Population Investigation Committee
The Population Geography of the Free Negro in Ante-Bellum America
Author(s): Wilbur Zelinsky
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Population Studies, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Mar., 1950), pp. 386-401
Published by: Population Investigation Committee
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2172501 .
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The PopulationGeography
of the Free Negroin
Ante-Bellum
America
BY WILBUR ZELINSKY
In theyearsbeforetheCivilWarthefreeNegroformeda numerically
minorbut
sociallysignificant
segmentoftheAmericanpopulation.Although
theanomalous
positionof thisgroup,whodweltin a limbobetweenslaveryand citizenship,
was
accompanied
bydemographic
and distributional
traitsthatwerequiteunlikethose
ofothergroups,therehas notyetbeenanygeneraltreatment
ofthesetopicsin the
smallliterature
onthefreeNegro.' Myattention
was directed
towardthisinvestigationby theinteresting
differences
in distribution
thathaveexistedbetweenslave
and freecolouredpopulations
in LatinAmerica.2In Cuba and PuertoRico these
discrepancies
are well documented
by censusmaterialseventhoughtheyare in
manyrespectsstillunexplained,
and theydoubtlessly
occurredelsewhere
in Latin
America,and particularly
amongthelargeNegropopulations
ofBrazil,wheredata
are lackingor deficient.Althoughthisstudyis intendedas a contribution
to the
completer
understanding
ofAmerican
historical
geography,
it is hopedthatit may
also be ofvalueto thescholarwhowillultimately
undertake
a definitive
monograph
on thefreeNegroesoftheUnitedStates.The finaland perhapsunattainable
aim
of thislineof researchis to discoverwhatever
principles
mayhaveunderlainthe
spatialdifferentiation
ofthetwoNegrocommunities-slave
and free-throughout
theAmericaswiththehopeofaddingto thebasicstoreofpopulation
theory.
ORIGINS
Beforethegroupwassubmerged
inthemassofemancipated
slavesattheconclusion
of the CivilWar,thenumberof freeNegroeswas enlargedsteadilyfromseveral
sources.By farthegreatest
slavesor theirdescendants.
numberweremanumitted
or somerelatedformoflegaldeclaration
Manumission,
offreedom,
was conferred
on favoured
individuals
formeritorious
or moral
servicesor becauseofsentimental
reasonswithsomefrequency
all through
thehistory
ofAmerican
butthe
slavery,
personsthusliberatedwereby no meansa representative
sampleof the Negro
population.Slaveswhowerepermitted
to hirethemselves
out as labourerswere
sometimesable to save sufficient
moneyto purchasetheirfreedomfromtheir
masters.A significant
number
gainedfreedom
byescapingtheirownersandisolating
inremote
themselves
intheSouthor byfleeing
to freesoilin theNorthor
localities
in Canada. Quiteunimportant,
a
few
of
the
in
except
majorports,werethosefree
1 The best general summation of our knowledge concerning the free Negro and an excellent
bibliographyare presentedin JohnHope Franklin'sFrom Slavery toFreedom. A HistoryofAmerican
Negroes(New York, I948).
2 Wilbur Zelinsky,'The historicalgeographyof the Negro population of Latin America', J. Negro
Hist. April 1949.
[
386
]
THE POPULATION
GEOGRAPHY
387
OF THE FREE NEGRO
Negroeswhowere immigrants
fromforeignlands. The freeNegropopulationofany
givenarea in the United Stateswould be affectedby the moreor less legal migration
of individualswho had been liberatedby legitimatemeans; and, finally,the annexation of such territories
as Louisiana, Florida and Texas added to the size of the
groupwithinthe bordersof the United States. The sum of individualsthusderived
not only of
would also, of course,experiencea naturalincreasewith the offspring
membersof the freeNegro communitybut also fromunions betweenfreeNegroes
and non-Negroes.
Only slightlycounterbalancingthis continuous increase were three processes
wherebyindividualswereremovedfromthefreeNegro population. Re-enslavement
was a threatthatfaced manywho remainedin the slave states; therewas a small
trickleof emigrantsto Africaand otherforeignparts; and verylightmulattoeswere,
in some instances,able to 'pass' into the white populationand lose theirnegroid
status.
