction than that the greatest beneficiary of a better knowledge of each other bv American white men will be the American negro." In this book I mean to take no attitude favoring North or South, white man or black man, but I endeavor to take the attitude of the scholar seeking truth for truth's sake. Some- times this truth will make the white man blush, and sometimes it will make the colored man hang his head. But in both cases the final result must for many rea- sons be beneficial. The joy and satisfaction expressed by so many of the colored people whom I interviewed over the prospect of having the whole truth revealed by a writer of the white race furnished the biggest sur- prise of my whole investigation. The following ex- cerpts from letters written to the author by Mr. F. D. Patterson, a large and prosperous carriage manufac- turer of Greenfield, Ohio, and a graduate of the Ohio State University, will show the attitude of the better class of the negro race: "If it is encouragement to you to know that your work is not only appreciated by us but is also needed by our entire State and Nation, black and white, you have every reason to feel encour- aged. The man who can tell the whole truth, the real truth, and get it read, is the one we most need now. We think sometimes that writers on both sides shrink from the whole truth. Men of our race simply will not see and appreciate our own shortcomings and limi- tations, and the undoubted "drag" we are at this pres- ent time. A few even go further like Mr. Washington and then we "blush." Men of your race insist on con- fusing the issue in order that they may not see. It is an unpleasant duty to be sure you have before you, but it is necessary. Indeed, it is an opportunity for your race that only a few such men as yourself will succeed INTRODUCTION n in saving and improving for your race. The man who strips the subject -'naked' and tells the truth is the man. AVe will all catch up with him in a few years and will appreciate him then if not now. We desire one-half dozen copies of your book." PART I THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I. Feeling Toward the Negro in the Constitutional Convention, 1802. The first constitutional convention for the Stale of Ohio assembled in the town of Chillicothe on the first Monday in November, 1802. The minutes 1 of this convention are very brief and probably very incom- plete, but from them Ave can easily see that the negro and his status in the new State were very important issues Six different motions relating to the negroes were voted upon, and each one of these resulted in a close vote, the ayes and nays being recorded in cadi in- stance. We shall consider them separately and in the order of their appearance in the convention. The committee on electoral qualifications report- ed and granted suffrage only to the "white male in- habitants." 2 A motion was immediately made to strike out the word "white." This motion was lost by a vote of 14 to 19. A second motion was then made to grant suffrage to those negroes only who were then resident in the State if within a specified time they made a record of their citizenship. This motion was carried, the vote being almost the reverse of that of the preceding motion, standing 19 to 15. The friends of the negro now took heart and im- mediately introduced another motion to this effect: 1 Journal of Const. Con. 1802. Reprinted in index to Senate Journal of 1827. 2 Journal of Const. Con. 1802. Nov. 22. i 4 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO "Provided that the male descendants of such male ne- groes and mulattoes as shall be recorded shall be en- titled to the same privilege." This motion was lost by one vote, 17 voting against it and 16 in its favor. A fourth motion on the negro question was then made in the following words: "No negro or mulatto shall ever be eligible to any office, civil or military, or give their oath in any court of justice against a white person, be subject to do military dut}^, or pay a poll tax in this State: Provided always and it is fully un- derstood and declared that all negroes and mulattoes, now in, or who may hereafter reside in this State, shall be entitled to all the privileges of citizens of this State, not excepted by this constitution." This mo- tion was carried by a vote of 19 to 16. A fifth motion was then made to rescind the ac- tion taken on the second motion, previously mentioned, where by a vote of 19 to 15 they had given the right to vote to colored men resident in Ohio if they should make record of their citizenship by a certain time. The vote on this motion to rescind was a tie, 17 veas and 17 nays. By the deciding vote of the president, Edward Tiffin, the motion carried, and the negro was thereby completely excluded from the voting privilege. A sixth motion followed, having as its object the blotting out of the action in the fourth motion, where- by the negro was declared forever ineligible to any of- fice, civil or military, barred from giving oath against a white person, etc. This motion carried by one vote, 3 r eas 17, nays 16. The discussions regarding the status of the negro were becoming so warm and the two sides were so ev- enly balanced that fears were entertained that the ob- ject of their coming together would be wholly defeat- ed. This, according to Burnett, so frightened the members of the convention that they abandoned all the propositions that had been made, and proceeded to form a constitution having no direct reference to HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT I5 the status of the negro, but embracing only the free white population, who alone were represented in the body. 8 The wisdom, or necessity, of this move will be plainly seen when we look for a moment at the votes recorded on the six above-mentioned motions. There were 201 votes cast. 99 were in the interest of the ne- gro, and 102 votes were against him. There were twelve members of the convention that voted for him on every one of the six motions, and thirteen members who voted against him on all six. So there were three more votes cast against him than for him, and there was one more of those who stood solidly against him than there were of those who remained constantly for him. This is important, as showing the feeling toward the negro as a man, a free man, one century ago. Should he receive the rights and privileges as citizens that were enjoyed without question by the worst of the white race? This convention of representative men decided that he should not. So far we have considered the feelings of the con- vention toward the negro as a prospective citizen. We shall now look into what they thought of putting him in slavery. One would hardly think that a prop- osition to establish slavery in one of the States of the Northwest Territory, which had been declared free forever, would be entertained so soon after the decisive vote on the Northwest Ordinance. But it was enter- rained and even came within one vote of passing the convention. Many maintained that the provisions of the Ordinance of 1TS7 were binding on the district on- ly as a territory and, consequently, that Ohio, as a State, was free to determine for herself whether she should admit or exclude slavery. 4 There were others 3 Burnett's Notes on Northwest Territory, 355- 4 This view in more recent years is accepted generally as the correct one. !S THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO who thought that the growth of the State would be greatly quickened by allowing Southern planters to immigrate with their slaves; hence they desired to sanction slavery for a term of years. The question of slavery first arose in the commit- tee on the formation of a bill of rights, of which John W. Brown of Hamilton county was the chair- man. Mr. Brown submitted the following statement to the committee : "No person shall be held in slavery, if a male, after he is thirty-five years of age; or, if a female, after twenty-five years of age." 5 Ephraim Cutler, a member of this committee, moved that this section be laid on the table until the next meeting of the committee, and suggested that each member of the committee, "to avoid any warmth of feeling," should prepare a section in writing which would express fully his views upon the subject. The committee met again the next morning, and Judge Cutler, being called upon for his statement of the sec- tion, read to them as follows : "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly con- victed ; Nor shall any male person, arrived at the age of twenty-one years, or female person, arrived at the age of eighteen years, be held to serve any person as a servant, under pretense of indenture or otherwise, unless such person shall enter into such indenture Avliile in a state of perfect freedom, and on condition of a bona fide consideration received for their service, except as before excepted. Nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto, hereafter made and executed out of the State, or if made in the State, where the term of service exceeds one year, be of the least validity, except those given in the case of apprenticeships." This wording of the section, completely prohibit- 6 J. P. Cutler, Life and Times of Judge Ephraim Cutler, 74. "J. P. Cutler, Life and Times of Judge Ephraim Cutler, 75. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 17 ing slavery and also wiping out long indenture and ap- prenticeship, was very different from Mr. Brown's sec- tion, which practically would have admitted slavery into the State in full force, but nominally would have circumscribed it with age limits. The committee debated the section for some time and finally by a vote of five to four put through Judge Cutler's wording of it, When it was reported to the convention another struggle took place and again it passed with the bare majority of one vote and was incorporated into the constitution without change. Thus near did Ohio, the first State to be carv- ed out of the Northwest Territory, come to setting the precedent of establishing slavery on this ground that the national government had declared should be for- ever free from it. The make-up of this convention is interesting. While we find some New Englanders, coming mostly form the north-eastern and south-eastern parts of the State, from the Western Reserve and the Marietta col- ony, by far the most of the members were from the Southern States of Virginia and Kentucky. But we find them badly divided and mixed up on the negro question. There is little evidence of the Southerners voting solidly against the negro and the New Englanders for him. For instance, Charles W. Byrd, a Virginian of the Virginians, stood firmly for the electoral right to be given to the negroes then resi- dent in Ohio and also to their descendants, while on the other hand Huntington of Cleveland, and Me- Intyre of Marietta, scions of New England stock, were with Massie and Worthington, both from Virginia, against negro suffrage. On a motion made in the con- vention to strike out a large portion of the section for- bidding slavery, introduced by Judge Cutler, we find the following Virginians voting in the negative: Abrams, Baldwin, Browne, Byrd, Carpenter, Darling- ton, Donaldson, Goforth, Kirker and Worthington. MAP 1-OHSG- fgOO NEG80 POPULATION TOTAL 337 TRUMBULL YNt , — ~ 1'J^ZZ. -'SS 3J f MDAMS 15 HA?Z VOTES \H CONSTlTUTJONAr CONVENTION J?0l DETERMINING STATl/S OF FRLE NEGRO. SIX MOTIONS MADE^ND MAP SHCWS VOTE Of EACH PSLEgA Tf ON ZACfL MOTION. ll A WAYNE COUNT] kjavne: t*\jmbuil ABBOT fd>£f£ Hvnt> mat on Q)®y®6 MJMNS- I.6WE HMRO BAUOl-lHWijIlK'P 1.GWE BALLOT TO NECR6ES THEM ftES!2>£*r- 11 MIS, IfNMS. 3. SAME Td THEIR CHUttRLN - /IAYBS j /7M*yf. H- TO EXCLVPE NEGRO rfUM ALL fVBUd OFffCES AND from man* to testify against wmres—jfAYts, 5", TO RESCIND h\ot\on a — ITAVES,i7 A AYS. &.TO RtSClNP MOTION (S££ UOWt-R W\HO C6Ri FAIRFIEIV LTOW em> dh @£& KITCHU I %~l\rZ M0XFHW§2 3ra)'f£ JZFFtRSOH bau®28®®® RUtnPHREY Sit u a A*(m ABfiAHS CAW**** (2&®&& BELMONT QALOWBiA WOOPSL BALPWihm &RI/BB /X~3@®-1 MASS/i?" nevus in Htsgl WASHINGTON &UHANl£}Jl£k H&\NT4RE._ 94 PUTNAM /*3 F/CUUfJ AFTEf? WAME5 OF £EL- CtfATES SHOHfr 0TE5 ON EACH MOTION; AflCVRZ VyPLIlSCORED MEANS 'hi'voti wTs [MQsmz TC THE HE&RO 20 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO Of these last named gentlemen the following, Abranis, Baldwin, Carpenter, Darlington, Donaldson, Kirker, and Worthington, although they did not ap- pear to want the negroes in slavery in Ohio, yet were most ardent in keeping the free negro also out of the State, as evidenced by the fact that on every one of the six motions made in the convention on the status of the colored man they voted against him. In this convention that sat a century ago, it is easy to see the same human nature working in regard to the negro as at the present day, to see the same in- consistencies in the statement of the feelings of indi- viduals, and to see staunch supporters of equal rights and equally ardent opponents. To illustrate my mean- ing further than was brought out in the preceding par- agraph, let us consider a few individual votes. Browne, of Hamilton county, voted for giving the ballot to all negroes and, when this motion was lost and another made to give the ballot to the negroes then living in Ohio, he voted against it. This same man we have al- ready found asking that negro slavery be introduced into the State. Byrd and Morrow of Hamilton county, Grubb of Boss county, and Darlington of Adams, fa- vored negro suffrage and at the same time were un- willing for negroes to hold any offices or be permitted to testify against Avhite men. Several members we find voting one way at one time and later voting just to the contrary. Thirteen of the thirty-five members were against the negro on every measure, and twelve were for him with equal consistency. And the more one studies the votes of this convention the more he is convinced that what is true today was true at that time; namely, that white men in dealiug with the ne- gro problem are controlled more by feeling than by reason. The continuance of this fact throughout the period reviewed will be one of the most evident points brought out by this book. CHAPTER II. Legal Status, 1802—1849. We have seen in the study of the constitutional convention that much effort was put forth to establish clearly the position of negroes in the body politic. This effort came to naught, for the convention finished its work without once incorporating the word "negro," or alluding to the race except in the article on slavery. Negroes were not recognized as having any political existence and were given no political rights. They were to occupy the same relation to the government as Indians or unnaturalized foreigners. All the rights and privileges under the constitution were given to white men. The enumeration for purposes of appor- tionment of the senators and representatives was to be "of all white male inhabitants" 1 Article IV, Sec. 1, says, "In all elections, all white male inhabitants, above the age of twenty-one years, shall enjoy the right of an elector." Thus did the organic law of the State indirectly place the negroes outside the body politic. With these exceptions the Legislature was left free to dispose of them as it saw fit. The matter was very soon taken up by this body. In 1801 the Legislature passed the first of the laws, af- terwards so well known as the Black Laws. This law was "to regulate black and mulatto persons" 2 and to prescribe the manner in which they might enter the State. It declared that no negro or mulatto should be allowed to settle in the State unless he could furnish a certificate from some court in the United States of his actual freedom. The blacks already living in the State must register before the following June with the county clerk, giving the names of their children. For each name a fee of twelve and one-half cents was 1 Const., Art. I, Sec. 2,6. a Passed Jan. 5, 1804, Laws of Ohio 11:63. 22 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO to be charged. No white man could employ a negro for one hour unless the negro could show a certificate of freedom, and any violator of this law was subject to a fine of from ten to fift}^ dollars. The same penalty was attached to harboring, or hindering the capture of, a fugitive slave. Besides this penalty the white man employing a negro was obliged to pay fifty cents per day for his services to his owner, if one should ap- pear. This law of 1804 was not yet stringent enough to suit the people of Ohio, and we find that three years later, 1807, the Legislature proceeded to strike a hard- er blow at negro immigration by so amending the pre- vious act that (1) no negro should be allowed to set- tle in Ohio unless he could within twenty days give bonds to the amount of five hundred dollars signed by two bondsmen, who should guarantee his good behav- ior and support, (2) the fine for harboring or conceal- ing a fugitive was raised from fifty to one hundred dollars, one-half to go to the informer, (3) the propo- sition made in the constitutional convention (1802) to prohibit negro evidence against a white person, was enacted, and Ohio, following the lead of slave holding States, was the first 3 of the Northern States to declare that negroes should not be allowed to give evi- dence in any cause, or matter of controversy, when either party to the same was a white person ; or in any prosecution of the State against any white person. 4 In the Act of Dec. 30, 1803, organizing the militia of the State it was declared that white people only were eligible. 3 Ohio's example was followed by two of the other Northern States. Illinois by Act of February2, 1827, said that "no negro or mulatto shall be a witness in any court against a white person." In- diana, in an Act approved December 20, 1865, declared that no negro should bear witness against a white man if he had entered, or should afterward enter, the State contrary to the thirteenth article of the State Constitution, forbidding their immigration. *Act January 25, 1807, Laws of Ohio, V:53. LEGAL STATUS 23 By the Act of February 9, 1831, entitled "An Act Relating to Juries," it was declared that all jurors should have the "qualifications of electors," which of course deprived the colored men of this privilege. In 1838, March 7, the Legislature passed an aci for the support of common schools, to provide a fund "for the education of all the white youth in this State." 5 No provision for the education of the colored children had ever been made by the Legislature, and it was not provided in this act. The property of black and mulatto persons was exempted from taxes in rais- ing this fund. 7 The first State provision for the education of col- ored youth was in the Act of February 21, 1818. By this act, which was so nearly a farce that it was re pealed the following year, the property of the negroes was to be taxed for the establishment of separate schools for themselves wherever the number of colored youth of school age numbered twenty. If there were not that number, the taxes on the property of the col- ored people were to be turned into the common fund, and it was the duty of the white people "to admit said black or colored children "into the white schools" up- on the same terms as if they were white '.Provided/ no written objection be filed with the directors, signed by any person having a child in such school, or by any legal voter of such district," 9 Such were the famous Black Laws. To sum them up briefly: (a) negroes were forbidden to enter the State (we say forbidden because it was virtually im- possible for them to fulfill the entrance requirements | . 8 Act of March 7, 1838, Sec. i, Laws of Ohio, XXXVI, 21. 'When Ihc bill was up for consideration, Mr. King moved to strike out the word "white" wherever it occurred therein, which was defeated by a vote of 30 to 2, Messrs. King and Wade alone voting in the affirmative. — Senate Journal, XXXVI. S 7 Act of March 7, 1838, Sec. 2. 8 Emphasis mine. Act of February 24, 1848, Sec. 5. 24 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO (b) They were debarred from the militia, (c) They could not under the existing conditions send their children to school, (d) They could bear no witness against white men, no matter what were the circum- stances, (e) They were tried by juries of white men. (f) They could not work unless they carried their cer- tificates of freedom about them. The restriction imposed by the Black Laws fell with full force upon all people having any negro blood in their veins until the year 1831, when the Supreme Court of the State in the case of Polly Gray vs. Ohio declared that a person having more white blood than negro blood in his veins was a white person and free from the disabilities of the Black Laws. The case leading to this decision involved the eligibility of a negro as a witness in the trial of a quadroon charged with crime. The decision interpreted the word mu- latto in the acts of 1804 and 1807 to mean a half-breed and held that a man of a race nearer white than a mu- latto should be given the privileges of the whites. 10 This decision met with stubborn resistance throughout the State, and we find the same question being carried up to the Supreme Court time and again 11 until the decision was finally set aside. In the case of Williams 12 vs. Directors of School District No. 6, etc., in 1834, the decision was upheld, and also twice in the year 1842 ; 13 but in the last two cases it was de- cided by a bare majority vote, and much bitterness was manifested in the discussions. Justice N. C. Read, 10 Ohio Reports IV, 345- 11 1834. Williams vs. School Directors, Wright's Reports I, 78. 1842. Edwill Thackcr vs. J. Hawk et al. Ohio Reports II. 1842. Parker Jeffries vs. Ankeny ct al. Ohio Reports II, 372- 373- 1859. J 'an Camp vs. Logan Board of Ediic. November Ses- sion. "Hamilton County, May Term, 1834. Wrights Reports I, 78. 13 Parker Jeffries vs. John Ankeny ct al. Ohio Reports II, 372- 373. F.dzdll Thackcr vs. John Hawk ct al, 1842. Ohio Reports, II. LEGAL STATUS 25 in dissenting from the opinion of the majority in the Edwill Thaeker case where the court had declared that a man more than one-half white or less than one- half negro should be privileged to vote, said: "The (•(institution, in defining the color qualification of an elector, does not employ the phrases, — partly while — more than black — all persons less than half black, — but simply the word white. This word 'white' means pure white, unmixed." Having looked at the enactments and the Su- preme Court interpretations, let us now consider why these laws were passed and retained on the statute books. According to the United States census, there were 337 colored people in Ohio in 1800; 1,890 in 1810 ; 4,723 in 1820 ; 9,586 in 1830 ; and 17,312 in 1810. From this we may see that they came into the State rapidly. Their rate of increase was usually greater than of the whites during these decades. They nearly all settled in the southern counties. Most of the white people of this region were from Kentucky and Virgin- ia. They looked upon the free negroes as being beneath respect. Many other whites were bound up socially and in a business way with these southerners and adopted their views. Most of the population of the St;ite was in the southern portion at this time, and of course it dominated the Legislature's attitude. Fur- ther, many slaves were undoubtedly escaping from their masters in Kentucky and Virginia, and the com- plaints of their masters that they were being received in Ohio of course caught the ear of their friends in ( Miio, who proceeded to have laws made restricting im- migration and incidentally facilitating the recapture of fugitive slaves. The white people of Ohio did not want the ne- groes among them. This is a most evident fact. Win- did they not want them? To what extent were they justified on the grounds of expediency? The answer to these questions is most interesting. What was 2 6 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO there about the negroes escaping from the plantation, or coming from a Southern State in any capacity, that could make them desirable citizens? Were they intel- ligent citizens? They had been kept by law in complete illiteracy. In Africa their ancestors had lived in hea- then ignorance and in America the opportunities of Christian enlightenment for them had been very slight. Were they of value industrially? Many were lazv and shiftless; almost all of them had been trained as pieces of machinery to do the work of a certain kind that required no thinking. Generally this kind of work was not to be had in the North. Many of the negroes that came from the South were old and worn out. In this state they had been freed by their masters and, being unable to stand the rigors of the laws against free colored people in their native States, drifted north. What then was there about the negroes to appeal for help from the white people of Ohio? But one thing, their utter helplessness, their abject need of philanthropy; and this did not make a strong impression upon a majority of the voters of Ohio. Hence we find the Black Laws. The numbers of blacks entering Ohio, and espe cially their character, actuallv frightened many most excellent citizens; and one must sympathize with them, when he sees but a few of the conditions. On the 14th of April, 1827, seventy negroes in one company settled in Lawrence county. They were a part of a stock of slaves emancipated by a man in Vir- ginia. "These unfortunate creatures have little or no property of value — many of them ragged and dirty. The writer of this would censure none for acts of kind- ness to such, yet as he regards the moral character and welfare of society, he cannot view these rapid acces- sions without some degree of alarm."" The following from The Supporter, a weekly newspaper published at Chilli cothe, June 16, 1810, i*-: u O!.io State Journal, May 3, 1827. pAULViHC MAP 3 OHIO- 1^30 NEGRO POPULATION TOTAL 95*36 o VNtmm r PARKS 56 M -207 CHAMPAIGN i itfjpq <;l/i?ke V7 FRfitikKJi — 300-.; // THurABt/4*- PORT/^E ^ Tusc/J flaws ^s^o^lr^^^^ 5i (MA) ■"/MONROE V7*4 VATi /- -5^. 