Free Blacks in the North Min卜
Q
Hook Exercise: Free Blacks in the North
⌒
THE ABOLIT10N
OF SLAVERY
Directions: Examine this map and
answer the questions that follow.
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Note: The states with two
dates all passed gradual
abolition acts. The first date
represents the year gradual
abolition acts were passed.
The second date indicates
when the last slave died or
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was freed.
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1787 - Northwest Ordinance passed outlawing slavery in the
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Northwest Territories.
1863
- Emancipation Proclamation outlaws slavery in the states
rebelling against the Union.
Questions
1. What generalization can you make about the abolition
of slavery in the North?
2. What generalization can you make about the abolition of slavery in the South?
3. Why do some Northern states have two dates?
4. Five border states, all allowing slavery, fought with the North in the Civil War. The slaves in
these states were not freed until 1865. What were these five states?
⌒
5. Does the map provide any evidence that there may have been racial prejudice in the North?
135
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Background
Essay
Free Blacks in the North Mini-Q
How Free Were Free Blacks in the North?
In
1860, with
Civil War storm clouds build-
ing, Americans did what they do every ten
years: they counted themselves. The census
revealed a national population of 31,000,000.
York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The smallest number lived in New England.
By 1800 most Northern blacks were free
from slavery. They were no longer owned as
Most of this population was white, but about property. However, the question remains
whether African-Americans in the North were
l4Vo, or four and one-half million, were
free in other ways. Were blacks in the North
African-American. Not all of this black populafree to attend school, to get a good job, to vote
tion was slave. In 1860, 476,000 blacks were
or serve on a jury, to go to church? Were black
free. 250,000 free blacks lived in the South.
Northerners free from white prejudice?
221,000 free blacks lived in the North. 4,000
free African-Americans resided in
Northern Free Black Population by Region-l860
the West.
The free black population in
the South consisted mostly of
ex-slaves, or the children of exslaves, who had been freed by
their masters. George Washington's
wife, Martha, for example, freed
her slaves when she died. Free
Southern blacks lived a very
restricted life but could work for
wages, own property, and legally
marry. There were even a small
number of blackAmericans who
owned slaves. However, free
Southern blacks could not vote and were not
welcome to mix equally with the Southern white
population.
The Northern black population was spread
unevenly across three regions - New England,
the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Midwest. Most
lived in the three Mid-Atlantic states of New
@
2009 The DBQ Project
Examine the four documents that follow.
Four documents can only tell part of the story
but they help us begin to answer the question
before w: How free were free Blacks in the
North?
This page may be reproduced for classroom use
137
Q
Free Blacks in the North Mini‐
Background Essay Questions
1.
Write the names of the Northern states that made up each of these regions.
The six New England states:
The three Mid-Atlantic states:
The seven Midwest states:
2. In 1860:
What was the population of the United States (including slaves)?
What was the slave population of the US?
What was the free black population in the North?
What percent of all African-Americans in the United States in 1860 lived in the North?
(Do the math.)
3.
What generalization can you make about the size of the black population in the North in 1860?
4. Define or explain each of these terms.
census
restricted
1787
-
New Constitution does not mention the word slavery
1822
-
Possible date of Harriet Tubman's birth
1827
-
First African-American newspaper published in New York City
1835
-
Oberlin College admits first black students
1853
-
Frederick Douglass warns "Learn trades or starve!"
139
@
2009 The DBQ Prcject
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