The social,legaland economicstatusofthefreeNegrohas beentreatedexhaustively
in essays concernedwithparticularstatesand cities. It need only be said here that
these formerslaves and theirprogenysufferedmanydisabilitiesand as a group had
not greatlyadvancedabove the slave population. Nevertheless,theirveryexistence,
combined withtheiroccasional abilityto make themselvesfeltpoliticallyand economically,did make them the object of unceasing interest,suspicion and often
hostilityin a land where Negroes were generallyconsidereda race of slaves to be
insulatedfromall aspirationsto freedom.
POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS
In theirdemographiccharacteristics
greatlyfromthe slave
the freeNegroesdiffered
and particularlyfromthe whitepopulationof the United States. First of all, they
were physicallydistinctas a groupfromall otherelementsin theAmericanpopulation. It is practicallya truismthattherewas considerablymoreadmixtureof white
blood in the freecolouredthanin the slave population.The i86o census statesthat
36 22 % of the formerbut only IO04I % of the latterwere classifiedas mulatto.
favouring
Althoughthis factis irrefutableevidence of a manumissiondifferential
the offspring
of white-Negroalliances,because of a feelingof moralresponsibility,
it must be rememberedthat mulattoesenjoyed easier access to other avenues of
freedomthathad no sexual connotations.A relativelygreatamountof Indian blood
in the freeNegro populationmay also be takenforgranted.'
The free Negro was more frequentlya citydwellerthan eitherthe slave or the
white American. Using the somewhatdefectivedata on residenceofferedby the
census of i 86o, we findthat2-79 % of the totalurbanpopulationwerefreeNegroes
even thoughtheyformedbut I 55 % of the aggregatepopulation.To put it another
way,therewere 79 % morefreeNegroes in thecitiesofAmericain i86o thanwould
be expected if the group were uniformlydistributed.This is hardlysurprisingin
1 Melville J. Herskovitsin his The AmericanNegro has presentedthe anthropometric
evidence for
extensivemiscegenationin the ante-bellumNegro population. This is perhaps the soundest approach
to a question that is otherwiseencumbered with the personal prejudices of the student.
26-2
388
WILBUR
ZELINSKY
view of the factthateconomic opportunitieswere much superiorforlandless and
ownerlessNegroesin citiesthantheywerein thecountrvside.The severesocialisolationthatmust have been encounteredin ruralareas could have been a potentfactor
pushingindividualsand familiestowardrelativesocial normalityin sizeable urban
communitiesof freeNegroes. There is also the possibilitythaturbanslaves enjoyed
a betteropportunity
formanumissionor self-purchase.Only in Delaware and New
did the ruralindividual
Jersey,stateswithlargecohortsof freecolouredinhabitants,
surpass the citydwellerin importancein i86o. This would indicatethatonlythere
and in Maryland,where paritywas nearlyachieved,was therea real freeNegro
well
yeomanrywithstrongrootsin the countryside.The ruralelementis moderately
representedin New York, southernNew England, Virginiaand North Carolina,
states comprisenearlyall of the greatpopulation
which with the aforementioned
hearthof thefreeNegro. It is in the Deep South and mostof the Middle West that
the rural individualwas relativelyrare; it can be suggested that urbanismwas
in a region
inverselyproportionalto populationsize; the sparserhis representation
the more likelywas the freeNegro to be foundin a city.
The sex ratio of the freeNegro populationwas abnormalto a markeddegree.
The figureof 92-2 for i86o contrastssharplywith ioo06 forthe slave population
or I052 forthewhitepopulation. Inasmuchas no referenceto vitalstatisticscould
explain the wide gap between free Negro and slave sex ratios, and since there
existedan excess of adult Negroes,especiallyyoungfemales20 yearsand older and
the aged of both sexes, we are required to conclude that femaleslaves not only
enjoyed the high rate of manumissionaccorded ancient retainersbut that young
femalecast of the freeNegro
womenwere freedas a tokenof favour.This distinctly
population was in all probabilityone of the by-productsof widespread illicit
relationsbetweenmastersand slaves.