7*. BROWW J mam mm K ADAMS £/*£' Jackson;: /& OLOR JCEV 0-100 /JO soo SOOfOOO iiiooo-Aooo 'LAKfflEAKE, 28 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO so typical and so expressive that I shall quote at some length : "By the following letter from a gentleman on a tour through Virginia to the editor, it will appear that we are to have a colony of free negroes (no less than five hundred) planted in our adjoining county. Much as we commiserate the situation of those who, when emancipated, are obliged to leave their country or again be enslaved, we trust our constitution and laws are not so defective as to suffer us to be overrun by such a wretched population : u < Kichmond, Va., May 10, 1819. " 'Dear Sir : — Since my arrival in this county I have understood that a large family of negroes, consisting of about five hundred, have lately been liberated and are to be marched to Ohio, and there settled on land provided for them agreeably to the will of a Mr. Gess, who formerly owned them. There are persons now engaged in collecting the poor miserable beings from different quarters and driving them like cattle to Goochland county, from whence they will take up their line of march to Ohio. I am told that they are perhaps as de- praved and ignorant a set of people as any of their kind and that their departure is hailed with joy by all those who have lived in their neighbor- hood. Ohio will suffer seriously from the iniqui- tous policy pursued by the States of Virginia and Kent, in driving all their free negroes upon us. The people of Ohio are bound in justice to them- selves to adopt some counteracting measure. Many people here are of the opinion that we may be compelled to introduce slavery in Ohio in self- defense, and they appear to be gratified that we are suffering many of the evils attending it, with- LEGAL STATUS 29 out (as they call it) any of the benefits. I have been gratified to tell them what I believe to be true — that nineteen-twentieths of the people of Ohio are so opposed to slavery that they would not consent to its introduction under any circum- stances; and, although they commiserate the sit- uation of those who have been liberated and com- pelled to abandon their country or again be made slaves, yet in justice to themselves and their pos- terity they will refuse admittance to such a pop- ulation. Yours most ob't., 'A. T.' "(Editor) We understand from a respectable au- thority that 270 of said negroes have landed at Ripley and are to settle near the center of Brown county on White Oak, the residue of 500 to follow soon after." 10 John Randolph, of Roanoke, before his death in 1833 set free 518 slaves 10 and bought for them a large estate in Mercer County, Ohio. It was arranged that each one was to have 40 acres and a cabin. The white inhabitants of the county rose en masse against the in- flux of the negroes, and Judge Leigh distributed them around Troy, Piqua, Sidney and Xenia. 17 From a perusal of these incidents, of which there are many, one can see the problem that confronted the people of Ohio in the early days and see the enactment of the Black Laws from a little different point of view than the one generally taken. They justified t hemselv- es in their action on the ground that it was necessary for the preservation of the prosperity of the State and for the good of their posterity. Judge Burnet of Cin- cinnati defended the laws as "justifiable and com- 15 The Supporter, Chillicothe, June 16, 1819. "Article on John Randolph, "The American Cyclopedia." 17 Cincinnati Enquirer, July 31, 1909. , THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO mendable." 18 The committee on the colored popula- tion, reporting to the Legislature in 1832, said : "We must exclude a people whose residence among us is degrading to themselves, and fraught with so much evil to the community. The negroes form a distinct and degraded caste and are forever excluded by the fiat of society and the laws of the land from all hopes of equality in social intercourse and political privileges. Even now, when this people constitute less than one-hundredth part of our population, the evils arising from their residence among us are seri- ously felt, and especially where they are congregated in considerable numbers in the larger cities: (1) By the exclusion of a large amount of the labor of white men who will not degrade themselves in society by adopting the employment of, and coming into compe- tition with, the blacks, (2). By the demoralization of those white citizens who do, by association with, and adopting the ordinary avocations of, blacks, lose that standing and consideration in society which is one of the strongest safeguards against vicious conduct, (3) By habits of petty pilfering and mendicity, which are, and must of necessity be, prevalent among a people isolated in society and deprived of the highest motives to honest industry ; and which, besides imposing on the community the burden of an idle population, fill our jails with criminals of the hopeless description, (4) And lastly, by the injurious effects upon our youth, of the residence among us of a people whose situation is an anomaly in our social system and a libel upon our free and equal laws — a people whose degraded and de- pendent condition and dissolute conduct furnish at the same time examples of depravity and facilities for the commission of juvenile offenses." 19 While different reasons may be found in the above extract for the legislation against the negro, there is 18 Niks' Register, XXXVIII, 145- 10 Ohio State Journal, Feb. I, 1832. LEGAL STATUS 31 one that stands out most prominently — and that is the antipathy and contempt entertained by the whites to- ward the negro. This fact is most vividly brought out by the remarks of Mr. Worthington of Ross county, made when speaking before the House upon the above committee report. He said : "Never can we expect any elevation of moral sen- timent from a people upon whom society has affixed the brand of infani}' from their birth, with whom it is considered disgraceful for the meanest white man to associate. Are not these people excluded by our con- stitution from the right of suffrage and by our laws from the benefits and blessings of free schools; and tli is, too, from the dire necessity imposed by the feeling of the community that their very touch is contamina- tion? Are not such as these the benefits accorded to those who are clothed by the sable skin of the Af- rican?" 20 Having seen what the Black Laws were and why they were enacted, let us now consider how they were enforced. The law requiring a negro to give bond for five hundred dollars and to exhibit and have recorded a certificate of freedom before he could settle in the State was probably the least strictly enforced of any of the Black Laws ; But we cannot say that it was a dead letter by any means. Mr. Worthington, speak- ing before the House in 1832, said that this was proved by the fact "that Ohio, although nearly half-encir- cled by slave States, contained a less percentage of blacks than almost any other State in the Union."- 1 A gentleman writing in the Ohio State Journal in the issue of May 3, 1827, about the company of seventy negroes settling in Lawrence county, stated that many of them had already obtained security as the law :o Ohio State Journal, Feb. 1, 1832. 21 Ohio State Journal, Feb. I, 1832. 32 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO required and that the rest would do so within twenty days. William Jay in 1836 said : "A large proportion of the present colored pop- ulation of the State of Ohio must have entered it in ignorance of this iniquitous law, or in defiance of it. That the law has not been universally enforced prov- es that the people of Ohio are less profligate than their Legislature; that it has remained on the statute book thirty-two years proves the depraved state of public opinion and the horrible persecution to which the colored people are legally exposed. But let it not be supposed that this vile law is in fact obsolete." 22 In the spring of 1829, the Supreme Court, sitting in Cincinnati, declared this law to be constitutional. 23 In many localities, where the negroes were especially hated, the white people began immediately to enforce the law with vigor. On January 21, 1830, all colored people in Ports- mouth (a town in the southern part of the State on the Ohio river) were forcibly deported from the town, according to N. W. Evans in his History of Scioto County. They were not only warned to go, but they were driven out by order of the town authorities. There were eighty black people in this moving. In 1829 Cincinnati decided to enforce the law, and gave the colored people sixty days in which to get their security or leave the city. The sixty days passed ; few of the blacks had gotten the security, and the authorities hesitated. The citizens then became exasperated and resolved upon force. Mob rule then held sway for three days and nights, in which many were killed or wounded. The colored people rapidly left the city after this. Between one and two thous- and went to Canada and formed a settlement. 24 23 Jay, Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery. 23 Ohio State Journal, July 16, 1829. '* Proceedings of Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention, held at Put- nam in 1835, 19-20. Also The Emporium, published at Cincinnati, July 12, 1829. LEGAL STATUS 33 The negroes' exclusion from the white school was virtually complete; for the white people regarded such mingling of the races with abhorrence, as giving social recognition to the negroes and contaminating the white children. The Legislature in 1829, fearful that some locality, a New England or a Quaker settlement, perhaps, might so far forget itself as to admit colored children to its schools, forbade in express terms all admissions of blacks and mulattoes into the public schools. I find but one instance in which this law was broken. Cleveland, the transplanted Yankee town of Ohio, was given its charter in 1835, and in this charter it was stated that the schools were to be "accessible to all white children." The Cleveland authorities never observed the word "white," but admitted the colored children, of whom there were always comparatively few, on equal terms with the whites. 25 The part of the law of 1807 which forbade colored men to bear witness in court against whites was car- ried out to the letter, no matter what the circumstan- ces might be. A white man might rob, beat and kill a negro, and unless some white person were present he could escape all punishment. A case is recorded where a white man escaped conviction of murder where there were eight colored eye-witnesses, simply because sufficient testimony of white men could not be found. 26 In 1846 a white man lost his suit against a black man for the payment of a note, for the reason that the only witness which he could introduce in evi- dence was objected to and excluded on account of his color. The judge, in pronouncing his decision, said : "Let a man be Christian or infidel, let him be Jew or Turk or Mohammedan, let him be sunk to the depths of degredation, he may be a witness in court if he is not black ; the truth shall not be received from 20 Ohio School Report, 1875-76, 32. 29 Proceedings of Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention, held at Put- nam, 1835, 21. 34 THE COLOR UNE IN OHIO a black man when a white man is the party." 27 The Supreme Court made one little exception to this, de- ciding that in case of a note for debt, a black man might swear to his own signature; otherwise any white person could forge his name and the black man would be entirely at his mercy, since no one could swear to his plea but himself. 28 I can scarcely imagine an exception to the en- forcement of the laws against the negro serving in the militia or on a jury, and certainly none appears to be recorded. If we look at the question of the enforcement of the Black Laws as a whole therefore, we must con- clude that it was severe enough to give much concern to the negroes and to their friends, of whom we shall hear more in the next chapter. 27 Jordan vs. Smith, Ohio Reports, XIV:20i. 28 Jordan vs. Smith, Ohio Reports XIV : 199. CHAPTER III. Repeal op the Black Laws, 1849. Notwithstanding the great prejudice against negroes, as revealed in the last chapter, there were from the very first some ardent friends of the negro cause. In the constitutional convention of 1802, there were those who would have conferred the elect- oral privilege upon them and, in fact, some who would have made absolutely no distinction between the two races. From the time of that convention to about the year 1830 the negroes lived in comparative quiet throughout Ohio. The newspapers covering that period make scarcely a mention of them. Then sud- denly they appear in the limelight: they are forcibly ejected from many towns, they are forbidden by law to sit on juries and also to gain a legal residence in the State, while on the other hand 1 lie Society of Friends submits one of the first memorials to the Legislature, asking for the repeal of the Black Laws. This sudden agitation was undoubtedly the result of the founding of abolition societies and the active division of the people of the State into friends and foes of Southern policy. 1 This division was caused not only by the slavery question, but also by the way in which the Southerners called upon the people of the State of Ohio for laws for the return of fugitive slaves and, finally, by the rough manner in which they tried to enforce these demands. 2 So from 1830 to 1849 we find the negro question receiving more and more of the attenl ion of the people of the State and, as the feeling of the people became 1 Journal and Register, March n, 1839. ' I [owell's Story of Ohio, 225. Caleb Atwater, History of Ohio, 323. Ohio State Journal, Sept. 4, 1839. 3 6 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO more and more developed against the South and against slavery, we find the free negroes of Ohio prof- iting by the reflex influence of this sympathy bestowed upon their enslaved brothers and gaining in the num- ber of friends, real or apparent. Friendship for the negroes naturally expressed itself in efforts to repeal the Black Laws. In the ses- sions of the Legislature of 1829-30 and 1833-34, mem- orials were submitted, asking for their repeal. These memorials were submitted for consideration to the committee on the judiciary, which reported in both cases that it was "inexpedient to repeal the laws now in force." In the session of 1836-37, the Senate refused to receive a petition for the repeal. In 1840-41, the subject of repeal again being up, Dr. John Watkins, for the committee on public institutions, filed a long and carefully prepared report, the conclusion being that it "would be highly impolitic to repeal or modify the existing laws." The next year numerous petitions on the same subject were presented, and on the other hand petitions aiming to prevent the immigration of negroes into the State. In the session of 1843-44 there were, in answer to petitions, two committee reports unfavorable to a repeal. In 1844-45 also the committees were against it. In 1846-47 the majority of the committee reported adversely, while Mr. Rus- sell, of Portage county, made a minority report in favor of the repeal. In the next session, 1847-48, there was taken exactly the same action, except that Mr. I {vers of Wayne county made the minority report. 3 Finally, on February 10, 1849, what was popu- larly known as "the repeal of the Black Laws," was accomplished, when an act was passed repealing the laws of 1804 and 1807 regulating black and mulatto persons; "and all parts of other acts, so far as they enforce any special disabilities or confer any special privileges on account of color, are hereby repealed, 8 House and Senate Journals for the years mentioned. REPEAL OF THE BLACK LAWS 37 except the act of the 9th of February, 1831, relating to juries, and the act of the 11th of March, 1831, for the relief of the poor." 4 While this is generally spoken of and thought of as the act repealing the Black Laws, it is really an act modifying them. As a result of this law, negroes were no longer forbidden to enter the State, they could now give testimony in court against white people, and they were now provided with school privileges, though in sepa- rate school houses. They could not sit on juries, gain a legal residence in the State, go to the schools for whites, and of course, by the operation of the consti- tution, they could not exercise the voting privilege. Let us now look at some further reasons for the repeal of these laws and see just how it was accom- plished. The Black Laws of Ohio were notorious throughout the country. It was often said that the slave States themselves treated their free colored population with scarcely more oppression than did the free State of Ohio. During the presidential campaign of 1818, William H. Seward, in a speech at Cleveland, referred to the Black Laws as follows: "Reform your code, — extend a cordial welcome to the fugitive who lays his weary limbs at your door, and defend him as you would your paternal gods; correct j-our own error that slavery has any consti- tutional guaranty which may not be released and ought not to be relinquished. Say to slavery, when it shows its bond and demands the pound of flesh, that if it draws one drop of blood its life shall pay the forfeit." 5 This mixing in of the free negro of Ohio with the anti-slavery feeling and this call to the more con- siderate and humane people of the State that they wipe off from their statute books such laws as were in some measure bringing upon the negro the very 'Laws of Ohio, XLVII, 18. 6 Speech at Cleveland, October 26, 1848, Seward's Work?, Ill 1301 3 g THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO hardships that they were blaming the people of the South for, bore fruit and engaged the attention of political parties. The Free-soil party, made up mostly of Whigs with pronounced anti-slavery opinions, in the fall of 1848 incorporated the following clause in their State platform: "Resolved, That while we desire a hom- ogeneous population for our State, and believe that we shall have it whenever slavery shall cease to force the victims of its tyranny upon the uncongenial North, we are inflexibly opposed to all class legislation and legalized injustice and therefore insist upon the repeal of the enactments commonly known as the Black Laws of Ohio." 6 The Whig party had always been regarded as being more friendly to the blacks than the Democratic party, but in 1848, the Whigs nominated and elected a Southern slave-holder for President of the United States. The Whig party of Ohio could not now take a stand for the repeal of the Black Laws, and the result was that many left its ranks and joined the Free-soil party. This party now assumed some im- portance, as it held the balance of power and was in a position to compel concessions from either the Whigs or the Democrats. In the House of Representatives in 1849, there were Free-soilers, "Old Line Whigs,'' as they were called, who "were for party, right or wrong," and Democrats. If the regular "Old Line Whigs" and the Whig-Free -soilers combined, they could about tie the vote of the Democrats. Besides these elements, there were in the House two Independents, as they called 11 ici ii selves, Messrs. Morse of Lake county and Town- send of Lorain. These two had generally affiliated themselves with the Free-soilers, but, because of their refusal to bind themselves to support all legislation proposed by the Free-soilers, they had been read out of the party. As a result, the balance of power was " Ohio Statesman, December 30, 1848. REPEAL OF THE BLACK LAWS 39 substantially thrown into the hands of these two men. They saw their advantage and decided to give their support to that party which would champion their measure. Being ardent sympathizers with the free colored people of Ohio, they set themselves the one task of accomplishing the repeal of the Black Laws. The circumstances were favorable in the extreme for accomplishing this task. They secured the repeal as the outcome of a political bargain with the Democratic and Free-soil parties- It was the year for Ohio to elect a United States Senator and also a judge for the Supreme Court of the State. Over these two offices the parties fought. The Free-soil candidate for Senator was Joshua R. Giddings, who was a personal friend of Mr. Morse, and was warmly supported by him, while Mr. Towns- end as earnestly favored Salmon P. Chase; but both were more anxious for the repeal of the Black Laws than for the election of any particular favorite of their own. It was agreed that Morse should propose to the Whigs that if they would vote for the Repeal Bill and for the election of Joshua R. Giddings as Senator, these two Independents (Morse and Townsend) would give their votes to the Whig candidate for the Su- preme Court. But the Whigs thought that to accept Giddings, with his Free-soil notions, was too great a price to pay and rejected the proposal. A similar proposal was made by Townsend to the Democrats, with merely the substitution of Chase for Gid- dings. And, with the conviction that the "Old Line Democrats" would come up to the standard of the Independents, Chase had acted with them. For this reason the proposal of Townsend was not altogether disagreeable to the Democratic members of the House, and the agreement was made. A bill was at once drawn up by Chase to repeal the Black Laws and to provide for the education of colored children. The bill was introduced into the House by Mr. Morse and 4 o THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO carried by a large majority. In the Senate the bill was referred to a committee, which reported an amendment exempting from repeal the laws prohibiting colored people from a place on the jury and from admittance to poor houses and other State charity institutions. 7 The committee's recommendations were accepted and were finally incorporated in the bill, which passed February 10, 1849. The vote in the House stood 53 to 12 and in the Senate 23 to ll. 8 A Democrat and a Whig tried by hiding to dodge the vote but were dragged into the Assembly Chamber by the sergeant- at-arms. 9 To summarize the repeal of the Black Laws briefly, we may say that two men accomplished the act. They were helped out by thirteen Free-soilers who, with them, really wanted repeal, and these fif- teen men were assisted by the Democratic party, which by principle had been, was at that time, and after- ward continued opposed to all attempts tending toward the equality of the white and black races. This standing principle, however, fell before the bribe of a United States Senator, a State Supreme Court judge, and "some other considerations," as the news- papers expressed it. 7 When the committee reported to the Senate, Mr. Scott of Defiance County moved to recommit the bill to the standing com- mittee on the judiciary with the instruction "to so amend the bill that all colored persons be prohibited from holding real estate with- in the State of Ohio." (Senate Journal, January 24, 1849.) This motion was lost by but three votes, there being 16 yeas and 19 nays. 8 Senate Journal, Feb. 5, 1849. House Journal, Jan. 30, 1849. Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society's publications, I, 1 17-120. Magazine of Western History, VI, 341, 623. Schuckers' Chase, 95 Seq. Ohio State Journal, Fell. 24, March 17, 1849. Ohio Statesman, Feb. 26. March 5, 1849. (The last two sources mentioned were the chief organs of the Whig and Democratic parties respectively.) "Cincinnati Globe, Feb. 7, 1849. Quoted by T. C. Smith, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties, 169. REPEAL OF THE BLACK LAWS 41 Having seen the manner in which these laws were repealed, it will be interesting to know how the people of the State felt about the action of their representa- tives. The Ohio State Journal, the leading Whig paper, in an editorial, February 24, 1849, said : "The announcement that the Black Laws are repealed is received in different quarters with alter- nate paeans and execrations; and we suppose it is lawful for us 'to rejoice with those who do rejoice/ though our sympathies do not enable us to enter very profoundly into the sorrows of those who mourn over an event which we regard as of so little intrinsic im- portance. Our sense of gratification at the repeal of the Black Laws does not result from any conviction that some great end in ethics or politics has thereby been attained ; we rejoice at the result because it is a consummation long and diligently sought by a large body of our fellow citizens, under the firm conviction, honestly entertained, that these laws were very op- pressive in their operation upon our colored popula- tion. It was doubtless thought by many that the repeal of these laws would greatly meliorate the con- dition of the colored race in Ohio. We think differ- ently and are of the opinion that it would puzzle the most intelligent of the colored race within our bord- ers, or the most ardent of their champions to point out the practical advantages which are to result to them from the repeal of these laws. It is but a fancied gain. "No act of legislation in this State for thirty years past has probably been received at different points with such diverse greetings as this act. Much of this feeling is the result of morbid sympathy on the one hand and prejudice on the other. The Western Reserve district is happy, but they have few subjects to be affected by the act. The colored population reside from choice in other localities and among a 4 2 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO people with whose habits and prejudices they are familiar. These very distinctions are part and parcel of the very nature of both races, and can never be eradicated by statute law. In the localities of the southern part of the State where the colored popula- tion most abounds they will practically keep in force some of the laws that have been repealed by this act, especially the one denying them the right to bear witness against a white. Public opinion and the fact that men will be influenced in their litigation by a regard for their interests will be the power. For it is a fact notorious to all who are willing to see that nothing could (as a general rule) be more fatal to the merits of a case than an effort to sustain it by this description of testimony. This may be called preju- dice. Be it so. It is none the less potent for being so denominated, or for being so in fact. It is the preju- dice of education — ingrain in the very constitution of society, and cannot be eradicated by mere parliamen- tary forms and enactments." 