Dbq Free African Americans

In the 1840s and 1850s, tensions were building rapidly within America. As millions of enslaved people toiled away in the South, the controversial debate over human ownership began to split the nation apart. However, often left unnoticed are the 221,000 free African Americans who resided in the North, whose extent of freedom is often unknown. The concept of freedom is hard to define because there are various degrees of rights a person can possess. What one considers to be freedom may not even suffice the basic needs of life for another. While free blacks in the North had the freedom of not being enslaved, they had highly restricted social, economical, and political rights.
Free black people in the North lacked countless social rights, primarily

from unwritten social rules. For instance, interracial interaction was nearly or completely forbidden in public places. A British traveler and writer William Chambers stated that he found significant segregation in numerous places, such as in schools, hospitals, prisons, cemeteries, and on railway cars (Additional Information Document B). Charles Mackay, another British visitor to America, stated that free black people were not allowed “to mingle with [white people] in the concert-room, the lecture-room…[nor] marry with [white people’s] daughters” (Document B). This indicates a carefully and purposefully drawn racial divide between white people and the black community. Religious grounds were another place of social ostracism and segregation. The majority of mixed-race Northern churches contained separate black pews, and had customs of serving communion to blacks only after all the whites had been served (Additional Information Document D). Even when they worshipped the same God and lived to the same ideals, free blacks were not seen with an equal status as whites. Additionally, free blacks were not socially admitted as equal and capable by the white community. A young African-American student who ranked first in his class of his free school in New York stated, “Why should I strive hard and acquire all the constituents of a man if the prevailing genius of the land admit me not as such, but in an inferior degree” (Document C). The refusal to accept free blacks as equal and capable, even those with academic success, portrays strong social prejudices. These limitations of social rights for free blacks ultimately led to the limitations of other crucial rights, especially economical rights.
There were numerous boundaries as to how far a free black could thrive economically.

A major barrier was that free blacks were not given the opportunities to work at high-level professions. A young African-American student stated in a speech, “Shall I be a mechanic? No one will employ me; white boys won’t work with me. Shall I be a merchant? No one will have me in their office; white clerks won’t associate with me” (Document C). This is corroborated by Charles Mackay, who noted that free blacks were “[not allowed] to attend us in our courts…[nor] attend us at the bed of sickness and pain” (Document B). This exhibits that unwritten racial rules prevented free blacks from aspiring to jobs deserving of their education. As a result of this prejudice, free blacks were often forced into lower class, lower wage jobs. Leon Litwack, a historian, stated in The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860, that educated black males usually became servants, sailors, or laborers, and that educated black females often performed housekeeping jobs (Additional Information Document C). The social expectation that blacks were to perform menial tasks presents a. Even at these lower-class jobs, free blacks were struggling for employment. Economically low-ranking groups such as the Irish competed against free blacks for these jobs, which fueled prejudice and even resulted in violent anti-black riots (Additional Information Document B). Clearly, finding and securing a job was an uphill battle for free blacks. From job options to employment, economic barriers for free blacks impacted critical aspects of their

lives.
Several political rights were largely denied for free blacks in the North. Firstly, black suffrage was widely prohibited for males, and completely prohibited for females. Alan Litwack, a historian, noted that 93% of free Northern blacks in 1860 lived in states where voting was nearly or completely prohibited (Additional Information Document A). Evidently, black voices were silenced and left unacknowledged during public decisions. Secondly, free blacks were blocked from participating in political and judicial roles. Charles Mackay stated that free blacks were not allowed “to share with us the deliberations of the jury box - to attend us in our courts - to represent us in the legislature” (Document B). Free blacks were denied the right to represent their people, which disregarded their views and opinions. Thirdly, free blacks did not receive the right to a fair, unbiased court process. Leon Litwack stated in his book North of Slavery that while free blacks received some legal protection, they were often barred from testifying in any cases involving whites even if they were the plaintiff (Additional Information Document A). Free blacks were racially profiled and were , regardless of the circumstances. Through the withholding of political rights, free blacks were denied the right to democracy, the foundation of America.
Albeit few, some free blacks did possess rights or opportunities in certain instances. For example, some black males were allowed to participate in the legal system. In 1860, black male jury duty was legalized in Massachusetts (Document A). While only a fraction of the black population resided in Massachusetts, normally silenced voices in the court were given the chance to execute their democratic rights. Another right was that some free black children were allowed to interact with white children in educational settings. In Ohio and Pennsylvania, black children attended school with white children until twenty black students were enrolled in the school (Additional Information Document C). Although that right was taken away once that population was reached, interracial education was still available as an opportunity. In addition, free blacks were permitted to engage in anti-slavery discussion. Some prominent abolitionists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Sumner, and Theodore Parker, refused to speak at segregated lecture halls (Additional Information Document B). Free blacks were able to discuss their personal views in these places and communicate inter-racially, an opportunity nearly or completely banned elsewhere. While these free blacks possessed freedoms that were commonly reserved for whites only, they were overshadowed by the myriad of rights they were neglected.
Through both written legal laws and unwritten social laws, free blacks were effectively denied political, economic, and social rights in the North. While rare exceptions did exist in certain places, the rights of free blacks in the North were so incredibly few that their only freedom was that they were not legally considered property. Meanwhile, sectionalism and disagreements over slavery continued to deepen the North-South divide, fueling political and economical tensions. In 1861, furious over Lincoln’s anti-slavery views, the South seceded from the United States, igniting the Civil War. While the North fought against the South’s establishment of slavery, their treatment of free blacks suggests that their motivations may have not been ethical.