As has been impliedalready,the age compositionof the freeNegro community
while the matureand
was distinctlyabnormal. Childrenwere under-represented,
especiallythe aged were relativelyquite numerous. Birthstatisticsfor this early
of the group,
periodare too crudeto permitany definitestatementas to the fertility
but one may hazard the guess thatthe strongemphasison urban livingmust have
had as an inevitableconsequence a loweredbirth-rate.In large part,however,the
skewnessof the age-compositioncurvesmay have resultedfromthe predominantly
adult ages of thoseslaves who were being freedor who escaped servitude.
POPULATION HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION
In colonial timesthefreeNegro populationwas, as is indicatedin a quite imperfect
record,small and in manyplaces altogetherinsignificant.Certainly,priorto I790,
and unreliabletoallowcartographic
thedata are toofragmentary
synthesis.Beginning
withthefirstcensus,the timeseriesof maps (Figs. I-4) takesus from1790 to i86o,
the period of the most rapid growthand greatestdemographicsignificanceforthe
free Negro. Althoughthe census data have been plottedwithoutany attemptat
adjustment,it must be rememberedthat they can be accepted only with serious
reservations.The freeNegro was undoubtedlyconsiderablyunderenumeratedin
THE POPULATION
GEOGRAPHY
389
OF THE FREE NEGRO
both North and South, and this was particularlytrue for fugitivesand for those
livingin remotelocalities.Table i summarizesthe progressof populationgrowth
in the yearswithwhich we are concerned.
offree/
~~~~~~Percentage
a
-1
Negroesintotal
h
~~~~~~population
-
Popuatio incities
250 or more
'Containing
250 freeNegro inhabitants
20 Percent.
.-100 freeNegroes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
Fig. i. Free Negro Population, 1790.
Table i. FreeNegropopulation,
1790-I 86o
No.
I790
i 8oo
i8io
I820
I830
I 840
I850
i86o
59,466
Io8,395
i86,446
233,524
319,599
386,303
434,449
487,970
Percentage of
total population
I
5I
2 04
2-58
2-42
2-48
2-26
I .87
I'.55
The picturepresentedfor I790 is relativelysimple as regardsboth absolute and
relativeimportance. Four principalnodes of concentrationexisted: southernNew
England, with a surprisinglydense clusterin Rhode Island; New York City and
390
WILBUR
ZELINSKY
f
ZX
C04
0Q
n~~~~~0
0
G)
r
THE POPULATION
GEOGRAPHY
OF THE FREE NEGRO
39I
00
04
- 1
I-S , '
U
,
E0
.o
X
r0
0?O
0
C
J/gi
X9~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,
392
WILBUR
ZELINSKY
00
4-
---------'-
'
THE POPULATION
GEOGRAPHY
OF THE FREE NEGRO
393
the Hudson Valley; south-easternPennsylvania,Delaware and easternMaryland;
and south-eastVirginiaand north-eastNorthCarolina. Free Negroeswerescattered
except in the Great Valley of
throughoutthe Piedmontregion,but on the frontier,
was
the
leading
urban centre,followedby
were
rare.
New
York
Tennessee, they
Philadelphia,while all othercities were relativelyunimportant.There are grounds
for supposing littlelong-distancemigrationat this time inasmuchas slaverywas
practisedalmostuniversallyin the United States.The New England populationand
othersnorthof the Mason-Dixon Line may be assumed to have originatedfrom
local slaves; Rhode Island and New York State werethe principalnortherncentres
of slaveryduringthisperiod.