10 The Ohio Statesman, the leading Democratic organ, copying from The Clark County Democrat, in its issue of March 5, 1849, says : "We regret that a disposition exists on the part of our Democratic friends in some parts of the State to make a fuss about the repeal of the so-called Black Laws of Ohio. We are as fully aware as they possibly can be that it is an unpopular movement, and that the action of the Democrats on this question was wholly unexpected. * * * The Democratic party has always stood opposed to placing the black man upon an equality with the white. * * * We are decidedly opposed to repeal at this time." 11 At Sugar Grove, in Fairfield county near Lan- caster, a great indignation meeting was held on February 15 and resolutions were adopted, scoring 10 Ohio State Journal, Feb. 24, 1849. u Ohio Statcman, March 5, 1849. REPEAL OF THE BLACK LAWS 43 the members of the Legislature. The editor of the Ohio Eagle, published in Lancaster, gave it as his opinion that the resolutions expressed the sentiments of two-thirds of the people of the county. Two of the resolutions are typical of the whole : "Resolved, That the majority of the members of the Ohio Legislature have betrayed the confidence reposed in them by their constituents and have proven that they are a set of base hypocrites and dishonest politicians. "Resolved, That we are opposed to free-soilism, abolitionism, demagogism and negroism." 12 The repeal of the Black Laws, then, was in no way a sign that race prejudice was dying away. Of course it was a great consummation to those who had petitioned for it and longed for it during the previous years; but these were few in number in comparison with the great number of those throughout the State who would not turn over their hand to aid their black neighbors. The repeal was far from popular and far from indicating the sentiment of the State, and yet the laws were never re-enacted. It might be argued that this last fact proves that the repeal was in accord with the wishes of the people. But we must remember that (1) The enemies of the negroes were unorganiz- ed, while their friends were organized in the active Anti-slavery Society, (2) Just at this time and for the next few years there were many important national issues in which the negro question figured more or less, which overshadowed this issue at home. These two things, in my opinion, kept the people of Ohio from repudiating the bargain and sale of the politi- cians, whereby the Black Laws were repealed. " The Ohio Statesman, Feb. 22, 1849. CHAPTER IV. Social Position of Negro, 1802-1849. In this chapter we shall study the social position of the negroes in Ohio during the first half of the last century, or more truly, possibly, we shall study their lack of social position. We shall find that in the minds of white men generally negroes were creatures, not citizens, scarcely persons even, if we rightly in- terpret the laws made by the State Legislature in di- rect contradiction to the constitution, which secured certain rights to all persons, with no distinction what- soever. 1 Negroes were just enough like men to satisfy the persons of the State of Ohio that they should not be sold upon the auction block like other creatures of flesh and blood, as the horse and the ox. As many of the people of the State said at that time, the negroes were "an excresence on the body politic and the body social." They were creatures not welcomed into the State in any capacity. With the exception of about three hundred of their number, their descendants and a very few others, they had come into the State against her laws and were re- garded as intruders, uninvited and unwelcome. William Jay, an abolitionist lawyer of New York State and son of John Jay, the statesman and jurist, writing during the period which we are now reviewing and giving the status of the free negroes in the differ- ent States of the Union, said,"The laws of Ohio against the free blacks are peculiarly detestable. Not only are the blacks excluded in that State from the benefit of public schools, but with a refinement of cruelty unparalleled, they are doomed to idleness and poverty by a law which renders a white man who employs a colored one to labor for him one hour liable for his 1 Constitution of Ohio, 1802, Art. VIII, Sec. 1, 7. I9> 25. EARLY SOCIAL STATUS 45 support through life." 2 "Prejudice against the negro attains its rankest luxurience not in the rice-swamps of Georgia, nor the sugar fields of Louisiana, but upon the prairies of Ohio." 3 "Some remaining regard to decency and the opinion of the world has restrained the Legislatures of the free States, with one exception, from consigning these unhappy people to ignorance The exception must of course be Ohio." 4 These extracts are interesting, as giving the views of a person out- side the State looking on at the time that the condi- tions were in actual existence, and giving a compara- tive view of the situation in the different States. The laws against the free negroes that we have already considered 5 served as a frame-work upon which this prejudice was built or at least upon which it was clearly manifested. To a large extent their social status and legal status converged, each affect- ing deeply the other. Let us now consider some of the manifestations of this feeling against the negro. The laws of Ohio, up to 1848, failed absolutely to provide any schooling for the colored children, and the white people of the State failed almost as abso- lutely in the same direction. Here and there, very rarely, the negro child was helped to a few weeks' schooling in the course of a year. Sometimes this help was given by a few white friends who braved public ill-will thereby. More often it was the work of a few zealous negroes who raised enough money in some way to provide the schooling. In Cleveland, in the Puritan Western Reserve, I find the only instance where negro children were permitted to enter the public school beside white children without protest. Clark Waggoner, in his History of the City of Toledo and Lucas Count}/, says: 3 Jay, Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery, 27. 3 Jay, Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery, 373. *Jay, Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery, 385. "Chapter 11. 6 School Report, 1875-76, p. 32. 46 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO "At one time in the early history of the Toledo School System, the two races were associated in the schools. This, however, was but a condition of suf- ferance. All the time, the laws of the State maintained the right of any parent or guardian of a white scholar, by protest, to drive every colored child from the schools and into the streets ; and it was not long before such power was exercised, and the proscribed left without school privileges of any sort. After a long time the Board of Education established a school for the blacks in an old frame building, illy lighted, and poorly supplied with facilities, and in strong contrast with the superb provision made for the whites. The location was not central, and many colored children were by distance denied access to the school, even had the accommodations been sufficient for them. As late as 1867, with 200 to 300 colored children of school age in the city, not one in five was in this school." 7 Toledo, be it noted, was the most northern city of Ohio. The inclination and ability of the colored people in raising funds for school purposes is pictured clear- ly by Alfred E. Lee, in his History of Columbus, Ohio : "Prior to 1836 the colored people maintained a school in the southern part of the city. In that year they organized a School Society with three trustees. In the fall of 1839 (three years later), they had sixty dollars in their treasury, and a subscribed building fund of two hundred and twenty-five dollars." 8 One can easily imagine from this the quantity and quality of schooling for the negroes of Columbus. In Cincinnati, where about one-third of the negroes of Ohio made their home during the first half of the last century, we see still another picture of negro schooling. Here we find little mission schools 7 Clark Waggoner, History of the City of Toledo and Lucas County, 628. 8 Alfred E. Lee, History of the City of Columbus, Ohio, I, 516. EARLY SOCIAL STATUS 47 being established in 1834 by some of the students of Lane Theological Seminary, supported by a few women philanthropists. These students were severely cen- sured by citizens and by a large number of the faculty and officers of the institution. Finally they were directly forbidden by the school authorities to con- tinue in the work and, as a result, fifty-one students withdrew and went to Oberlin College in the Western Reserve district. They took along with them an es- pecially bright negro boy and desired his admission also to the school. This school, though well known for its anti-slavery feeling and teaching, had not ;is yet opened its doors to negro students. A great dis- cussion was now precipitated and was taken up by the newspapers of the whole State. In February, 1835, the trustees passed a resolution, carried only by the casting vote of the presiding officer, to open the doors of the institution to all students irrespective of color. 9 For this and other acts sympathetic toward the negro, such a feeling was aroused throughout the State that a legislative investigation was conducted in the session of 1839-40 into the doings of the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, as it was then called. 10 While Oberlin was the only college in Ohio for many years that declared itself open to negroes, this concession amounted to little or nothing for the colored people, as it was s virtually impossible for any of them to get sufficient preparation for the college work even if they had the ambition. In the large cities, such as we have thus far con- sidered, we should naturally expect to find a few people who felt it their duty to help the negroes to a little education; but, if we look at the State broadly and as a whole, we shall find conditions even worse than those already pictured. According to a pamph- let entitled A Report on the Coin! it ion of Colored °J. H. Fairchild, Oberlin. Its Origin, Progress, and Results. 10 Senate and House Journals, 1839-40. 48 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO People in Ohio, read by A. D. Barber as an address before the Anti-Slavery Society at Massillon, Ohio, 1840, many places throughout the State absolutely forbade schools for colored children to be established, even though supported by the negroes themselves, and in some places their school houses were burned to the ground ; in Jefferson, Scioto county, there were almost one hundred negro farmers, and yet they could not establish a negro school, owing to opposition which grew so bitter that it was considered bad policy for a white man to employ a negro or even converse with him; teaching a "nigger school" was considered con- temptible business, and any white man lowering him- self to such a degree was completely ostracized by his white neighbors. 11 Prejudice of race was undoubtedly the strongest reason for this exclusion of blacks from the public schools; but the following, from an editorial in the Ohio State Journal of December 22, 1827, is interest- ing: "If we enlighten their minds by education, what a new world of misery do we open to their view. Knowledge would open their eyes to their present degraded state — their incapacity of enjoying the rights of citizenship, or of being received into the social interests of the whites as friends. They would be rendered uneasy with their condition, and, seeing no hopes of improvement, would harbor designs un- friendly to the peace and permanency of our institu- tions." 12 Not only were they kept in darkness as regards knowledge, but in addition they were restricted in opportunity as regards religious and moral instruc- tion and stimulus. They did not have money to erect churches and provide ministers for themselves, and 11 A Report on the Condition of Colored People in Ohio, 1840. — A. D. Barber. u Ohio State Journal, Dec. 22, 1827. EARLY SOCIAL STATUS 49 yet they were not wanted in the white churches. If they presumed so much, they were either directly refused admission or made decidedly uncomfortable by being placed in special and undesirable places. In 1840 the colored people in convention in Columbus publicly protested against the "negro pew." 13 Wil- liam Jay, writing in 1835, says: "Colored ministers are occasionally ordained in the different denominations, but they are kept at a distance by their white brethren in the ministry, and are very rarely permitted to enter their pulpits; and still more rarely to sit at their tables. The distinction of caste is not forgotten even in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and seldom are colored disciples per- mitted to eat and drink of the memorials of the Re- deemer's passion till after every white communicant has been served." 14 Being thus restricted in the enjoyment of mental and moral blessings and all influences that might gen- erate ambition and self-respect in them, it would be strange indeed to find many of them objecting to their condition and crying out for social equality. They seem to have been almost more than content to pick up the crumbs that fell from the white man's table, judging from the way in which they continued to come into the State, and to remain quiet and submissive to their superiors. I have been unable to find a single instance in which the colored people made anything approaching a forcible protest against the discrimin- ation that was constantly made against them. There was no resentful spirit shown then, as there is today, no determination on the negro's part to have "all his rights." 15 "Minutes of the Convention of Colored People of Ohio; Con- vened at Columbus, Jan. 13-15, 1849. 14 Jay, Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery, 387. 15 Such is the attitude of many negroes who have been coming North in recent years. This, in my opinion, accounts for the fact that there is so much more mob violence at the present day than in the period now under survey. 5 o THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO As facts and conditions presented later will show, the negroes did not presume to attend the white men's theatres or entertainments or go to the white men's hotels. They did not ride in the stage coaches on equal footing with the white passengers. On the steamboats they rode on deck and not in the cabins with the whites. They did not go to white men's homes for anything but to do their work. Their children did not play with the white children. In fact there was scarcely anything whatever in the way of communion between the whites and the blacks. They did not even work together in the lowest grades of labor. They were two peoples separate in practically all things. The negroes lived truly unto themselves, both as re- gards their place of dwelling in the city and as regards the relation of man to man. In the negroes' dependence upon the white people for the greater portion of their daily bread do we find the chief connecting tie between the two races. Of course some few — and they were very few — were small farmers and in a way independent, but far the greater number of them got what little money they needed by doing the lowest of menial work for the whites. It was out of the question for a negro to get a position as bookkeeper, clerk, or accountant of any kind, to enter a skilled trade, or in fact to do anything that would throw him in contact with the white race in a way the least suggestive of equality. In 1834 the Anti-slavery Society of Lane Sem- inary, near Cincinnati, had a committee investigate the condition of the free colored people in Cincinnati, and the following is a part of their report: "The wrongs suffered by those who remained be- hind in 1829, when so many of their people were forc- ibly driven out of Cincinnati, cannot well be imagined. The mechanical associations combined against them, and prejudice excluded them entirely from school privileges. EARLY SOCIAL STATUS 5I "A respectable master mechanic stated to us, a few days since, that in 1830 the President of the Mechanical Association was publicly tried by the Society for the crime of assisting a colored young man to learn a trade. Such was the feeling among the mechanics that no colored boy could learn a trade, or colored journeyman find employment. A young man of exceptional character and an excellent workman purchased his freedom and learned the cabinet making business in Kentucky. On coming to this city, he was refused work by every man to whom he applied. At last he found a shop carried on by an Englishman, who agreed to employ him — but on entering the shop, the workmen threw down their tools and declared that he should leave or they would. 'They would never work with a nigger.' The unfortunate youth was ac- cordingly dismissed. "In this extremity, having spent his last cent, he found a slave holder who gave him employment in an iron store as a common laborer. Here he remained two years, when the gentleman, finding he was a me- chanic, exerted his influence and procured work for him as a rough carpenter. This man, by dint of per- severance and industry, has now become a master workman, employing at times six or eight journey- men. But, he tells us, he has not yet received a single job of work from a native born citizen of a free State. "This oppression of the mechanics still continues. One of the boys of our school last summer sought in vain for a place in this city to learn a trade. In hopes of better success, his brother went with him to New Orleans, where he readily found a situation. Of mul- titudes of common laborers at the time alluded to above, who were immediately turned out of employ- ment, many have told us that they were compelled to resort to dishonorable occupations or starve. One fact — a clergyman told one of his laborers, who was 52 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO also a member of his church, that he could employ him no longer, for the laws forbade it. The poor man went out and sought employment elsewhere to keep his family from starving, but he sought in vain and re- turned in despair to the minister to ask his advice. The only reply he received was, 'I cannot help you; you must go to Liberia.' "The combined oppression of public sentiment and law reduced the colored people to extreme misery. No colored man could be a drayman or porter without subjecting his employer to a heavy penalty, and few employers had the courage to risk its infliction. Many families, as we know, have for years been supported by the mothers or female part of the family. This they have done by going out at washing, or performing other drudgery which no one else could be procured to do." 16 To assist in appreciating the gulf that lay be- tween the stations of the two races, as viewed by the white people of the time, the following incident will be helpful : In 1839 a petition for relief from certain legal disabilities was presented to the Legislature from some colored inhabitants of the State. It was moved to reject the reception of the petition, calling- it "an intruder into the House." The motion to reject the petition was lost by but four votes. The following day the House by a large majority decided "That the blacks and mulattoes, who may be residents within this State, have no constitutional right to present their petitions to the General Assembly for any purpose whatsoever, and that any reception of such petitions on the part of the General Assembly is a mere act of privilege or policy and not imposed by any expressed or implied power of the constitution." 17 18 Proceedings of Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention, 1835, 19. "Journal of House of Representatives, 1839, Tan. 13, 14. EARLY SOCIAL STATUS 53 Slavery in Ohio. The constitution of the Slate that was framed iii 180- forbade slavery and also forbade the indenture of blacks and niulattoes for a longer period than oik.' year. 18 This provision was passed by a bare majority vote, as we have already seen, 10 which shows that public sentiment was by no means unanimous against slavery. This continued to be true for several decades, as evidenced by the fact that slavery, real slavery, was permitted in the State for many years, despite the constitutional provision against it. This fact, that Ohio was "a slave State" in a small way, will come as a surprise to most readers, but I believe there is material to prove this statement. The United States Census of 1830 states that there were six slaves in Ohio at that time. This is corroborated by the following clipping entitled "Slav- ery in Ohio" from the Ohio State Journal of March 3, 1832, two years after the census above mentioned was taken : "It appears by a late report of the Secre- tary of State, made in obedience to a resolution of the House of Representatives, that there are actually six colored slaves in the State of Ohio, viz: two in the county of Montgomery, one in the county of Butler, one in the county of Clarke, and two in the county of Hamilton. Of these, three are females over twenty- four and under thirty-six years of age; and the others are over ten aud under twenty-four.""" If we had but this much as evidence, we might think, as others have, that those slaves were from the South, temporarily sojourning with their masters in 18 Constitution of 1S02, Art. VIII., Sec. 2. "In Chapter i. -"Ohio State Journal, March 3, 1832. This was all that was said about the matter and, although T looked carefully over future issues for further mention of this strange condition of affairs, I could find none and was forced to conclude that the editor did not regard it as anything very unusual or interesting to his readers. 54 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO the North, but this idea is not in accordance with the following evidence. In an old newspaper, The Supporter, published at Chillicothe, in the issue of December 8, 1813, we find this advertisement: FOR SALE, A NEGRO MAN, named George Panten, for ten years from this date. In the town of Columbia (Ohio) on the Ohio River, five and one-half miles from Cincinnati. (Signed) John Armstrong." 21 This advertisement ran for seven consecutive weeks. In the southern counties of the State, there lived many men who owned plantations in the South and many negroes to work them as slaves. Getting ac- customed to that kind of service while in the South, it is very probable that many of them brought picked slaves north to act as their domestic servants. In addition to this farmers in the border counties along the Ohio river doubtless kept slaves whom they pretended to hire from their masters in Ken- tucky. 22 We know, from the general feeling of the whites in this part of the State toward the negroes, that there would be no objection made in any way to such practices. That the people of the State would quietly con- sent to slavery in their very midst is certainly suffi- cient to show that they were far from looking upon the negroes as their equals. They looked upon themselves as sinned against and not as the sinners. They would do nothing that would encourage the black men to 21 The Supporter, of Chillicothe, Ohio, Dec. 8, 1813. 22 W. H. Smith in his Political History of Slavery says there- were many such slaves in the southern counties. EARLY SOCIAL STATUS 55 come among them, but on the other hand, would do almost anything to discourage them. Having now seen many of the manifestations of the white men's attitude toward the negroes, it will be interesting to see some expressions showing the view- point of the white men in their own words. As the main object of this work is to show the thoughts that have been entertained by the white people toward the blacks, I shall quote somewhat fully. In 1827 the Legislature appointed a special committee to investi- gate "the negro problem," and this committee, in December of that year, reported through its chairman, Mr. Walker, as follows : "The negroes are in many parts of the State a serious political and moral evil. Although they are nominally free, that freedom confers only the privi- lege of being more idle and vicious than slaves. This is obvious to every man who witnesses the effect in our towns and villages and turns his attention to the relative proportion of crime between the colored and white population of the State. The convicts in our pentitentiary with reference to the whole colored and white population of the State are as eight of the former to one of the latter. 23 "Besides, the colored population has a tendency to depress and discourage the white laboring classes of the State, who are her source of wealth and peace. Destitute of the blessings of education and of moral and religious instruction, with no incentive to indus- try or the acquisition of an honorable reputation, and devoid of the intelligence and moral restraint neces- sary to qualify them for the privileges and immuni- 23 According to the census of 1850, there were 362 whites and 44 blacks in the State penitentiary. In every 10,000 whites 1.851 were prisoners, and in every 10,000 blacks 17.405 were prisoners. This gives a ratio of more than 9 to I. And, at the present time, according to statistics in my possession, there are nearly seven col- ored people in prison in Ohio to one white person, considering their relative populations. 5 6 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO ties of citizens, they form an excrescence on the body politic, which, if it cannot be removed, should not be permitted to increase by emigration." 24 In an editorial in the Ohio State Journal, Decem- ber 22, 1827, we find the following : "The character of the negroes, as observed in all our villages general- ly, presents one uniform standard, that of being an idle, intemperate and dissolute race ; alike a burden on the resources of the State and to the energies of the laboring class of our citizens Wretched as their present political standing is in our State, even hope yields not to the prospects of the future. Their color draws an impassable barrier between them and the whites which they can never hope to surmount. 'Col- or,' remarks the U. 8. Review, mas become the signal distinction, by the mere habit of connecting the idea of slave with that of a dark skin, — nor can it be other- wise while the principles of association hold their place among the first elements of the human mind.' The bondsmen of ancient Greece and Koine were of the same color with their masters. When affection or interest loosed their chains, they were received into the bosom of the commonwealth and became entitled to all the privileges of citizens. Alliances were not disgraceful with the manumitted bondsman. But far different is the situation of the manumitted blacks in this country. To use the appropriate words of the late Robert G. Harper, 'Be their industry ever so great, or their conduct ever so correct, whatever prop- erty they may have acquired, or whatever respect we may feel for their characters, we never will consent to see the two races placed on a footing of perfect equality with each other, to see the free blacks or their descendants visit in our homes, form part of our so- cial acquaintances, marry into our families, or partic- ipate in public honors or employments." 25 21 Ohio State Journal Dec. 19, 1827. 25 Ohio State Journal, Dec. 22, 1827. EARLY SOCIAL STATUS 57 In 1832 the status of the negroes was again the subject of investigation by the Legislature. The com- mittee appointed to inquire into the subject reported through its chairman, Mr. Worthington, of Ross coun- ty, in part as follows: "That, after a careful investi- gation of the matter referred to them they view the present situation and future prospects of Ohio, in re- gard to this class of people, as one of peculiar and painful interest, whether as relating to the moral character, or political prosperity of her citizens. The existence in any community of a people forming a distinct and degraded caste, who are forever excluded by the fiat of society and the laws of the land from all hopes of equality in social intercourse and political privileges, must from the nature of things be fraught with unmixed evil, and this evil is especially felt where they are congregated in considerable numbers in the larger towns. White men will not degrade themselves in society by adopting the employment of, and coming into competition with the blacks, a peo- ple of a degraded and dependent condition and of dis- solute conduct, a people upon whom society has affix- ed the brand of infamy from their birth ; with whom it is considered disgraceful for the meanest white man to associate. "Did this committee believe it possible by acts of legislation to remove this blot from the body politic, by so elevating the social and moral condition of the blacks in Ohio that they would be received into soci- ety on terms of equality and would by common con- sent be admitted to a participation in political priv- ileges — were such a thing possible, even after a lapse of time and by a pecuniary sacrifice — most gladly Avould they recommend such measures as would sub- serve the cause of humanity by producing such a re- sult. "But they appeal to the experience of every man in this community to bear them out in the assertion 5 8 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO that such an amalgamation is repudiated at once by the strong and unconquerable feeling of the society in which we live. Whether this feeling be right or wrong, reasonable or unreasonable, it is not the prov- ince of this committee to inquire. That is a question for the philosopher and metaphysician. "For the purposes of legislation, it is sufficient to know that the blacks in Ohio must always exist as a separate and degraded race; that when the leopard shall change his spots and the Ethiopian his skin, then, but not till then, may we expect that the de- scendents of Africans will be admitted into society on terms of social and political equality." 26 Having now gotten the views of two different committees in two Legislatures five years apart, and also an editorial from one of the lead- ing newspapers of the State, we will now turn to the words of a judge on the bench of the Supreme Court of the State. In 1842, in the case of Edwill Thacker vs. John Hawk et al. the Supreme Court decided by a bare majority vote that all persons less than half negro in blood had the right of electors in Ohio. Justice N. C. Keed of Cincinnati, dissented from the view of the majority in the following words : "This exclusion of persons of color, or of any de- gree of colored blood from all political rights is not founded upon a mere naked prejudice, but upon nat- ural differences. The two races are placed as wide apart by the hand of nature as white from black; and to break down the barriers fixed, as it were, by the Creator himself, in a political and social amalgama- tion shocks us as something unnatural and wrong. It strikes us as a violation of the laws of nature. It would be productive of no good. It would degrade the white, if it could be accomplished, without elevat- ing (lie black. Indeed, if we gather lessons of wisdom from the history of mankind — walk by the light of our '" Ohio State Journal, Feb. I, 1832. EARLY SOCIAL STATUS 59 experience, or consult the principles of human nature, we shall be convinced that the two races never can live together upon terms of equality and harmony. The distinctions are too marked to be overcome by I he power of political action, and the folly of the attempt will probably be only equaled by the fatal consequen- ces of the result. In view of these conclusions and in this feeling, our constitution was formed, and such views and feelings have always directed the policy of the State. The practical construction which we have given our constitution for a period of more than forty years lias been to exclude all persons, of all degrees of black or negro blood from the exercise or enjoy- ment of all political rights. "The policy of the State always has been to dis- courage the immigration and settlement of persons of color among us. The decision of this Court conferring the political rights upon all less than half black, is an inducement for such to immigrate to the State and re- main here. It violates the spirit of the constitution, because in principle I see no difference in allowing a mulatto to vote, and a person a little less than mulat- to, or a full black; for the taint of black blood extends to them all, and this is the reason of their exclusion." 27 From the evidence here presented we are forced to conclude that the negroes of Ohio, during the first half of the nineteenth century, were in a miserable condition, economically, morally and menially. This naturally fixed to a great extent their status in the life of the State, but we everywhere see the one other element, race prejudice, constantly entering in to col- or the view (hat the white man took of the black man. To him "hope yielded not to the future" for the color line was everywhere and was everlasting, forming an impassable barrier between the two races, which the black man could never hope to surmount. 17 Thacker vs. Hawk et al.—Xl Ohio Reports, 376. CHAPTER V. Feeling Toward the Negro as Expressed in the Constitutional Convention, 1850-1851. Mr. Worthington, a delegate from Chillicothe, speaking in the constitutional convention February 17, 1851, made the following statement : "The gentle- man says that at the time of the Revolution there was less prejudice against the black race than there is at present. That is undoubtedly true; and it is also true that the prejudice, if you will so call it, has in- creased at each successive period of time, and the ir- resistible inference from such a state of facts is, that the longer the two races occupy the same soil, the greater will be their repulsion and the stronger the prejudice." 1 This statement was probably made off- hand, and very probably fell upon many deaf ears, just as it would today; but such a statement is surely worthy of an investigation. This investigation I am now making. I have stated the facts as I have found them, covering fifty years before this utterance was made in 1851, and I shall give the facts for the six de- cades intervening between then and now, and the read- er may then determine for himself the amount of truth there was in the inference that the speaker drew, or in his prophecy that "the longer the two races oc- cupy the same soil, the greater will be their repulsion and the stronger the prejudice." The constitutional convention of 1802 lasted less than thirty days, and its proceedings were recorded in less than that number of pages and, consequently, we know little of its inner workings. But the convention of 1850-51 lasted almost a year, and its proceedings are published in two volumes of about one thousand pages each. The result is that we have in these volum- inous debates a storehouse of facts pertaining to the 1 Convention Debates, 1850-51, II, 639. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 61 status of the negro in the State, as this question was prominent in the deliberations of the convention from the first to the last. Petitions came in to the convention from every part of the State, and these represented every shade of opinion on the subject. I find that there were twen- ty-nine petitions, from ten different counties, with a total list of over fifteen hundred names, asking for equal rights, political and legal, for the negro: 2 there were three petitions, from three counties, with two hundred names, asking that the negro be permitted to vote: 3 on the oilier hand, three petitions, from three counties, with two hundred and forty-nine names, ask- ing that the negro be denied the privilege of voting; 4 eight petitions from seven different counties, with 013 names, asking that the negro be prohibited from com- ing into the State; 5 five petitions from six counties, with five hundred and twenty-one names, asking that the negroes then living in Ohio be in one way or an- other removed from the State. 6 The equal rights petitioners made by far the best showing in the number of petitioners and signers, but accomplished no results; and the petitions were prob- ably the work of a few enthusiasts. \ am led to this conclusion from the fact that the same name headed two of the petitions from one county. 7 and another name headed two petitions from a second county, 8 and I am further convinced by the fact that the represen- tatives from Stark and Warren counties, from which respectively came eleven and four of the petitions out of a total of twenty-nine, voted against the negro at 2 Debates, I, 31, 56, 59, 75, 107, 108, 191, 236, 313, 337, 354, 726. II. 5, 34, 192, 232. '■' Debates, I, 298, 313, 474- 4 Debates, I, 236, 374, 458. 5 Debates, II, 5, 140, 159, 191, 339, 458. Debates, I, 28, 458, 459. II, 191. 'Debates, I, 354- 3 Debates, I, 236. 62 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO almost every opportunity. 9 Portage county furnished seven of the petitions, and her delegate voted for the negro. 9 Muskingum, Clark, Ashland, Miami and Hamilton counties furnished one petition each, and in every case their delegates voted against the equal rights petitioned for. 10 Mr. Smith, of Warren county, stated to the con- vention that the four petitions from his county rep- resented the sentiments of a very small portion of his district. 11 Mr. Archbold, of Monroe county, called these petitions "effusions of folly and fanaticism." 12 William Sawyer, delegate from Auglaize, one of the northern counties, in unequivocal terms opposed the reception of equal rights petitions, saying that he felt constrained by a sense of duty to his constituents to say, here and now, he would not sit still and permit even his fellow citizens to petition that negroes should be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of white men without raising his voice against it. The petition was one that they had no right to consider; to him it was revolting and an insult to the freemen of Ohio. He held that there were some things that even a white man had no right to petition for. 13 Later, when the subject of receiving the same kind of peti- tion again come up and its sponsor said that it was couched in respectful language and ought therefore to be received, Mr. Mitchell, of Knox county, said that he doubted very seriously if petitions aiming to class the negroes of the State, with reference to their rights and interests, side by side with the wives and daugh- ters of the whites, could be made in respectful lan- guage. 14 When the matter of receiving petitions from col- Debates, II, 19, 350, 554. 10 Debates, II, 19, 350, 554- "Debates, II, 57. 13 Debates, I, 76. 13 Debates, I, 56, 107. 11 Debates, I, 76. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 63 ored people themselves caine up, there was the strong- est opposition manifested by many members. Mr. Holmes, of Hamilton county, said, "I am unwilling to receive petitions from the colored portion of our pop- ulation, or even seem to entertain any disposition to receive them." 14 Mr. Townsend, of Lorain county, presented a petition for equal rights signed by an edu- cated constituent, who happened to have some negro blood in his veins but was nearer white than black. Mr. Sawyer immediately rose and said that he object- ed to this petition more especially than any other. 15 Mr. Eobertson, of Fairfield county, stated "that the Supreme Court had declared the petitioner a citizen; he did not believe they were right in so doing. He hoped there would be a clause in the new constitution against allowing such persons to become citizens." 18 .Mr. Loudon, of Brown county, "believed it was the opinion of his constituents that very few blacks in Ohio had the right to come here and ask anything at our hands; they were tresspassers, in other words, on the limits of this State." 17 All of this oppostition to receiving petitions in behalf of, and from, colored inhabitants was overcome and all petitions were ac- cepted, there being many anti-negro members who stood boldly for right of petition as an American birth- right that was not to be tampered with. The three petitions praying the convention to give the negro the ballot met with the same treatment as those asking for equal rights, but the three that asked for a denial of the ballot got what they wanted, as it was the almost unanimous wish of the State and of the convention. The eight petitions against negro immigration and the five for extradition were wel- comed by a large number of the members of the con- vention, but their object was not accomplished. Pro- 1S Debates, I, 458. 14 Debates, I, 459. "Debates, I, 459. 64 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO posals for State aid to colonization were sometimes included in these last named petitions. Daniel Drake, of Scioto county, a prominent man and well known for his contributions to the early history of Ohio, petitioned the convention to stop the immigration of negroes and to enact laws favoring African coloniza- tion. 18 Mr. Loudon, of Brown county, in speaking of the views of his people on the subject of extradition, said, "There is a feeling in the section of the country that I come from upon this one particular subject of extradition that outweighs perhaps all other feelings with regard to the doing of this Ohio convention. A majority of the people I represent, without regard, I may say, to whether they are of the Democratic party or of the Whig party, believe with the fathers of this State that this should be a State for the white man and the white man only." 19 The following petition, signed by one-hundred and thirty-five people of Butler county and presented to the convention by their delegate, Mr. King, is very interesting and instructive as to the general tenor of the petitions of like kind : "To the convention, called to change the consti- tution of Ohio : "Gentlemen : — The undersigned, citizens of But- ler county, Ohio, respectfully petition your honorable body, and pray, that provision be made, in the consti- tution that you are now framing, for the removal of all persons of negro, or part negro blood, from the State of Ohio. And also that such other and further provision may be made, by preventing the influx and immigration of negroes, as will eventually restore to the State of Ohio, a population of free white people, and none other. "A separation we regard as alike advantageous to both races; and therefore, without wishing to in- M Debates, II, 159. 19 Debates, I, 28. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 65 jure the negroes, Ave ask that they be removed. But, as the power of removal is an important one, we wish it exercised with great prudence and humanity. No negro should be deprived of his property, without re- ceiving a compensation in money, and none should be removed until provision is made for them in another country. But, whatever may be the consequence to the negroes, the happiness and welfare of the white race, both as to the present and future generations, requires the removal, and therefore it should be done." 20 These petitions and comments made thereon by the members of the convention reveal bitter anti-ne- gro sentiments throughout the State. The strongest prejudice was shown to be in the southern counties of the State, as every petition against the negro had its origin in that half of the State, if we except this interesting little touch, coining from the otherwise "unbroken North:" Mr. Humphreyville presented a petition from Medina county, signed by thirty-three citizens asking for equal rights for the negro, and at the bottom of the same paper were the signatures of "seven citizens of the same township, stating that they cannot conscientiously subscribe to the above petition, because it is not true democracy." 21 The intense prejudice of the southern counties was due, as has been intimated before, to the fact that a large number of the population was from the South and, from birth and education, or from social and bus- iness relations, were heartily in sympathy with their old home interests and institutions and naturally cherished a strong antipathy for the negroes. Anoth- er reason for the southern counties feeling more of this prejudice than the northern counties was that they had many times the number of negroes among then) 20 Debates, II, 191. 21 Debates, I, 191. 66 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO that the northern ones had, came more intimately in- to contact with them and saw them at their worst. These negroes eked out a miserable existence working at odd jobs and stayed close by the Ohio river, as there was always a demand for unskilled labor there in the loading and unloading of boats. 22 This sort of work was much more congenial to them than the more con- tinuous, if not more irksome, labor of farming. The long intervals between tasks or "jobs" gave them am- ple opportunity to stretch themselves on some plank, bask in the sun and dream of the sweet liberty they enjoyed, or to get together in groups and sing their own peculiar songs. They worked just enough to keep body and soul together and, as a consequence, they were generally miserably poor, ignorant, and too often vicious. The following description in the Cincinnati Ga- zette in 1835 of a large settlement known as the "Camps" in Brown county, where about one thousand negroes had settled in 1820, gives us a picture of them that must resemble in many ways the picture that was in the minds of the people of the southern counties, when they spoke so bitterly of the idea of classing them as their equals: "They are so extremely lazy and stupid that the neighboring farmers will not employ them to any ex- tent. They do not raise produce enough on their own lands to keep their families, much less do they have a surplus to sell abroad. They pass most of their time in little smoking cabins, too listless to even fiddle and dance. One may pass through the 'negro camps,' pass- ing a dozen straggling cabins with smoke issuing out of the ends of them, without seeing a soul either at work or play. The fear of starvation makes them work the least possible quantity, while they are a great 22 They have clung to that kind of work to this day in that local- it}', for it has a fascination for them which they cannot resist. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 67 deal too lazy to play. There are not more than two or three families out of the whole who have been ben- efitted by the change from slavery to freedom." 23 The people of the northern part of the State, un- like the people of the southern part, saw few such pic- tures, and so their humanity was put to a much light- er test. Besides, the population here was largely from the Eastern States. They had come to Ohio with few prejudices against the negro, as they had generally no life-long associations with him and little commercial dealing. The few negroes that moved up among them were necessarily more ambitious and capable than their brothers or else they would have remained be- hind along with the rest, pursuing the path of least resistance. They settled often upon small farms and in the small towns and generally did much better for themselves than they possibly could have done in the lower part of the State. The following description of the negroes of Cleve- land, as given by Mr. Andrews of that city, is at the op- posite extreme from the picture already presented of the negroes in the southern part of the State ;"We have about three hundred negroes in the city of Cleveland, and I venture to say that there is not a man among them who is not qualified to vote. As long ago as 1845, twenty colored people in that city had property which was estimated at thirty-six thousand dollars. They have various organizations for their improvement, and their children are educated in onr common schools with the white children. The truth is that, if we ap- ply to them the same measure of qualification that we do to the whites, they are as well qualified to exercise the righl of suffrage as thousands of white voters in this or any other State." 24 So the circumstances under which the northern M Cincinnati Gazette, copied into NUes' Register of October 3, 1835, XLIX, 76. 21 Debates, II, 636. 68 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO Ohio white man formed his opinion of the black man were very unlike those of his brother in the southern part of the State; and the result was that he felt much less prejudice. The two sections could not understand one another's point of view, and there came about as a result a division of the State in regard to the negro into a "North" and a "South," much resembling the division of the United States that was taking place at about this same time and over the same question. And one thing most conducive to this misunderstanding, both in State and Nation, was lack of communication between the two sections. Mr. Andrews, of Cleveland, speaking to the convention February 17, 1851, said: "The Telegraph of this morning brings us the in- telligence that contains the promise of good things to come. At this moment, sir, while I am speaking, the first locomotive is on its way from Columbus to Cleve- land, proclaiming that the space between the northern and the southern boundary of the State is annihilated and that the Ohio river and Lake Erie are side by side. I hope, sir, that this great event will be the harbinger of a better state of feeling, that it will deep- en and multiply the channels of intercourse between the different sections of the State, that it will correct misapprehension and remove prejudice on all sides and be the means of making us in heart, as we now are in name, one people." 25 Let us develop further the difference in prejudice in the two sections of the State, keeping in mind the difference in the number of blacks in the two sections, and we shall come to what, in my opinion, is the most tangible explanation of this peculiar feeling of race- prejudice. Mr. Green, of Eoss county, which is in the southern portion of the State, speaking upon the mat- ter of the State paying for the transportation of the negroes to Africa, said: "Debates, II, 637. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 69 "The presence of the blacks among us is a nui- sance, especially in the southern portion of the State; and the people of this portion of the State would sub- mit to no tax more cheerfully than that by which they might get rid of this nuisance. There is no division of sentiment amongst us in regard to this matter. Gen 1 Lemen from the northern part of the State could noi by reason of their prejudices understand why this is so. But, if they were to come down and live amongst us, they would get some information upon the subject. They would learn this fact, that we are opposed to el- evating the blacks to the same rank with ourselves; but that, while we consider them an inferior class of beings, we treat them with the same kindness and faithfulness which we extend to all others in the same condition of life; we feed them well, and we do not overtask them But, I repeat, they are a nui- sance among us. What do the people of the northern counties know of the practical workings of the colored people among us? They know nothing of the charac- ter of this class of people; they are totally unacquaint- ed with them. They get up here and in the name of humanity and universal right endeavor to impress the public mind with the necessity of throwing wide open our doors to the admission of this people among us: — when, at the same time, they ought to know perfectly that we at the South must suffer the evil and not they." 28 Mr. Sawyer, of Auglaze county in the north- western pari of the State, but nevertheless probably the most bitter anti-negro man in the convention, said, "If you will look at the statistics furnished by the re- cent census, you will find that in those counties of this State, where abolitionism or free-soilism predominates there are the fewest negroes. It is in the southern counties, bordering on Kentucky, where then 1 is the largest proportion of negroes and mulattoes; and those counties are the least friendly to them. Either :o Debates, II, 337, 338. 7 o THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO the negroes do not know their friends in the north or else they will not go to them." 27 Mr. Worthington, of Ross county, said, "To the part of the State which he had the honor to represent, the negro is a serious practical question and a serious grievance, and we are better acquainted with the con- dition of the colored population of the State than a man from the north possibly can be. The prejudice against the negro is worse than it ever has been, and it is idle to suppose that this sentiment will ever de- crease as long as the two races remain together." 28 We shall now have some expressions from pro-ne- gro territory, the very center of which was the West- ern Reserve, in the northeastern part of the State. Mr. Townsend, of Lorain county, Western Reserve, one of the two men who secured the repeal of the Black Laws in 1849, said : "We have some negroes among us, there being about one hundred in the village where I live. We have little prejudice against them, their children going to the same schools as the white children. Our sym- pathy for them does not spring from our ignorance of them, but from the conviction that they are human beings and therefore entitled to all the rights and privileges and sympathies due to humanity, and from die conviction that they, equally with other men, are susceptible of intellectual and moral elevation." 20 Mr. Taylor, of Erie county, Western Reserve, in replying to the words of Mr. Green, of Ross county, quoted above, said, "In respect to the allusion to the compar- ative extent of the black population in the northern and southern portions of the State, it might be that all the counties of the Western Reserve did not contain as many colored people as the single county of Ross. 30 "Debates, II, 12. 28 Debates, II, 639. 29 Debates, II, 12. 30 According to the census of 1850, the eleven counties of the Reserve had 1,231 negroes in them, while Ross county alone had 1,906. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 ?I And why this was so he could not tell, unless it might be explained by the familiar adage, 'Birds of a feather flock together.' — But some of us have been alluded to as the peculiar friends of the negro. A Ye are not the peculiar friends of that, or any other portion of the population. We stand upon an entirely different ba- sis, that of equal rights — without being the peculiar friends of any class in particular. We disclaim the term 'peculiar.' We ask no peculiar favors for the colored race; we are only opposed to peculiar meas- ures against them. From the expressions heard on this floor, we are about to retrograde in our treatment of the colored population of the State by commencing a system of persecution worse than that which we al- ready have. Where will it end? I beg the gentlemen to be consistent in this regard — let them proclaim their real designs — if the black man is to be driven across our borders at the point of the bavonet, let them say so." 31 Mr. Andrews, of Cleveland, said: "We all know well that there is a great diversity of opinion among the people of the State, respecting every measure af- fecting the people of color, and such a sensitiveness on the subject as I had heretofore no conception of. Every movement and even every throb of sympathy in their behalf seems to be regarded by many as a direct or indirect attack on slavery. Sir, they don't under- stand us at all. Undoubtedly the people of northern Ohio feel a deep interest in the condition of the colored race, but they will leave slavery to the exclusive con- trol of the Southern States. The conditions of colored people at home is widely different, and yon may rest assured that in every enterprise that looks to their elevation and advancement the people of the Reserve will head the column and consider the place where they can do them the most good as the post of duly. Yon now propose to drive out of the State ;ill colored 31 Debates, II, 338, 601, 12. 7 2 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO people. I have no desire to perpetuate in our consti- tution the sympathies of one portion of our people or the prejudices of another. But, sir, it is well under- stood that the people of the northern part of the State are utterly opposed to any such provision and, if you iusert it, you may depend on it that they will vote against the constitution as one man. I do not know indeed but that we may be outnumbered by the votes of other parts of the State and compelled to submit to it for a time; but you may be assured that, with this provision in it, your new constitution, instead of being an instrument of peace, will be an exhaustless fountain of strife and contention, and that the people of the north, whose feelings are thus outraged, will not 'give sleep to their eyes nor slumber to their eyelids' until they have stricken out this obnoxious feature." 32 The negro population of the different counties of the State, according to the census of 1850, will be found graphically portrayed in Map No. 4. From a study of this, we shall find among other things that in the northern half of the State, taking in fortj'-four counties, there were 3,836 negroes, while the southern half had a population of 21,443. Now, if we consider Map No. 5 in connection with Map No. 4, we shall flud that the north — and indeed we can almost limit it to the Western Reserve district — with its sparse negro population gave almost all the pro-negro votes that were given in the convention; that Hamilton county in the southwestern corner of the State had a negro population of 3,G00, practically as large as the whole northern half of the State, and it registered every one of its votes against the negro; that Franklin and Ross, two other southern counties, together had 3,513 ne- groes and they voted solidly against the negro; that Warren and Brown together, and Clinton and High- land together in the southwestern corner, had larger negro populations than all the eleven counties of 31 Debates, II, 604, 636. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 73 the Western Reserve, in the extreme northeastern cor- ner of the State, and without exception they voted against the colored man ; that exactly the same thing- may be said for Belmont and Muskingum counties in the southeastern part of the State; and finally, taking a general survey, we shall find that wherever the ne- groes are comparatively numerous there the anti-ne- gro votes are recorded. Or, in other words, and this is the point that I have been working up to, the greater the negro population, the greater the white man's prejudice. 33 Having seen the feeling of the convention toward receiving petitions from, and in behalf of, the negroes, and having noted from what portion, and from how large a portion of the State this feeling emanated, one may easily imagine the general way in which the con- vention handled the different proposals pertaining to the status of the colored man. There were three main proposals which brought out, by speeches and by votes, the sentiment of the State as a whole on this great question. They were (1) to enroll the negro in the militia, (2) to give him the right of suffrage, and (3) to permit him to enter the public schools along with the whites. 34 We shall consider these propositions in order, taking up first the provision as to the militia. 3:1 And the same thing is true today, at least for the State of Ohio, and I regard this fact as one of the most important results of this investigation. I shall develop it more fully in the last chapter. I make the statement, not only from a study of the past, but from a thorough investigation of the subject at the present time. The prejudice is found to be the greatest wherever the negroes have settled in large numbers. The best explanation that I have been able to find for this fact is this: the greater the number of colored people, the greater is the likelihood that there will be some of them who will do things that will arouse the white man's anger. The white man instead of visiting his wrath upon the individual who arouses it, as he would do if the culprit were a white man, nurses a part of it against the whole negro race. His white brother sym- pathizes with him, and the negro race bears the blame. "Map No. 5 will picture the votes on these three propositions by counties. WlLL/fiMS JPEFfAHtZ v>t MAP H~ O H I 0- fS"50 N£CR0 POPULATION TOTAL 25T27? . n f .r UMJ. ::*$*: MtM}. -SSb : cCa-rke\ 7^ 2?/ 3 •.-iv.-lv.i4.- fRHHKUtf- ■-}%T_" Li.citi.iuL. Z rcr COSHOCTON ruse -zz£3£r. z WA EAiKFjub |AKILT0f£a-.,.o \mgmkmp\ KoxvN SWt x?q ■/£&■ WZRrsTfWELMOHr] * V^-<"F.T -jfac^/-/yJ 9* MORGAN G1 MONROE r.3S$ - : tTAOKftT 72//- , Scioto— *=*: 5* mm w 0-1 DO MAP 5- VOTES OF COU. C ON. OF IZ50-'5I ONNLCRO. THRIE M0TIOW5. FiCVRlS SHOW VOTES OF PE L EC ATfS. THOSE IN CIRCLES UNFAVORABLE TO NEGRO; THOSE UNDE SCORED FAVORABLE. ($11, ^R CORhtR NEVtM h H/iUlhM* DEFIWCJE PAULD Ytiti fAiUCEP. Wo op ALLEN / SANDttfKr i <®± HP.KPIH *SHU0y LOGAN HUROtt /P-3 ^eupWfrri* UNION MA.RIOV omn DELAWAKk LICKIV& MORGAN WASHINdTi HTML. MOTIONS 6ALLIA) 1/°/. TO edlclupe hecro -doss/ PR0M M»t/T/A.-/\y£5 63 y /VA/2i, /^?-y%TO DB.NY h\lA SUFFRAGE- @)y3. Td tXCLUVE. him r « 0M VMH/Tf SCHOOLS- Amumsit" 7 6 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO The committee on the State militia presented as the first section of its report "That all white male in- habitants shall be enrolled in the militia." 35 Mr. Townsend, the champion of negro rights, moved to strike out the word 'white.' Ordinarily, this sort of motion would have precipitated almost unending dis- cussions, but, for some unknown reason, the question was not argued at all, unless we consider the following as argument : — "Mr. would not object to the per- formance of military duty by the colored people of the State, nor that they should be mustered and drilled. He would suggest, however, that the musters be con- trived to take place in cold weather. The reason was obvious." 30 This hint and its setting plainly tell us that the negro was 'persona non grata' to the white men, who went into the militia generally for social purposes. When the motion to strike out the word 'white' was put, it was lost by a vote of 22 to 62. 3T Pre- viously, the negro had been debarred from the militia by legislative statute, 38 but now his enemies advance one step further and incorporate the disability in the fundamental law of the State, which the convention of 1802 did not do. We have noticed already the struggle over re- ceiving into the convention the negro petitions, but tli is was not comparable with that waged over the pro- posal to give the negro the ballot. The committee on the elective franchise brought in their report December 4. The clause which they had drafted conferred the privilege of voting only on 'white male citizens.' It was moved immediately by .Mr. Woodbury of Ashtabula county to strike out the word 'white,' for the reason that negroes were made amenable to the laws, and it was no more than right ''Debates, II, 346. 3 ° Debates, I, 452. 37 Debates, II, 350, Dec. 30. 38 Laws of Ohio, 2. (Passed Dec. 30, 1803.) CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 77 that they should help make them. 39 The matter was not discussed further at this time but, about two months later, it was again brought up and Mr. Townsend, who was a member of the committee on the electoral priv- ilege, stated that he was strongly opposed to the pres- ence of the word 'white,' and sustained his objection on the ground that such limitation was unjust, anti- democratic, impolitic and ambiguous."' The speaker made the mistake of demanding the franchise for the negro as a right, instead of asking for it as a privilege. He claimed that in this denial of the right lay great in- justice. He said it was anti-democratic, because it did not conform to any definition of democracy that he had ever heard of: among others to that of Jefferson, who said that democracy consisted in doing "equal and exact justice to all men." It was impolitic, as the ne- gro needed the ballot as an inducement to strive to make something of himself and "if, on the other hand, we make it impossible for any class to rise, if we con- sign them to ignorance and want and degradation, we ought to consider ourselves responsible for whatever invasion of our rights may be the consequence. Expe- rience has taught us that ignorance is one of the most fruitful sources of crime, and it has therefore been found to be good policy to secure the education of the whole people of this State as a means of preventing crime. But, besides giving them education, we must give them the full benefit of the powerful stimulus of hope and ambition. We must give them the ballot on the grounds of expediency. "I object to the word 'white' being inserted in this clause, because it is ambiguous. Some persons regard- ed as negroes by others are whiter than many persons absolutely known to be of pure Caucasian blood "Humanity does not consist in the color of the hair, or eyes, or skin, or where a person may have been 39 Debates, II, 8. ta Debates, II, 550. 78 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO born, or what his origin or capacity — these peculiari- ties may be changed indefinitely, but a man is a man for all that. "One word more. It has been said of colored per- sons repeatedly, 'This is not their country.' The Cau- casian is not the aboriginal race here any more than the negro. Their right here has the same foundation as our own and is based on the fact that every human being has a right to the pursuit of his happiness and to the enjoyment of all his God-given rights wherever he pleases, and no government, here or elsewhere, has a right to say who shall or shall not live in any part of the wide world. There is but one particular in which we have a better right than they — that is 'the right of the strongest,' a right always recognized, I believe, among robbers but not usually urged among honest men. " I have quoted at some length from this speech as it embraces every argument advanced in favor of giving the negroes suffrage. The argument for en- franchisement on the ground that the term 'white 1 was ambiguous, was emphasized by several speakers. They said that there were many among the colored people of Ohio who were by race and descent negroes, but who in complexion were as fair as their white neighbors, and that judges of elections had often had great dif- ficulty in deciding whether the applicant was actually a white man, and thus a legal voter. Through their representative, Mr. Hunter, twenty citizens of Ashta- bula county sent a petition to the convention, asking that some uniform method might be determined upon to assist these judges. Mr. Hunter said, "The only object of the petition was to protest against the ridicu- lousness of such a variable, uncertain and whimsical method ;is was now in use for determining the qualifi- cations necessary to secure the elective franchise."" 41 Debates, II, 551-552. "Debates, II, 614. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-185 1 79 The arguments of the other side will be found in the following quotations: Mr. Brown, of Athens county, in the southeastern pari of the State, said, "The negroes arc considered a degraded race among us, for what reason it is not my purpose to inquire; the opinion obtains however, and we cannot by force of public authority bring them on an equality with the white race. Until there is an en- tire social revolution in the intercourse between the two races, — until the time shall come when the black man can go to your house as a suitor for your daugh- ter, and ask and obtain her in marriage, and until yon can welcome the issue of that marriage, and receive with pride your little grandson, 'William Cuffy,' or some such name that would follow, and when a man can introduce them to his friends, and they will be re- ceived into the society of the white race,— until then the two races are separate and distinct. When this revolution has taken place in the intercourse between the negro and us, then will he the proper time to give them the right of suffrage. To give it now would re- sult in serious inconveniences. It would degrade la- bor." 43 Mr. Kennon, of Belmont county, in the south- eastern part of the State, informed the convention that his constituency was "decidely opposed to the ex- tension of the right' of suffrage to colored persons," and he agreed with them. Mr. Sawyer of Auglaize county, said that "he would say here in the presence of God and of this eon- vent ion thai he believed that the adoption of this idea of giving the negroes the ballot would be the signal for force, for bloodshed, for intestine division and perse- cution such as would put an end to the colored people of Ohio, or drive them beyond the limits of the State." 46 4 » Debates, I, 58. " Debates, I, 459- "Debates, II, 638. 80 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO That this statement, strong as it was, had some truth in it is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Andrews, the leading exponent of the negro suffrage and a del- egate from the Western Reserve region, practically acknowledged it in the following way : "It is said that, if you confer this right upon the colored people, the prejudices against them are so strong in many parts of the State that they could not exercise it. I can hard- ly comprehend such an objection as this, but I am bound to believe, from the declarations of intelligent gentlemen on this floor, that there is something in it. But, sir, the people of Ohio are a law-abiding people and when the blacks are clothed with a constitutional right to vote, I cannot but think it will be respected. There may be some practical difficulties at first, there may be uneasiness and excitement in some places, but if good men stand up, as they always will stand up, for the constitution and the laws, these effects will be transient and be followed by a quiet exercise of the rights." 40 But what seems to have been the coolest and most rational statement of all those who were really against negro suffrage came from Mr. Nash, of Gallia county, on the Ohio river. He said, "I shall vote against strik- ing out this word 'white,' and for the following reas- ons : First, I do not believe it would be in accordance with public opinion. To make this change would be to defeat our constitution, whatever other merits it might contain. Such being public opinion, we cannot disregard it if we would. No practical statesman would disregard the public opinion and send forth a constitution with its death warrant written in it. And secondly, I do not believe that it would benefit the very people designed to be benefitted. Such is the state of public feeling that this right granted would inevitably lend to tin; oppression of the colored popu- lation. The very first election would lead to difficul- M Debates, II, 636. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 81 ties and heart-burnings between the while and colored population and probably to open outrages. It would necessarily inflame the antipathies now existing be- tween the two races. We may say that these antipa- thies are wrong, unchristian; but foul words will not do away with facts; this body must deal with these facts — would be regardless of its duties by assuming to disregard them. The colored people should seek not to mix in politics and involve themselves in the party strifes of the country. Let them quietly pursue the policy of educating themselves and, by intelligence and moral worth, seek to remove prejudices and antip- athies now existing, and existing in strength sufficient to oppress them if they were once roused into passion- ate action." 47 This was the closing speech for the negative, and when, immediately after this, the motion was put to strike out the word "white" from the first section of the committee report giving the ballot to all -'white male citizens," the negative won by the overwhelming vote of 12 to 6G. 48 This vote was taken on Saturday, February 8, 1851. The following Monday, when the convention met, ten members asked the privilege of recording their votes on the motion, and the privilege being given, nine of them voted nay and one aye; 4 " s«> the final vote on giving the ballot to the colored man was 13 ayes and 75 nays. 50 Every one of the votes for the negro came from the small Western Reserve." 1 " Debates, II, 553- "Debates, II, 554- 49 Debates, II, 556, 560. 50 The final vote in the Convention of 1802 on this same question was 14 for, 19 against. 81 One delegate from this region dared to vote against the col- ored man. He was from Geauga county. His constituents waited many years, it would seem, to show forth to the world their dis- approval of his act. By looking at Map No. 6, one may see that six- teen years afterwards, in 1867, when the State took a popular vote on whether they should give the negro the ballot, this same county of Geauga gave the largest pro-negro vote of any county in the whole State, in comparison with the total vote cast. 82 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO Later in the same afternoon session in which the convention gave this back-set to the aspirations of the champions of negro rights, we find Mr. Taylor, of Erie county, Western Reserve, still nursing hope. He made a motion to authorize the State Legislature to "extend the suffrage to inhabitants of the State not hereby qualified as electors," in case it was deemed expedient. This motion also went down before a vote of 68 to 11. Thus the negroes were definitely excluded from any participation in the political life of the State, unless one would except the privilege of being merely counted among those who were to be repre- sented in both houses of the Legislature. The appor- tionment was made to be dependent upon the "whole population." 5 - Formerly, under the constitution of 1802, they had been excluded, the apportionment being based upon the number of "white male inhabi- tants.*'" The only effect of the change upon the negroes was that their destiny was put more fully than ever in the hands of their enemies. We have seen that almost all of the negroes lived in the southern counties of the State, and we have seen that there was the greatest prejudice against them in this section. This section now, through the negroes being counted in the census, secured greater representation in the Legis- lature and therefore greater power over them. The next subject considered by the convention was how far negro education was to be in common with that of the whites. Before considering the action of the convention, it will be helpful to glance at the status of the negroes educationally up to this time. Prior to the year 1848, there had been no legisla- tive provision whatsoever for the education of the negroes. There had been many acts providing for the instruction of the "white youth" only, and one act, ''"Ohio Constitution, 1850-1851, Art. XI, Sec. 1. "Ohio Constitution, 1802, Art. I, Sec. 2. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 83 that of February 10, 1820, in express terms excluded blacks and mulattoes from the public schools. The act of February 24, 1818, provided for the first time in Ohio for the education of colored children as such aud directed the levy of a tax for that purpose upon the property of colored persons alone. Of course this tax yielded almost nothing. This was the faint beginning of public education of the negro. The act was repealed in less than a year after its passage by the Act of February 10, 1819, which, although it was more com- plete and effective in its details, yet appropriated no other funds for the support of the colored schools, save those collected from the property of colored per- sons. 54 This law was in force at the time of the consti- tutional convention. Many petitions, including those on equal rights, which we have previously considered, asked that better provision be made for the education of this class of people. In response to this sentiment, the committee on education reported to the conven- tion the following clause respecting the establishment of public schools: "The General Assembly shall make such provision by taxation or other means — as shall secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools, free to all children in the State.