During the next20 yearsthe freeNegro populationvirtuallydoubled in size, and
thatwere to distinguishit until
its distributiontookon most of the characteristics
the Civil War. The old populationcentreshad added considerablyto theirnumbers,
withthewholeChesapeake Bay area and theEasternShore Peninsulaespeciallywell
and Washington
suppliedwithfreeNegroes. The urbancentreshad waxed mightily,
and Baltimore,which was surprisinglyinconsequentialin I790, were coming up
rapidlyas competitorswith New York and Philadelphia. A definiteconcentration
of populationappears in south-westernPennsylvaniaand had begun to develop in
south-westernOhio; the Blue Grass Region and the Nashville Basin emergequite
clearly;thefreeNegrohad reachedareas nearthefrontier.In thesouththePiedmont
habitatwas favouredand the coastal plain shunnedsouth of Pamlico Sound except
for Charleston and Savannah. The Louisiana Purchase had added two highly
interestingcontingentsof freeNegroes to the United States: those in the French
ofMissouriand thelargeNew Orleanspopulation,togetherwitha rather
settlements
small ruralgroup in the deltaic hinterland.
Afteri8io the outlinesof the patterndiscernedin thatyearwere filledin more
clearly.The major part of the populationwas still clusteredon or near the coast
between Boston and north-easternNorth Carolina in the map for I830, but this
dwindlessouth-westward
throughthePiedmontuntilthe
singlegrandagglomeration
Cotton Kingdom with its quite infrequentfreeNegro is reached. The upper and
middle Ohio Valley had become the principalpopulationregioninland fromthe
Atlantic Slope with south-westernPennsylvania,south-westernOhio, the Blue
Grass Region,and southernIndiana standingout ratherconspicuously. Both New
Orleansand theruralLouisiana populationhad increasedrapidly. It is probablethat
by thenthe long-distancemigrationshad begun in earnest,a pointin evidencebeing
thesituationin theOhio Valley.The presenceofnearly2000 freeNegroes in eastern
Tennessee suggestsit as a sanctuaryforfugitiveslaves; the annexationof Florida
has, however,added fewerfreeNegroes thanmighthave been anticipatedfromthe
excitementgeneratedin Georgia over slaves departingin thatdirection.
By I850 the populationwas fullydeveloped in the South, and nothingneed be
notedexcept the generalscarcityof freeNegroes in the mountainsof West Virginia
and the verysmall numberpresentin Texas. The Texas situationappears to have
been complex withnegroidpopulationsenteringfromMexico and legal and illegal
fromtheUnitedStates. For reasonsunknown,thefreeNegropopulation
immigrants
394
WILBUR
ZELINSKY
may have shrunkgreatlyin the period just priorto Americanannexation,but we
cannotrelyon the availablestatistics."In the North,urbanpopulationsappearedat
the major Lake ports,and a scatteringin southernMichiganand a clusteralong the
Wabash can be detected. Many moderatelylargeurban and ruralnodes appear in
south-westernOhio, which seems clearlyto have become a favouritedestination
forthe migrant.Withtheexceptionsnoted,thefreeNegro populationofthe Middle
West was sparseand scattered.And, finally,severalhundredfreeNegroes-mostly
male-appear in centralCalifornia.
The eve of the greatcivilconflictfoundthe patternof I850 relativelyunchanged.
and southernMichiganemerges
The Ohio and Indiana colonieshad been reinforced,
in Cass County. On theactual
as a significant
secondaryarea witha largesettlement
::.:. ::::::..:::.:::.::.:.:.:.:::..::
....:...::::.
....::.:::.::.. ::::.............
...............................................................I....................................
..
I
IIUQ
.v.:***..-. ..
::.:.....
.....
-.
e state
t antlc :::
:.::.c.:
::;...::::
Maryland,.
S
Delaware,
-_4
Georgia,
South
Carolina
........
.........................................................................................
.:
:.......
...Flori.......a....SW......slave......states.....
Louisiana,................................Gul...... .Coast......
Ni,
orth
1790
: . : : : :
.. -............................
.:.:.::::: ::::.::.:.
Ketcy
E
1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1850
Tensse
1860 Otherregions
Fig. 5. Free Negro Population by region, I790-I860.
frontierof settlementthe freeNegro was virtuallynon-existentexcept in central
California.There the numberof Negroes in miningcamps was ratherlarge,and
or actual
San Franciscocontaineda sizeablecolouredpopulation.The near-stagnation
of populationin much of the Deep South may be noted.
retrogression
The Canadian situationcalls for briefcomment.2The figuresforthis country,
whose colouredpopulationcame so largelyfromtheUnited States,are mereguesses,
Negroes in the periodjust before
but the best estimatesagree on 30,00040,000
number
I850 when the majoritywere concentratedin Ontario with a significant
residingin the MaritimeProvinces. By I86o the coloured populationof Canada
bysomeIO,ooo, butafterI865 a largenumberoftheseNegroes
mayhave increased
driftedback to the United States.
The regional changes in population distributioncan be betterunderstoodby
consultingFig. 5 wherethe percentageof the totalfreeNegro populationcontained
by each of elevenregionsis shownfortheyearsI790-I860.
The steadyposition
Historical Quarterly,
Cf. H. Schoen, ' The Free Negro in the Republic of Texas', Southwestern
Vol. XL, April I926 and succeeding issues.
2
Cf. Ida C. Greaves, The Negroin Canada, McGill UniversityEconomic Studies, no. i6, Montreal,
1
I930.
THE POPULATION
GEOGRAPHY
OF THE FREE NEGRO
395
maintainedby the states along the AtlanticSlope, which held the principalconis plainlydemonstrated;thesewereareasthatneverlosttheirsupremacy,
centrations,
and theystandin sharpcontrastto the greatdwindlingoffin New England. Of the
inlandareas,onlythe Ohio Valleymaturedintoa majorpopulationregion. A study
of Figs. i and 6 bringsout the areal changesin the relativeimportanceof the free
Negro. There were several areas in the United States which experiencedmarked
.
.e
I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.....
'b?_
Fig. 6. Percentage of free Negroes in total population, 1850.
increasesbetweenI790 and I86o, but themostimportantwas again theregionalong
and nearthecoast fromMassachusettsto NorthCarolina. In contrastto thishearth
area, the freeNegro was generallylosing out to a more vigorousnativewhiteand
immigrantinfluxin the newlysettledregions.While he was slippingin numerical
in the nationas a whole afterthe firstquarterof the nineteenthcentury,
significance
the free Negro continued to advance in the one area wherehe had always been
presentin force. In the i85o-6o decade there appear to have been few decided
areal changesin the relativesignificanceof freeNegroes.
396
WILBUR
ZELINSKY
The semi-logarithmic
plottingof populationgrowthby regionforboth totaland
freeNegro populationenables us by its representation
of relativeratesof increaseto
notethe closelyparallelgrowthpatternsin thefreeNegro and theaggregatepopulationsin Kentuckyand Tennessee and in theOhio Valleyand thedistinctly
disparate
rates in the NorthCentralStates and the Deep South. Other regionsdemonstrate
an intermediatedegreeof correlation.Interestingly
enough,the rate of freeNegro
populationgrowthdoes not equal thatof totalpopulationgrowthin even a single
region after I840, although it had been greaterin the period 1790-I8Io in the
Upper South and was roughlyparallelwiththe increase in aggregatepopulation
thereforthe next30 years.
As regardsthepercentagein the totalNegro communityin thesouthin I790 and
of values in theupperreachesof
I850, except fora not too prominentheightening
Chesapeake Bay, the I790 patternis not particularlymeaningfuland possibly
indicates a stage of rapid but confused evolution; but by I850, when the free
Negro populationhad in many respectsreached its climacticdevelopmentin the
shows thegreatestvalues forthe
south,thenorth-eastern
quadrantof slave territory
defined
increase
toward
freeNegrowitha crudely
thenorth.The AlleghenyPlateau,
the Ozarks,and northernMissouri appear as virtuallynon-negroidexceptfora few
isolated cases which are much more conspicuous on the map than their real importancewouldwarrant.Exceptin theMississippiDelta, portionsoftheGulf Coast,
and northernFlorida,the freeNegrois a rarityin theDeep South,and theinfluence
of Frenchand Spanishsettlement
immediately
suggestsitselfin theexceptionalareas.
The explanationsfor the distributionalaspects of the freeNegro hinge largely
in manumissionrates and the directionof significant
on regionaldifferentiations
of
slavesobtainedtheirfreedomby meansofmanumisnumbers
migrations.Large
sion in Delaware, Maryland,Virginiaand portionsof North Carolina, but it was
exceptionalfora slave to be liberatedvoluntarilyin the newerareas of the south.