*' Im- mediately on the submitting of the report, Mr. Saw- yer, the most bitter antagonist of all negro rights, moved to insert the word "white"' before "children," thus making the clause provide schools, "free to all while children in the State." The reason given by Mr. Sawyer for his motion was that, aside from social objections, the opening of the public schools to the colored children would have a tendency to encourage negro immigration to the State, and thus Ohio would be burdened with the support of a still greater popula- M Under the working of this law there were hut 22 schools and hut 702 scholars :n the year [853 in the whole State of Ohio.— Report State Commissioners of Common Schools, 1853. 8 4 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO tion of impoverished, if not vicious negroes. 55 The following argument on the other side was made by Mr. Taylor, of the Western Reserve : "The law of self- preservation demands that we give to all within the reach of our laws a good moral and intellectual train- ing, or they will become the pest of society, being compelled to grow up in vice and ignorance. Shall we then by the adoption of this motion constitute a class who will become the inmates of our poor-houses and the tenants of our jails? No. But I am told that the negro belongs to a degraded and inferior race; so much the more reason for their education and im- provement." 56 While long speeches pro and con were made on this motion, strange to say, the vote thereon is not recorded in the minutes. It is probable that the motion was put and carried, judging from the words of a later speaker, Mr. Bates, who said, "I must ex- press my regret and astonishment at the vote given a few minutes since, by which the word 'white' was inserted in the third section." 57 But it all came to naught, for soon after the convention decided to omit all of the clause after the word "schools," 57 and thus the settlement of details was left to the Legislature. The report of the committee on education had been accompanied by a minority report. The con- vention now proceeded to discuss this report, which, while favoring all that was contained in the majority report, added a proviso to the effect that "black and mulatto youth should not attend the schools for white youth unless by common consent." 57 This left the settlement of the question to the separate districts. A motion was now made and car- ried to recommit the whole subject to the committee with certain instructions. 53 Debates, II, II. " Debates, II, u. 67 Debates, II, iS. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1850-1851 85 But among a confused mass of motions made about this time, we find one interesting one that gives us a good idea as to how the convention ;in7, ON GIVING SUFFRAGE TO NEGRO. 32 COUNTIES VOTt VE S..56 MP.- P O P ULAR MAJORITY AGAINST y^l/l gg IB T\^3g353, few "»** ^T Trf HOWS Wr PLAIN M*JonifjB$ FAVOK N£ .m:::\ -KNjOX. WJtj 1$ =3,76% A^3I?? fRUM-BI/U COLUMBIAN* CosHDcrcn 3? 5& MNTMMUy JWLZR-': MUM. r*J2| H\ol ice courts and prisons hurts their cause greatly. According to the report of the Chief of Police of Cin- cinnati for the year 1905, there were 12,138 white peo- ple arrested and 3,107 colored. According to the cen- sus of 1900 there were 325,000 people in the city and 14,482 were colored. By a little comparison of these CINCINNATI I33 figures we see that in proportion to their respective populations there were five colored people arrested to one white. If the white people had committed as many criminal offenses as the colored, the police would have made the enormous number of 68,345 arrests that one year. In 190G there were 11,284 arrests of white peo- ple and 2,658 of colored. There were remaining in the House of Refuge, the city prison for young people, on December 31, 1907, 238 white children and 95 color- ed. 7 From the annual report of the Cincinnati work- house for 1907 we learn that there were 2,414 white prisoners and 949 colored. About the same propor- tion has obtained for several years past. From ;i study of these figures one must conclude that in re- cent years, and in this one city, at least, the criminal- ity of the negroes has been fully five times as great as that of the whites. Report of Chief of Police for 1906. 7 Annual Report of House of Refuge for 1907. CHAPTER II. DAYTON. Dayton is a city of approximately 100,000 people and lies about sixty miles north of Cincinnati. It contains in round numbers 5,000 colored people. A colored man by the name of Thomas M. Jones told me of the following incident in which he had but lately figured: Seeing in the window of a well known clothing store, a pair of trousers that he want- ed, he went in to buy them. The clerk first told him that he couldn't afford them, naming a high price. The colored man produced the money, and then the clerk said the trousers would not fit him. When the colored man said that he was willing to run the risk of their fitting, and that he would not ask even for the privilege of trying them on, the clerk directly told him that he could not sell him under any consideration, as it was an absolute rule of the house to sell nothing to negroes. In all of my investigations of conditions through- out Ohio, I had found nothing quite so radical as this, so I determined to verify it beyond a doubt- I went to the store, and from one of the men connected with it got the following statements : "We do not sell to col- ored people at all and have not done so since we began business three years ago. We have freely advertised the fact and find it good business policy to do so. You know yourself that you wouldn't want to try on a suit after a dirty nigger had tried it on, any more than you would want to get into a barber's chair after a nigger had just been shaved in it, We haven't anything ; i gainst the colored people and in fact employ one of them as janitor, but business is business." This store, with this policy as one of its most ad- vertised features, has prospered, until today it is about the leading clothing store of the city. And this DAYTON I35 is not the only store that is concerned with the color of its customers. There is a ladies' cloak store that draws the line sharply at colored folk. A few years ago the city entertained, or rather the colored people held, a large convention, and there were hun- dreds of colored delegates present from many States. One of these, a woman, tried to buy a cloak in the above mentioned establishment and was refused. She wrote a long letter inprotest, which was published in The Dayton Journal. It received scant notice, except from the colored people themselves. As another instance of what is constantly oc- curring, a colored man went into a drug-store to buy a drink at the soda fountain and was told that he would be served only on condition that he would go out on the side-walk to drink it. The narrator of this incident remarked that this was his introduction to the "equal rights" of the North.. The event occurred soon after his arrival from the South, where he had heard much sentiment about the land "where the nigga is sure enough a man." After his introduction to the realities of the way the Ohio white man feels towards his dark-skinned brother, he gets acquainted rapidly. A white man had bought a bottle of beer at a saloon and later sent the bottle back by this colored man for redemption. The saloon-keeper refused to receive it from his hands- At another time in the same saloon he tried to buy a loaf of bread, but was refused. He went into another saloon and asked for a glass of beer; no one heard him; he asked again; every one in the place looked at him, but said nothing. Finally he had to get up and walk out, "feeling like a whipped dog," as he expressed it. At another time he went to a soda-fountain and asked for a drink. They "did not have any" was the answer, all hough a white man was sitting at the counter drinking. Again he and another colored man went into a small res- taurant on the west side of Dayton and ordered a 136 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO lunch, including berry pie. The woman who owned the place got the lunch and started to do it up in pa- per—the dripping pie and all. They told her that they wanted to eat it there. The woman resentfully told them she did not serve colored people in her restau- rant, They then got up and started out without the lunch. The woman called her husband and both tried to compel the negroes to pay for the lunch, on the plea that they had ordered it and knew that they could not expect to eat it in a white restaurant. Events similar to the above are commonplace in the lives of negroes of Dayton and are the portion of all classes of them. The colored man who went through these particular experiences was a hardwork- ing man, who wanted to do right and to be well thought of, as his employer informed me; yet, as he said, if he wanted anything to eat or drink, he had to go to some low-down place for it, or go without it. Hotels, restaurants, soda-fountain establish- ments, saloons and all places of this nature are closed to the negro, in spite of the fact that the State law forbids this distinction. The woman managing the dining-room in the Johnston department store, for example, told me that she had had but one colored woman come in to be served- Immediately upon her entrance, there was an uproar among the white waitresses and the customers. The manager stepped up and told her that she could not serve her. The woman thereupon left and no more was ever heard from her. In all kinds of stores of the better grade negroes are treated in such a way as plainly to show them that their custom is not wanted. Even when a negro goes to market to buy, he does not get his turn, but has to wait till all white customers are waited on. When he goes to the theater, he can as in Cincinnati buy a sent only in certain sections of the house, generally in the gallery, or "nigger heaven," as it is sometimes DAYTON i 37 called. When be happens to go into one of the white churches his treatment is against all teachings of the Christian religion. It is almost impossible for him to rent or to buy a house in a desirable section of the city. He must go to the west side where the negroes are colonized. Recently a colored man succeeded in buying a home in one of the white wards. He woke up a few morn- ings later to find a note on his door, warning him to leave within five days. He appealed to the authori- ties for protection and, as he was a colored man of un- usual character, the protection was granted, and he held his home. Let us now look at the "bread and butter'' prob- lems of the colored man's life in this city of Dayton, with its 5,000 negro population. The labor unions do not admit him to membership, except in very rare instances, and this fact cuts him off from engaging in the more profitable occupations. In 1886 the brick- layers' union in Dayton struck, demanding higher wages. There were many colored brick-layers in the city at that time, and the union, fearing that they would step into the breach and do the work, invited them to join. They accepted the invitation, and the strike was won in consequence. But when the em- ployers called the union back to work, they would not employ the colored members, on the ground that they had deserted the employers in the strike. The colored people asked the union to stand back of them in de- manding work- This the union refused to do, saying that they could not afford another strike. The colored men were thus forced out of the union. At the National Cash Register Company's plant, nl tout the year 1896, two negroes were taken into the truckers' union. Soon afterward they were discharged by the company for no good reason, but the union did not stand out for their reinstatement, as they would have done had they been white men. As a result of 1 38 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO these two incidents, the negroes and the labor unions have parted company, and the colored men are cut out of all skilled trades. In the factories, they get noth- ing to do, except the most menial work and the janitor- ships. Even the janitor's jobs were taken away from 300 of them recently by the National Cash Rigister Company. Various reasons were given for the whole- sale discharge. The main reason advanced by the company was that they desired to have American farm boys start in at the bottom and work up. Negroes could not do this, because the white employees would not work beside them in any higher capacity than jan- itor. As the negroes themselves saw it, the white people, from the president on down to the low- est employee, did not want to have them near, even in the capacity of janitor, and hence they were discharg- ed. No colored person is employed to teach in the public schools. There is one colored policeman, and by accident one colored man got into the fire depart- ment recently. The Democratic mayor having died, a Republican, who was president of the city council, became the acting mayor. As a solace to the long-suf- fering negroes who had voted the Republican ticket so long without any spoils, he put one of their number into the fire department. Immediately there was re- bellion, as no fireman would work beside him. The matter was finally settled by making the negro the driver of the chiefs buggy. As colored men almost never appear as clerks or stenographers, and as they are excluded by the labor unions from building trades, it is plain that they must get their living from doing odd jobs, from performing work that their white brothers feel themselves above, or they must get it from that one other source — steal- ing. What little work they do got, they must do at less pay than that given white men for the same work; and ye I when they go to buy tilings at the white men's DAYTON 139 grocery, they have to pay as much as, and in not a few cases more than, the white laborers. One conclusion must be drawn from all this infor- mation, and that is that the negroes in this city are surrounded by strong prejudice. I talked with many old negroes who had been in the town since the Civil War, and it was the universal opinion of these men that the prejudice has been growing stronger every year. For a few years after the war, they could go into a hotel or into any public place and buy what they had the money to pay for ; but for a long time now that has been denied them. During the last five to ten years, the growth of the feeling against them has been amaz- ing, as the white people themselves admit. The opinion of the negroes as to the cause for this increase of prejudice, was one that I had not heard in any other city, and yet in this city, it was proclaimed by practically all the colored people, especially by the older generation- It was this: The "old-line white families," meaning the cultured families of long stand- ing, were rapidly dying out, and in their place were rising the newly-rich and uncultured families who were ready to take advantage of all artificial props to uphold their importance. To the negroes they could show no mercy. As the white people of Dayton viewed the matter, the cause of the prejudice was very different. They said that the old-fashioned negroes who "knew their place" were all gone and that the new generation was impudent and vicious. Especially was this true of the negroes just arrived from the South. The white people claimed that instead of an improvement being noticeable in the negro he was actually getting worse in every way. From these two explanations of the cause of race prejudice in this city, it can be easily seen how wide apart the viewpoints of the two races are. This description of Dayton may well close by giving i 4 o THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO the comments of two aged colored men on the question of the improvement of the colored race. One of these men had worked for Jefferson Davis in Richmond dur- ing the war. When I told him that the white people of Dayton thought his race had not improved since the war, he answered with this homely illustration : "Then it is the white people's fault. The negro is like an oys- ter : if you keep knocking it or showing bad feeling to- ward it, it will remain closed, but throw some salt and corn meal to it and leave it alone and then it will come out." The other colored man who expressed himself on the question of race progress was the janitor of the Dayton postoffice. He said, "The white people fail to remember that the negro is laboring under an obstacle that the white race never had to encounter. He is sur- rounded on all sides by a race much more numerous, by a race which has the wealth of the land in its grasp, but ten times worst of all, by a race that in its actions every day proclaims to him that it regards him as one white man expressed it: 'This is the way I class the nigger among the races — (1) the white man, (2) the Mongolian, (3) the Japanese, (4) the Chinaman, (5) the dog, and (6) and last, the nigger.' " CHAPTER III. SPRINGFIELD. Springfield is a city of 40,000 people, located about twenty miles from Dayton- Its treatment of the negroes is practically the same even in details as that in Dayton; the only difference, if any, being that the feeling is more intense against them in Springfield. Here they are denied entertainment in the hotels, forbidden to eat in the white man's restaurant, refused service at the white man's soda fountain and saloon, barred from the amusement houses. The negroes' manner of making a living is the same as that found in Dayton. It is a bare bread and butter existence obtained from odd jobs and hard, dis- agreeable labor. Here again they are denied admis- sion to the carpenters' union, the cigar makers' union, the printers' union, the molders' union, and in fact, all unions except the bricklayers'. This last named union admits a few of them. The secretary of the association of labor unions of this city told me that the prejudice against them in the unions was due to natural repug- nance, and also to the fact that they had engaged as strike-breakers. He also informed me that there was no law in any labor union constitution against then- admission, but that it was left to the local organiza- tion to admit whom it pleased. Springfield has the reputation of cherishing the most bitter hate of the negro which is to be found among t he cities of the North. This reputation is due to two race riots (1904 and 1900 ). 1 In the first of these riots a negro was hanged upon a telephone pole and shot to pieces, after which the negro section of the city was set on fire. In the second riot, the lives of the two negro criminals wanted by the mob were saved by 1 Described in a preceding chapter. 142 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO their being hurried out of the city by the police. The mob then turned its hatred against the negro section of the city, and for the second time reduced a part of it to ashes. The causes, and especially the results, of these riots constitute the main item of interest that Springfield offers in this study of race prejudice in Ohio. One of the main causes given by the white people of the city was the impudence and insolence of the ne- groes for some time before the riots. This was man- ifested in such ways as bumping against white people on the streets and crowding in on them in street-cars. Another cause of the ill-feeling against them, and, at the same time, a cause of their insolence, lay in the fact that the colored voters held the balance of power in city politics, which caused the police judge to favor them in all possible ways. The number of insolent ne- groes had been increased very much a few years before by immigration from North and South Carolina. These negroes are coming into all parts of Ohio in large numbers, and their coming is welcome neither to the whites nor to the old negroes who have lived long enough in the State to learn "their place." These native negroes know full well that, as things stand, the whole race must suffer for the wrongs of the few, that the white man as a rule sees no difference between the worst negro and all negroes. When one of these South Carolina negroes killed a white man, the whites were not satisfied with his individual punishment, but the Avhole negro population had to be burnt out of house and home. So Springfield suffered a riot requir- ing the presence of State troops for several days. Now, what are the present-day conditions in this city, what are the results of these riots upon the feel- ings of the people? The one answer that I got to this question from all classes of people was that the feeling was like a smouldering volcano, ready to explode at the leasl shock. They did not know whether it was grow- SPRINGFIELD I43 ing or not; they rather thought it had reached its full height. Ever since the last riot in 190G, it has seemed but an armed truce between the two races, and this is more literally true than most people will want to believe. In the summer of 1907, it almost broke out again. One negro shot another one and started to run through one of the business streets. Someone cried out that he had shot a white woman, and immediately the whites gave chase. They caught him, and were beat- ing him to death when the police rescued him, telling the mob that he had only shot another negro. Thus close did Springfield come to her third race riot in three years' time, and each day now she lives in dread of what may happen within the space of twenty-four hours. I said above that there was practically an armed truce between the two races. From absolutely relia- ble sources, from the editor of one of Springfield's largest daily papers, from negroes themselves, I have information that a secret organization was formed among the colored people soon after the riot of 190G, and the objects of the members of this organization were to procure firearms, to drill themselves in the use of them and to prepare themselves in every possible way for self defense in the next riot. Bombs were secured, and many colored homes were converted into small arsenals. Colored men and colored women have gone on the outskirts of the city and practiced shoot- ing. These facts have not been published in the city papers. The editor told me that these items have been suppressed by all the papers in the city, as they would only incite both factions on to conflict. Let me give the words of a hot-blooded white ex- press agent and a hot-blooded negro that I found fish- ing by the river-side, both of whom talked as if they were waiting and almost anxious for the fray. The white man said, "The race feeling now? Just like a i 4 4 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO volcano ready to break out and, when it does, look out for something awful. There will be a big row of dead niggers and probably whites too. Everyone in town, white and black, has at least one gun." The following were the words of the colored man : "The feeling is much worse here since the riots. The colored people's houses are small arsenals, and every man has at least one good gun. They have been prac- ticing shooting too, and even the colored women can shoot well. If another riot starts, there will be such trouble as will make this old town shake." CHAPTER IV. COLUMBUS. Columbus, the capital of Ohio, 1ms a feeling to- ward the negroes all its own. In all my travels in the State, I found nothing just like it. It is not so much a rabid feeling of prejudice against the negroes simply because their skin is black as it is a bitter hatred for them because they are what they are in character and habits- The negroes are almost completely outside the pale of the white people's sympathy in this city, but the latter justify themselves, and in fact many of the better class of negroes agree with them, on the ground that so many of the negroes are proving themselves by their attitude and conduct unworthy of the respect of decent people. This condition of affairs has been grow- ing by leaps and bounds during the last five or ten years. Most of the colored people say that it is since the coming of a large number of disreputable Southern negroes that affairs have grown worse. The white people seem to think that the late comers are prone to assert "their rights" a little too freely- Whatever the cause may be, this much is evident,— the feeling against the negroes is bitter in the extreme. Let me quote from the assistant adjutant-general of Ohio : "The anti-negro feeling here in Columbus is at white heat. We are expecting an outbreak any day and are getting everything in readiness for it, so far as the military is concerned. Probably you noticed that a new Gatling gun has been placed in the rotunda of the capitol building." How does this anti-negro feeling assert itself? In much the same manner as has been described al- ready in speaking of Cincinnati, Dayton, and Spring- field. However, there are a few especially interesting conditions that I must present. I have already shown that hotels almost without exception refuse to enter- 146 THE COLOR UNE IN OHIO tain colored people, and the Columbus hotels are no exception. The leading hotel of the city, The Chitten- den, comes as near to being an exception, as the follow- ing words from its manager will indicate: "No; we do not entertain negroes. Our white guests would not permit it for a moment. There have been a few in- stances in which white guests, especially from the South, have brought their colored nurses with them. These colored women we have put in a back room and we have served their meals to them there. We charg- ed the white guests heavily for them, as after their de- parture we always thoroughly renovated the rooms, taking up carpets, washing all the bed-clothes, airing and often destroying the mattresses." The assistant manager of the Great Southern Ho- tel told me that they did practically the same as in the case of the Chittenden. The "Busy Bee" restaurants, of which there are several in the city, owned by one man, will serve negroes under protest at a back table and at raised prices. No more easy is it for the ne- groes to get a drink than it is to get food. None of the first-class soda-fountains will serve them, and in sa- loons, if they insist on service, it is given them at double price, after which the glass contaminated by their touch is sometimes broken in pieces at their feet. Recently a bartender, caught by his proprietor serving a drink to his colored barber, was told that a repeti- tion of the offense would cost him his position. To show that all classes of whites are banded to- gether against the negroes, it will suffice to say that the Young Women's Christian Association does not admit colored women to any of its advantages, nor does the Young Ladies' Educational and Industrial Institute, a philanthropic organization located on Fourth street. From this account, it is hard to imagine the ne- groes in a worse condition socially, but they are no better off industrially. The whites employ the ne- COLUMBUS I47 groes only when they have to do it, when they them- selves will suffer if they do not do it. To show that I am generalizing only from specific facts, I shall state a feAv conditions that exist in Columbus today. The street railway company, employing hundreds of men and taking in thousands of dollars every year from negroes in the way of fares, employs not one ne- gro, even as janitor or ditch digger. Not a factory of any consequence in the city employs a negro in any skilled work. This work of course goes to the unions, and we have already seen how the unions in Ohio have no use for the colored men. In Columbus negroes may be found in a union now and then, but they themselves say that in such cases the whites took them in only that they might the more effectually defeat their ef- forts. Some few of the negroes have refused invita- tions to join. Such was the case of a colored musical organization a few years ago. This organization was giving exceptional music, and was receiving many calls for service. The white musicians' union asked the colored musicians to join them, after first trying in every other way to kill their organization. The invi- tation was not accepted. Five years ago a colored man came to Columbus from Virginia. He was a member of the National Bricklayers' Union, and had his card stating that he was in good standing. The local union paid his wages for five weeks and let him walk about the streets in idleness, rather than have him work by their side Recently a white man employed upon a new building both white and colored bricklayers of the same union. First one white man and then another pretended sick- ness and quit work, leaving finally but the few colored men working- The builder then had to discharge I lie negroes before he could hire enough while men to com- plete the work. What then is left to the colored man in the way of employment? He can labor ;ii unskilled work in 1 48 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO the steel plants and foundries. He can work in fer- tilizer factories with their loathsome odor. He can clean sewers and work on the streets. The "profes- sion" of janitor is still his, but the one other "profes- sion" of the colored race, that of waiter, is gradually slipping from his grasp. The "Busy Bee" restaurants have displaced the negroes with white girls, much to the satisfaction of the customers, so the manager in- formed me. The Neil House manager told me that he would be only too glad to displace his fifty colored waiters with white ones if he could get them. Other managers expressed themselves against the negro waiter. The popularity of the colored barber is also on the wane, according to the report of several negroes, for a long time engaged in this work. One of them told me of the following incident that occurred in his shop just a few days before his talk with me. A white man came and pulled his coat off, ready to have some work done, when, looking around, he noticed that all the barbers were colored. A look of surprise and disappointment came over his face. He put his coat on again and walked out without saying a word. The industrial position of the negroes in this city could hardly be worse. They get but little work to do, and then often they have to accept lower wages than white men would receive for the same work. More- over, they are without incentive to strong effort, since they know that they cannot rise by meritorious work. As one of them said to me, "Here's the situation. You and I could go to some big establishment and get jobs scrubbing floors. You would be able to advance to- ward the presidency of the institution as fast as you showed yourself deserving in the eyes of your employ- er. I could go on working at my job, and twenty-five years later, you would find me slill a janitor. Both of us realizing this situation when Ave began our COLUMBUS 149 work, which one would naturally show the more am- bition and render the better service?" What becomes of the little money that the negroes do manage to get into their hands? I have already stated that they have to pay as much as, or more than, the white men for their groceries. Scarcely any of them own their own homes- They cannot buy or rent in any good portion of the city. They are crowded off by themselves in miserable tenements owned by white men and built with total disregard for sanitary condi- tions, but let at high rentals. So far I have given the side of the case that en- gages sympathy for the negro. Now let us view the case from the white man's point of view, showing the causes of his attitude toward, and treatment of, the negroes. I have just before stated that it is not a blind prej- udice that seems to actuate the white people of Colum- bus in their treatment of the negroes, but a bitter hat- red of the negroes because of their character and hab- its. They say that the negroes are not only shiftless and careless about their persons, but that they cannot be trusted; and, furthermore, that they are constant ly doing things to antagonize and affront the white peo- ple. These accusations, if true, are serious. Let us examine them at some length. The manager of the large Chittenden Hotel, employing almost a hundred negroes, says that they are altogether shiftless. The colored waiters of their own accord will not keep their napkins clean nor even their own persons. They re- quire constant watching. The manager of the Neil House, another large hotel employing fifty negroes, had exactly the same complaint against them- The "Busy Bee" restaurants, employing almost two hun- dred people, have lately dispensed with all colored help chiefly on this ground. The Columbus Street Railway Company employ- ed hundreds of them up to a few years ago. They I5 o THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO were unreliable, would work one day, get intoxicated the next, and then come back to work for a day or so again. The company in disgust finally said that they would not employ another negro, and they have stood by their decision to this day. A man with some color- ed blood in his veins runs a large grocery store on High street and employs more than a dozen clerks. Until a few years ago he employed colored clerks. He dis- charged them, he told me, because he could not de- pend on them, and since that time has employed white clerks. A colored photographer, a man far above the av- erage of his race, said that there was no question but that the ordinary negroes in Columbus merit the ill opinion of all decent people for the manner in which they live. They are generally to be found living in miserable hoveis, or in big "rat-and-fire-trap tene- ments," where every Sunday, especially, they get intox. icated, hold dog, cat, and chicken fights, play the ban- jo, dance cake-walks, and in other ways make the day hideous for their neighbors. They live like hogs, and are often called "the one-day livers." Their ambition is to make enough money to get intoxicated Saturday night and to feast and carouse all day Sunday. My informant said that, while this is true for the average negroes of the city, it applies especially to the new ne- groes that have lately come up from the South. A dozen colored women of the better class went to these negroes a short time ago and tried to do a little mis- sionary work among them. They were received with insults on all sides, and were called "the white folks' niggers." A pastor of the leading colored church of the city and one of the best known colored preachers of Ohio, confirmed the above statements, and told mo in addition that matters were even worse; Hint these negroes wore going about the streets dirty and half- clothed, willi but an undergarment for a shirt, and thai often open in front. They were used to doing this COLUMBUS 151 in the South, and they never thought of being tidy, and did not realize that they were making themselves and their race offensive to the white people. He said that he, and other ministers, had of late appealed to them to better these conditions. Closely associated with the idea that they are shiftless is the idea that they are too prone to steal. Even the negroes themselves at times acknowledged this weakness. A colored janitor declared as the main reason why his people did not more often patronize their own colored lawyers, that they could not trust them. The managers of the large hotels, where they are employed, say that almost without exception the negroes will steal, whenever they get the chance, and that they are very cunning in the way they do it. Some of the hotels have a regular system of espionage, and every negro as he leaves between watches is examined to see that he has no packages about him. The man- ager of the Neil House told me of the following inci- dent that recently occurred. He had a negro employ- ed to polish the brass fixtures in the bar-room. He was an adept at it, and the manager praised him. Soon he got to coming early in the morning before the bar- tender was up, giving as his excuse that he could work so much better before people got around. Soon news came to the manager that this colored man was giving fancy wine suppers. He started an investiga- tion, which revealed that for some time the negro had been carrying away the best of his wines in a specially constructed bottle made very flat in order to lie close to his person, and thus be unnoticed by the watcher at the door. This incident, the manager told me, was but one of many. In the winter of lOOS-'OO, there were seventeen purses snatched from white ladies, and every one of them by colored men. There were also many daylight robberies committed by negroes. A man of importance in the public schools of the city told me that it was !52 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO the most natural thing in the world for them to steal, and that they did not seem to realize that they were doing wrong. His explanation for this condition is interesting. He said it was bred in their bones. In slavery days, if they were well treated, they could go to the chicken-roost and get chickens for their cabin dinners without a word being said against it; while, if they had a bad master, they felt compelled to steal in order to live. In neither case then did they consider it a crime to steal, and today as a result, they consider it no crime to steal, either from their friend or from their enemy- One other great complaint made by the white people against the negroes, aside from their shiftless- ness and stealing, was that they had a strong desire to antagonize the whites in all possible ways, especially in public places. Their actions on street cars were condemned by all whites, and by the better class of blacks. When a negro boards the street-car he pro- ceeds to get a seat whether there is one vacant or not. The following incident told by the colored photogra- pher already referred to will illustrate this matter quite fully. He was on a street-car one evening when a negro, fresh from his work in the steel mill, with his filthy working clothes on, boarded the car and, al- though there was no room, crowded into a seat by the side of a white woman, elegantly dressed. When the colored photographer remonstrated with him for his action, he turned and said, "I'm no d — d white man's nigger like you. I have a right here, and I am going to take it." The conductor came along and put him off the car, the colored photographer giving the conduct- or his name as a witness if needed. The janitor of the Chamber of Commerce build- ing, himself a negro, recently got off a street-car in very sluime of his race, because a crowd of North Car- olina negroes were acting in such a disgraceful man- COLUMBUS 153 ner. He said that he had to wait almost a half-hour for another car, but he was willing to do it, rather than be classed with such people. While the white people of Columbus are inclined to blame the whole race for such actions, I know from 111 v conversation with the better-class negroes that they are far from sympathizing with such conduct. Many of them desire pleasant relations with the white peo- ple, and are against doing anything to antagonize them. The following will illustrate the views of the bet- ter class of negroes in this matter of antagonizing the white people. The colored groceryman, of whom I have previously spoken, has always employed a white girl as book-keeper- He lives in the same section of the city that she lives in, and they have to ride to and from home on the same street-car line. In all the years that he has employed her, he has never appeared on the street by her side, nor has he recognized her on the stieet-car. Living on the same street, they would nor- mally get off at the same corner, but, whenever he hap- pens to find her on the same street-car with himself, he manages to have business at the street just before or beyond where she gets off. His reason for acting in this way is that it would cause talk and injure both of them if they were seen together. He believes that the colored man ought to be careful to do nothing that antagonizes the white race, and, in his opinion, nothing is more repulsive to the white man, than the idea of amalgamation of the races. Many others of the better class of negroes expressed themselves to the sime effect. CHAPTER V. CLEVELAND. I have thought of heading this. chapter "The ne- gro's Paradise," 1 owing to the fact that it pictures a condition in such contrast to the situation in Ohio at large. In Cleveland, the largest city of Ohio, accord- ing to the census of 1900, the negro has almost com- plete economic equality with the white man. By this I mean that he is permitted to earn his living by work- ing in that calling for which he is equipped, and for which he has a liking, just as is the white man. As a result we find him doing well in many occupations. A colored man by the name of George D. Jones has recently invented a trolley-wheel that is said to be one of the best on the market. He has patented it, interested a few of his colored friends in it and is now engaged in its manufacture on a considerable scale. Several white capitalists have tried to purchase an in- terest in the business and conduct it on a larger scale, but they have not been successful. The negro has faith in himself to carry on what he has so well begun. A colored man is the manager of a large manufac- tory employing about one hundred white men and one hundred blacks. The Leonard Sofa Bed Company is a good-sized factory, owned exclusively by colored peo- ple, and colored people only are employed by it. The superintendent of construction of the im- mense Hippodrome building in which the National Educational Association held its meetings in 1908 was a colored man, and one of unusual ability. Cleveland has honored several colored men with high political offices. A few years ago she sent a col- ored man by the name of Green to the State Senate as her representative. Mr. Green now occupies a govern- 1 This description was published in The Independent, New York. March 7, 1912. CLEVELAND 155 ment position in the postal service, and he is a lawyer by profession. Two other colored men have been sent as Cleveland's representatives to the lower house of the State Legislature, and these were sent at the same time. One negro has been a city justice of the peace for many years. Besides those engaged in manufacturing pursuits and political work, we find a good number in the pro- fessions, and many of these doing well. There are sev- eral lawyers, one of whom is an author of considera- ble note, having written several novels and some more serious works. He has a large practice, which is not confined by any means to his own race. He is honored and esteemed by many of the leading white men of the city. There are some colored physicians. Their prac- tice is confined almost exclusively to the colored pop- ulation. There are some dentists whose practice is likewise limited. There are also several colored teach- ers, whose teaching is not restricted to the colored schools, for there has not been an exclusively colored school in Cleveland since it was founded. These col- ored teachers are engaged in instructing white and colored children alike in the regular public schools. One colored girl, a graduate of Smith College, teaches Latin and Algebra in the Central High School and is successful in her work. Eleven other colored girls, graduates mostly of Western Reserve University, lo- cated at Cleveland, teach in the grades. The Superin- tendent of Schools and others informed me that their work was wholly satisfactory, and that there had been scarcely a complaint from a white parent that his child was being taught by a colored person. The head of the large Hatch library for about fifteen years was a colored man. The colored men are admitted to trades unions on the same basis as the white men, receive the same i 5 6 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO wages and work on the same jobs with the white men without any friction. As many white men and many colored men told the writer, the negro is given a clear field in which to work out his own Avelfare and, if he "makes good," he is respected for it by the white people. The colored men feel that they are fairly treated and have no com- plaint to make. Feeling also that it is "up to them to make good," they are steadied in life and get down to business more than they otherwise would. To illus- trate how this feeling permeates the average man of the race in this city of Cleveland, consider the follow- ing fact: The proprietor of the barber shop in the leading hotel, the Hollenden, a colored man himself, and the leading colored henchman of the late Senator Marcus Hanna in the city of Cleveland stated to me that he employed fifteen colored men in his shop, each one of whom owned his own home and, besides, had a comfortable bank account. The negro in this city of Cleveland is given the opportunity of making his living as he sees fit ; he im- proves the opportunity and is happy. He does not com- plain because the white man does not treat him as his boon companion. There is no social equality between the two races, and at the same time there is no bittter- ness over it. Both races seem too wise to let that enter into the relations between them. They are two distinct races. Each race seems to say to the other : Here we are, thrown together upon this one spot of Mother Earth. Let us make the best of it. We all must fight the battle of life ; we must work in order to live. You have as much right to live as we. You may work at what your hands find to do, and we will do the same. You enjoy the fruits of your labors as you see fit, we will do the same. And working out this declaration of interdepend- ence and independence, the people of Cleveland have come near to furnishing to the world at large an ideal CLEVELAND i 57 condition of affairs between the white and colored races- In making their living from the same piece of ground, they have found it profittable to combine. The two races in enjoying the fruits of their Labors have seen fit to enjoy them separately. They do not seem to realize that there is any "negro problem," or anything of the kind. Everything is taken as a matter of course. On making specific enquiries as to what extent the two races mix socially, I found out the fol- lowing things: The negroes live to themselves on Central Avenue Cedar Avenue and Done Street. According to the census of 1900, there were G,000 of them. The two races prefer to live by themselves in their home life. As the negro population increases, and new land is needed to accommodate it, adjacent property is al- ways ready for sale at a reasonable price. Men of the two races may meet as friends on the streets or in a business way, but this relation is never extended to the home life. The white man will not think of such a thing as introducing a colored person to his wife nor will he have them meet on the same social plane. This is illustrated by the following- case: There is a club of the leading literary men in the city, who have met for years. In this club there is an author of large gifts, but who happens to have almost an imperceptible amount of colored blood in his veins- Some time ago it w r as proposed that the club have a banquet, to which they would invite their wiv- es. The idea was entered into with enthusiasm, until one of the members happened to think that it would be necessary to have the wife of the colored member present. The whole tiling was then quietly dropped, the members of the club taking the following view of the matter, as expressed by one of them : "Although T am a Southerner, I am broad-minded enough to admire Mr. A. for his work. I like to talk with him and shake his hand, but for my wife to meet his wife in social 158 THE COLOR UNE IN OHIO equality is a very different thing- She would not agree to it, and I could not blame her." A few years ago some of the young negroes tried to attend the public dance along with the whites, but it was made so uncomfortable for them that they do not attempt it any more. Ordinarily, the colored people of Cleveland are very thoughtful about intruding themselves upon the white people in any way that would be disagreeable for either race. This is shown in their attitude to- ward frequenting white people's eating places or res- taurants. When I asked many of the white people about this, the usual reply was, "Well, since I come to think about it, I never see a colored man in any res- taurant where I eat. I suppose they would feed him if he should come in, but as he knows that there is gen- erally some feeling about that matter, I suppose he has the good sense to stay away or patronize his own res- taurant." And that he does, for his own self-respect, and because he thinks it wise. Each race shows regard for the rights and desires of the other, and the result is a most happy one for all concerned; and Cleveland stands out today in a class by itself so far as the cities of Ohio are concerned, and probably there are few like it in this regard throughout the country. The question now naturally comes up, why is Cleveland's attitude towards the negro what it is? The following facts will help to answer this question : According to the census of 1900, her population of 381,768 was made up of 124,631 foreign-born people, 163,570 native whites of foreign parents, and 87,740 native whites of native parents. The last mentioned class was composed of those born of American par- ents, most of whom came from Connecticut and the New England States, where little prejudice was felt .•n gainst the negro. The other two classes came from countries not so recently afflicted with the curse CLEVELAND 159 of African slaver}', and hence felt less antipathy to- wards its victims. It seems to me as if this happy condition of affairs in Cleveland presents food for thought, not only to the white man in other cities, but to the negro as well. There are 80,000,000 of white people in this land and in round numbers 10,000,000 of colored people living amongst them. At the present time they are living in far from pleasant relations with each other. It would seem as if this spirit of compromise, fair play and good feeling, so evident in the relations of the two peoples of Cleveland, would be the desirable one for all concerned. CHAPTER VI. SYRACUSE, A NEGRO-HATING SMALL TOWN. In Syracuse, the writer's boyhood home, a town of about 2,000 inhabitants, on the Ohio river four miles above Pomeroy, no negro is permitted to reside. 1 jSo negro is permitted to stay in the town over night under any consideration. This is an absolute rule at the present day, and such has been the custom for several generations. The enforcement of this unwrit- ten law for keeping the negro from staying in the town over a single night is mostly in the hands of the boys from twelve to twenty years of age; but the attempt of a negro to become a resident of the town is resisted by the townspeople as a whole. When a colored man is seen in the town during the day he is generally told of these traditions and is warned to leave before sun-down. If he fails to take heed, he is surrounded at about the time that darkness begins, and is addressed by the leaders of the gang in about this language : "No nigger is allowed to stay in this town over night. We don't care what you are here for. Get out of here now, and get out quick." He sees from twenty-five to fifty boys around him talk- ing in subdued voices and waiting to see whether he obeys. If he hesitates, small stones begin to rain upon him from unseen quarters, and this soon persuades him to begin his hegira. He is not allowed to walk, but is told to "get on his little dog trot." The com- mand is always effective, for it is backed by stones in the ready hands of boys none too friendly. So long as he keeps up a good gait, the crowd, which follows just at his heels, and which keeps growing until it some- times numbers seventy-five to one hundred boys, is good-natured and contents itself with yelling, laugh- 1 This article appeared in The Independent, New York, July 19, 1903. A SMALL TOWN 161 ing and hurling gibes at its victim. Bu1 let him stop his "trot" for one moment, from any cause whatever, and the stones immediately begin to fall. Tims they follow him to the farthest limits of the town, where they send him on his way, while (hey return to the city with triumph and tell their fathers all about the function, how fast the victim ran, how scared he wns, how he pleaded and promised that he would go and never return if they would only go back and leave him, how Johnnie Jones hit him with such a big rock that it knocked him down. Then the fathers tell how they used to do the same thing, aud thus the heroes of two wars spend the rest of the evening by the old camp-fire, recounting their several campaigns. The conditions in this town of Syracuse are unusual in several ways. All the. surrounding towns have a considerable negro population. Just three mil- es below is the small town of Kerr's Run, which has more black residents than white. Most of them are afraid to go up to Syracuse even during the day-time, for the reputation of that town is known by almost ev- ery negro that works upon the Ohio river between Cin- cinnati and Pittsburg. Syracuse is the eastern termi- nal of the White Collar Line Steamboat system from Cincinnati. Many of the negro hands on this line are afraid to go up into the town to load salt and to get freight unless the steamboat officers are with them. When they want anything from the stores they usu- ally try to hire some small boy to go for them. One colored family lives in the country on a small farm just beyond the town limits. The father, whose name is Rush Johnson, came there during the Civil W T ar, and he tells many stories of being brutally stoned and in other ways warned to leave the country. He was a courageous, industrious, and hon- est negro, and in a few years so Avon respect thai In' was permitted to stay without being molested. Eow- 162 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO ever, he and his children have never dared to come into the town after night. The oldest son of this family, in resentment at an insult one day struck a white school-mate. He was pounced upon immediately by a mob of white boys, brutally beaten, and rolled over a steep embankment, sustaining many injuries. He left school, went West, worked his way through college and is now a minister of a negro church in Illinois. A daughter of this family attended the high school in the class before that of the writer. Living within the limits of the high school special district she could not be debarred but she was practically "sent to Coventry." None of her schoolmates ever talked with her and they objected so much to sitting near her that the principal had to arrange a desk for her com- pletely removed from the rest of the school. For weeks, it seemed, the poor girl never spoke a word from the time she got on the school grounds until she left. Through all these and many more discouraging cir- cumstances the brave girl struggled on through her four years' course, passed her examinations, and was within two months of graduation when she was at- tacked by consumption and compelled to give up her school work- Then, for the first time, the heart of the town was touched by the sufferings of a colored person. All knew her case, and had seen her struggle ; most had opposed her, but at last the sympathy of many was aroused. The board of education suspend- ed its rule requiring the passing of final examina- tions and voted Miss Margaret Johnson her diploma. During these two months of illness before commence- ment she was not idle. For four long years she had gone to her school regularly, had studied her lessons and attended her classes, like the rest of her class- mates; and during those years she, too, had thought of the night when she could stand before her friends (her family, of course, for none others of her race dared A SMALL TOWN 163 come into the village) and could receive the diploma that would reward her for so many hours of toil. Dur- ing the days of sickness, she produced her essay and asked that she might be permitted to read it along with her classmates, for she was always eager to do as they did, although she knew that she was among them but not of them. However bitter her thoughts, she never expressed them ; never once had she complained of her treatment or shown resentment. On the day when the long-looked-for commence- ment exercises were held, in June 189G, she appeared in a carriage, and was assisted to a front seat where she sat by the side of her father and two brothers, (her mother had recently died of the same disease that had seized upon her). She was too weak and ill to sit upon the platform with her twelve classmates, and so with sad but triumphant eyes sat facing them. Were they proud of her achievements? Far from it. Several of them until the last minute strenuously ob- jected to graduation with a colored person, as though it were a disgrace. Finally, the name Margaret Johnson was reached upon the program. Though aware that she would not be required to read her essay, she insisted upon doing her part. Eising from her seat she took a few steps forward but was unable to mount the platform : She turned where she was, and in a low voice, scarcely above a whisper, read her essay on the thread-bare top- ic "Perseverance," a theme that burned with meaning for her, the first and last of her race to stand before a Syracuse audience. Thus she triumphed, the diploma was hers, grant- ed on the same grounds as those of her classmates. She had done her part in winning respect for her race; but the sacrifice had to be paid. Two weeks after her triumph she died. While this girl showed i<» the while people <»f the town that the negro might amount f<» something, that >>• i6 4 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO he might possess some qualities that they admired, but did not always show themselves, yet she could not dispossess them of the prejudice that had been nour- ished by them for so many years. Still no negro lives within this town, no negro works beside the white man during the day, and no negro so much as breathes the night air within its gates. By the women the ne- roes are dreaded and feared, even in the day time. The little children are taught to fear the "Black Man" with all the horrors associated with that name. The writer has seen many a child in this town frightened almost into hysterics at the mere sight of a colored man. Since the town was founded, about 1815, not a ne- gro family has lived in it. About the year 1855 two negroes were employed as domestics by a family in the extreme lower end of the town, practically in the country, but they did not stay long. Since the Civil War two attempts have been made by negro families to settle in the town, but both were summarily driven out. The following incident will reveal the mode of dealing with such cases and the temper of the people. About the year 1886 a colored man said that he was going to live in Syracuse, he had a right there, and he was going to show the people there that he was just as good as they were. Bringing his wife and his few household goods he put them into a small house which was only four or five doors from the writer's home. In the afternoon he was called upon, informed of the rule of the town, and told that he too must leave before night. He replied that he would live there as long as he wished. The word went over the town with wonderful rapidity, and the people immediately prepared to re- sent this affront to the town's dignity. As soon as darkness had come a large crowd of bo} r s and men as- sembled before the house, calling for the occupant to come out. Growing impatient, the crowd went through the door with a rush. The negro was quickly A SMALL TOWN r 6 5 overpowered, separated from his wife, and marched into the street. There he received the order to march. He went to the edge of the town where he was left and told that he might sleep anywhere that he wished, bo long as he was out of the town limits; that his wife would be guarded in the house over night; and that, if he were caught sneaking back before daylight, he would be hanged to the nearest tree- The next day he was allowed to return to the house, where he reloaded his goods and with his wife departed to seek a more hospitable town. This was the last attempt of a color- ed man to set up his household gods in the negro- hating town of Syracuse. A BRIEF GENERAL SUMMARY. Many people will think that conditions in the cities of Ohio are peculiar, and that they do not fairly repre- sent the sentiment of the State at large in regard to the negro. That was my own impression before vis- iting the smaller places, but that impression did not prove to be correct. After studying conditions in Akron a town of 60,000 inhabitants, Portsmouth with 20,000 people, Chillicothe with 15,000, Urbana with 10,000, Xenia with 10,000, Delaware with 8,000, Pomeroy with 6,000, Richwood and Syra- cuse with 2,000 each and Point Isabel with 200, I feel justified in asserting that the feeling against the negro, as pictured in the chapters on Cincinnati, Day- ton, Springfield, and Columbus, is the sentiment pre- vailing with few exceptions throughout the State of Ohio. Two exceptions I have given in the chapters on Cleveland and Syracuse. Three of the towns that I visited — Akron, Galion, and Urbana — had witnessed the lynching of negroes in recent years. In all of these I found the prejudice much stronger than it was before the lynching, and the negroes fewer in number. In these towns, and al- so the others just mentioned, I found the same general condition of affairs as I have described fully in the preceding chapters. In general the negro has nothing resembling equality with the white man in social life or in the industrial life- He is refused admittance to hotels, to theatres, to restaurants, to soda fountains; he is barr- ed from labor unions and is compelled to make his living by odd jobs, domestic service, working as jani- tor, waiter, etc. In almost every city he is an inhab- itant of the most undesirable outskirt. BIBLIOGRAPHY. The scope of the subject that has been investigat- ed in this work is, in a sense, narrow. The subject has been race prejudice only, and this as found princi- pally in Ohio. In view of this and the further fact that no such investigation has ever before been made on this subject, one may readily see that the bibliog- raphy for it is not extensive. The separate county histories, which I thought would be one of the richest sources of information, proved to be almost valueless. Though many dozens of them were looked through carefully (and scarcely any of them were indexed), nothing of value was found. The newspapers on the other hand were espe- cially valuable, as the subject is one calling for in- formation on public opinion, which newspapers gener- ally reflect. The laws passed by the different Legis- latures, together with the journals of the two houses of the Legislature, were also most valuable in reveal- ing the state of the public mind. The reports of the Supreme Court and lower courts of the State consti- tuted the next best source. One other source to be especially mentioned is the journals of the two consti- tutional conventions of 1802 and 1851. All of these sources and almost all of the others used in this work are to be found in the Ohio State Library in the State House at Columbus. NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS. Cleveland Leader. Cleveland Plain Dealer. Cincinnati Enquirer. Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. Cincinnati — The Emporium. Columbus — Ohio State Journal. Columbus — Ohio Statesman. Columbus Dispatch. Indiana Statesman. Neiv York Evening Post. Springfield, Mass., Weekly Republican. The Blade, of Portsmouth, Ohio. The Supporter, of Chillicothe, Ohio. Ohio Educational Monthly. Magazine of Western History, VI. LAWS AND LEGISLATIVE JOURNALS. Laws of Ohio (Annual Editions). House Journal (Annual Editions). Senate Journal (Annual Editions). COURT REPORTS. Ohio Reports. Ohio Circuits. Ohio Circuit Court Reports. Ohio State Reports. Weekly Law Gazette. Wright's Reports. (All of the above are to be found in the State Law Library in the State House at Columbus.) CONSTITUTIONS AND CONVENTION JOURNALS. Constitutions of 1802 and 1851. Journal of Constitutional Convention of 1802— Reprinted in index to Senate Journal of 1827 Convention Debates, 1850-1851 (two volumes). OTHER SOURCES. Adjutant General's Reports. Burnett, Jacob, Notes on Northwest Territory. Barber, A. D., A Report on the Condition of Colored People in Ohio, 1840. Census Reports. Jay, William, Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery. Minutes of the Convention of Colored People of Ohio at Columbus, 1849. Niles' Weekly Register. Ohio School Reports. Proceedings of Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention held at Putnam, 1835. Seward, William H., Works- SECONDARY WORKS. Bryce, James, Impressions of South Africa. Bryce, James, The Relation of the Advanced and Back- ward Races. Atwater, Caleb, History of Ohio. Chaddock, R E., Ohio Before 1853. Cutler, J. P., Life and Times of Judge Ephraim Cutler. DuBois, W. E. B., The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois, W. E. B , The Philadelphia Negro. Evans, Nelson W., History of Scioto County. Evans, Nelson W. and Stivers, E. B., History of Ad- ams County. Fairchild, J. H., Obcrlin, its Origin, Progress and Re- sults. Finot, Race Prejudice. Hickok, diaries T., The Negro in Ohio. 1802-1870. Historical Sketches of Ohio — Higher Educational In- stitutions. — Article by Daniel L. Payne- Howe, Henry, Historical Collections of Ohio. BIBLIOGRAPHY 171 History of Ross and Highland Counties. Published 1880. (Author not given). Lee, Alfred E., History of the City of Columbus, Ohio. Merriam, The Negro and the Nation. Miller, Race Adjustment. Morris, B. F., Life of Thomas Morris. Ovington, Half a Man. Ohio, Archaeological and Historical Publications. Page, The Negro The Southerner's Problem. Schucker, Life of Chase- Sinclair, The Aftermath of Slavery. Smith, Political History of Slavery. Smith, T. C, The Liberty and Free Soil Parties. Smith, AY. B., The Color Line. Stephenson, G. T., Race Distinctions in American Law. Stone, Alfred Holt, Studies in the American Race Problem. Waggoner, Clark, History of the City of Toledo and Lucas County. Washington, Booker T., Future of the American Ne- gro. Washington, Booker T., Up From Slavery- Williams, G. W., History of the Negro Race in Amer- ica. Wilson, Henry, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America. INDEX. Akron riot, 116. Akron, suit for damages by negro for having to pay too high price for liquor at a saloon, 119. Barber, A. D., report on condition of colored people of Ohio 1840, 48. Berry, Dr. Wm. N. D., study of lack of industrial oppor- tunity for negroes in Springfield, Mass., 8. Black Laws, general nature, 9, 23; bill of 1804, 21 ; bill of 1807, 23; petition for repeal of, 35, 36; how enforced, 3*> 33> 34; repeal of, 35-43; why repealed, 37, 105 ; feel- ing in State over the repeal, 41. Boston, meetings 1855 and 1907 for discussion of the color line, 4. Boston Reformed League, unable to find work for negroes, 7 ' ... Burnett, Judge, on discussion of negro question in first Constitutional Convention, 14; defends Black Laws, 29. Chase, Salmon P., connection of, with Black Laws, 39. Cincinnati, negroes driven out of, 32 ; negro schools of, 47 ; negro woman put off car in, 106 ; negro refused dinner in, sues for damages, 118; present status of negro in, 125-133. (See negroes.) Chillicothe, first Constitutional Convention in, in 1802, 13; colored political convention in, 107. Cleveland, admitted negroes to white schools in the early days, 33; speech of Wm. H. Seward at, calling for re- peal of the Black Laws, 37; Mr. Andrews from, in Constitutional Convention of 1850-51, speaks for ne- groes, 71 ; general feeling toward negroes of, today, 154. (See negroes.) Color, effect of, upon prejudice, 87. Color line in the North, 3; Wm. Lloyd Garrison on, 5. Commercial Gazette on color line, 3. Columbus, negro schools of, 46; trouble over negro in white schools of, 109; negro of, denied admission to theatre, 109-111; status of negroes in, today, I45" T 53- ( See negroes.) 174 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO Committee of Legislature reports on negro status 1827 and 1833, 30, 55- Constitutional Convention, of 1802, its attitude toward negroes, 13-21; of 1850-51, its attitude, 60-87; reception of petitions in, concerning negroes, 60. Dayton, status of negroes in, today, 134-140. (See negroes.) Democratic party's attitude toward repeal of the Black Laws, 38, 39, 42. Du Bois, W. E., "different from others," 5 ; on industrial opportunity for negroes in North, 8. Education of negroes (see schools). Eliot, Charles W., on separation of whites and blacks in public schools, 6. "Equal rights," law providing for, 103; a myth, no, 118, 120. Free-soil party asks for repeal of the Black Laws, 38. Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, on color line, 5. Howe, Henry, describes feeling in Waverly, Ohio, against negroes, n 2- 114. Indiana, excludes negroes from State, 9; hotel man in, ruined as result of feeding a negro, 5. Illinois, excludes negroes from the State, 9. Jay, William, on enforcement of Black Laws, 32 ; on status of free negroes, 44; on prejudice, 49. Lane Theological Seminary, attitude towards negroes in early days, 47; investigation of negro condition in Cin- cinnati by, 50. Legislature, passes Black Laws, 31, 22; forbids admission of negroes to all white schools, 33 ; refuses to receive petitions from hands of colored people, 52; repeals Black Laws, 35-43; passes school laws for negroes, 88; repeals school laws for negroes, 93 ; attitude of, towards negro suffrage, 98-100. Legislative Committees' reports on negroes in Ohio, 30, 55, 57- Lynching of negroes, in Adams county, 1856 and 1894, 115; at Galion, in Crawford county, 1882, 115; at Washing- ton Court House, 1894, 115; at New Richmond, Cler- mont county, 1895, 115; at Urbana, 1897, 116; at Spring- field, 1906, 117. Method of investigation followed in this work, 125. INDEX 175 Mulattoes, classed as negroes until Supreme court decision in Polly Gray vs. Ohio, 24; in other Supreme court de- cisions, 24, 25, 89. Nasby, assists in negro suffrage election 1867, 98. Negroes, condition of, before Civil War, 25, 26; colonizing of, ideas about, as expressed in Constitutional Conven- tion of 1850-51, 86; debarred from militia, 22, 76; de- barred from jury, 23; debarred from schools, 23, 45, 46. 82-85 ; denied suffrage by Constitutional Convention of 1850-51, 81; by popular vote 1867, 98; driven from Portsmouth, Ohio, 32; driven from Cincinnati, 32; from South find Northerners in university more preju- diced than Southerners, 6 ; find industrial opportunity in North less favorable than in the South, 6; industrial position of, in Cincinnati, 50, 51 ; leg al disabilities of, after repeal of the Black Laws, 88; live in quiet in Ohio up to 1830, 35 ; lynching of, in Adams county 1856, at Galion 1882, at Washington Court House 1894, at New Richmond, at Urbana 1894, at Springfield 1906, 115-117; not recognized as having any political rights, 21 ; popula- tion of, 18, 25, 27, 72, 74, 101, 121 ; position of m first half of last century, as pictured by Justice Read of the Supreme court, 58 J by Justice Peck of same court, 89, 00; position of, socially 1802-1849, 44-59 ; position of, socially 1849-1912, 105-121 ; refused ticket to theatre no- sue for damages, for refusal of meal at a restaurant in Cincinnati, 118; for refusal of ticket to theatre in Cincinnati, 118; for being charged more than a white man in a saloon at Akron, 119; for being denied privi- lege of bowling in a public park in Cleveland, Ohio, 119; worse off in North than in South, 1 ; in Boston, unable to find work, 7 ; in Massachusetts, excluded from cars, 5 ; in Indiana, entertainment of, at a white hotel causes its doors to close, 5; in first Constitutional Convention of 1802, denied privilege of voting, 13; denied eligibility to any office in State, 14; denied right to give oath against a white man, 14; this repealed by one vote, 14; in poli- tics 107, 108; in Cincinnati, refused admission to col- leges to hospitals, to city fire department, to municipal bath house, 128; to public parks, hotels, restaurants 127; to saloons, Pullman cars, Y. M. C. A., 128; to Children s 176 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO Home, theatres, to respectable districts of the city for homes, 129; to labor unions, 130; special causes for prejudice here, 131 ; in Dayton, refused privilege of buy- ing from stores, 134-136; relation to labor unions, 137; to National Cash Register Company, 137; to general employment, 138, 139; causes of prejudice locally given, 139, 140; in Springfield, general conditions about same as in Dayton, only worse, 141 ; the riots, the causes, 143; three riots in three years, an armed truce, 143 ; the pros- pect, 144; in Columbus, general state of feeling toward the negroes, 145; assistant adjutant-general's remarka- ble statement, 145 ; Chittenden Hotel's attitude, 146 ; Great Southern Hotel, 146; street railway's refusal to employ negroes, 147 ; attitude of labor unions, 147 ; gen- eral industrial position, 148; character and habits of negroes, 149-153; comments by negroes themselves, 152- 153; in Cleveland, general attitude, 154; successes of various colored men, 154-155; social position, 156-158; in Syracuse, a negro-hating small town, 160-165 ; no negro allowed to stay over night, 160; how prevented, 161; a colored girl's school triumph, 162-164; amend- ment, 102. Oberlin college, doors of, opened to colored students, 47; receives 51 students from Lane Theological Seminary, 47-, Ohio, like other Northern States with respect to the negroes, 4 ; first Northern States to deny privilege to negroes to testify against white people, 22; attitude of, on the 15th amendment, 102. Ohio State Journal, 1827, on settlement of negroes in Law- rence county, 31 ; on repeal of Black Laws, 41 ; on edu- cation of negroes, 1827, 48 ; editorial ©f, showing wretch- ed condition of negroes, 56. Patterson, F. D., attitude of, on discussion of status of ne- groes, 10. Peck, Chief Justice, words of, on prejudice, 89. Petitions to Constitutional Convention of 1850-51 in regard to determining status of negroes, 61-65. Phillips, Wendell, on color line, 5. Population of negroes, 25 ; comparison of north and south portions of Ohio for, 72; maps showing, 18, 27, 74, 101,. INDEX 177 121. Portsmouth, Ohio, negroes driven from, 32. Prejudice, as shown in Legislative Committees' reports, 30, 55; as shown in Justice Read's words, 58; as shown in Chief Justice Peck's words, 89, 90; effect of color upon, 87; increases as population, 1, 73; in the North, 2, 3; in Columbus, 109; growth in early days, 60; not so strong in northern half of Ohio as in southern, 67, 68, 70, 77, 78, 79; why held in Ohio, 25, 48, 49, 65, 66; William Jay on, in Ohio, 44, 45 ; worse now than at end of Civil War, 2, 140. Randolph, John, buys land in Ohio for freed negroes, 29. Read, Justice N. C, on mulattoes and feeling against negroes in general, 24, 58. Sawyer, William, bitter against negroes, 62, 69, 79, 83. Schools for negroes, 23, 45, 46, 48, 94. 95; separation of, from those of whites, upheld by Supreme court, 89, 92 ; abolished 1887, 93; how repeal of law for colored schools was received, 94-98- Seward, Wm. H., speech at Cleveland appealing for repeal of Black Laws, 37. Slavery, almost established in Ohio, 15-16; actually existed in a small way, 53, 54- Springfield, Mass., prejudice in, 8. Springfield, Ohio, general status of negroes in, 141. (See negroes.) Stone, Alfred Holt, conclusions, 1; on prejudice in the North, 6. Suffrage for negroes, denied in Northern States before the war,9; struggle for, in Ohio, 97-103; popular vote on, 1867, in Ohio caricatured by Nasby, 98, 99. Sugar Grove, Fairfield county, resolutions of, against repeal of the Black Laws, 42. Supreme Court, decides on quantity of negro blood required to debar from equal rights privileges, 58; calls school law one of classification and not of exclusion, 89 ; gives several decisions in regard to equal rights acts of 1884 and 1894, 1 18-120. Syracuse, a negro-hating small town, 160-165. The Supporter, newspaper published at Chillicothe i8i<>. 26; advertises an Ohio slave for sale, 54. i 7 8 THE COLOR LINE IN OHIO The Ohio Statesman, on repeal of Black Laws, 42. Waverly, a small town with bitter feeling against the ne- groes, 112. Washington, Booker T., on industrial education, 7. Western Reserve — very favorable attitude toward the ne- groes, 70; negro population of, 73. Wilberforce College, a colored institution, burnt to the ground by whites, 107. Worthington, Representative, from Chillicothe, on feeling toward the negroes, 31, 60, 70. RD 1.04. ** • ^ -•£ • o» - C C c c ■« «« DOBSS BROS. LianA*r aiNorNO JGUSTINE FLA. 4 32084