An economicexplanationis obvious: theformerregionswerethosewhichexperienced
a protractedagriculturaldepressionafterthe AmericanRevolution,and the period
of mostrapid manumissioncoincidedwiththe timeof maximumeconomicdistress.
Slaves were a liabilityon the worn-outfarmsof the Upper South, but wherethey
were in great demand, as in Arkansas,Mississippi, or western Tennessee, the
prospectfor manumissionwas dim, and the same can be said of Louisiana after
I840.
Legal restrictions
against the freeNegro certainlyplayed a strongpart in
determiningpopulationpatternsin the South and account, for example, for the
trendtowarddisappearancein Arkansasand Mississippi.The concentrations
in the
Blue Grass Region and in the NashvilleBasin may have been largelyresultsof the
economic attractionsof these superiorareas for freemigrants. Historicalfactors
can be invokedto explainthe situationin Louisiana wherethe Frenchand Spanish
socio-economicmilieu had created conditionsfavourablefor the growthof free
Negro population.There was a universaland quite naturaltendencyto gravitate
towardthe large citieswhichwas especiallystrongin the north-east.In the rural
areas of the Middle West we can observeratherrandombunchingsof freeNegroes
which were largelythe work of colonizationor resettlementorganizations.The
THE POPULATION
GEOGRAPHY
OF THE FREE NEGRO
397
westernPennsylvaniaagglomeration
maybe thecombinedresultofa strongdemand
formine and factorylabour and the terminationof severalescape routesfromthe
south.This latterfactorwas evenmoreoperativein thecase ofIndiana and especially
Ohio, fora good manyof the UndergroundRailroad lines led into this narrowest
corridorbetween the south and Canada. The accessibilityof the state and the
strengthof the abolitionmovementtherewere major factorsin makingOhio one
of the chiefconcentration
pointsforfugitiveslaves as well as forlegal migrants.
MIGRATION
In the census of i 86o and in earlierenumerations,data on internalmigrationare
crude or entirelylacking.This situationis aggravatedin the case of the Negro, so
thatwe must relylargelyon indirectsources of evidenceforany understandingof
migrationpatterns.In Fig. 7, which depicts the sourcesof the freeNegro population of eightof the largestAmericancitiesin i86o, the onlyavailable body of publisheddata on migrationhas been presentedgraphically.The patternsforNew York
and Philadelphiaare surprisingly
similarto present-daymovementsof Negroes to
thesecities,and addingtheBostondata,we have a strongly
developedsouth-to-north
muchofwhichmusthavebeenbysea. The immigrants
fromEurope
axis ofmigration,
are a curiousand puzzlingitem; but the small movementfromthe West Indies is
of thingsto come. The Cincinnatiand Chicago data best express
a foreshadowing
two major movementswhichhave combinedto formthatstronglynorth-westward
vectorwhichhas characterizedNegro migrationbothbeforeand afterthe Civil War:
a sizeable streamof migrantsflowingfromthe south convergingwith one moving
westwardfromthenorth-east.In distinctcontrastto thenortherncities,mostof the
population in Baltimoreand New Orleans were born in their respectivestates.
Evidently,migrantsfromotherslave statesby-passedthesemetropolises,preferring
to settleinsteadin thenorth. It maybe supposed,nevertheless,
thatBaltimoreand,
to a lesser degree,New Orleans absorbed many migrantsfromnearby districts
withinthe state.
One mayarguedeductivelythatmigration,bothlegal and illegal,musthave been
especially vigorousin those areas where slave territoryadjoined free soil. This
notionmaybe testedand some indexto thevolumeof Negro migrationacquired by
comparingchanges in the coloured population in the border countiesof border
stateswiththosethatoccurredin the remainingcounties.' This has been done and
the resultstabulatedin Table 2.
Althoughthereis littlefactualproofat the presenttime,it is plausibleto suppose
thatthe greatmajorityof the 4553 freeNegroes makingup the deficiencyin i86o
were migrantswho moved northward,but the situationforthe slaves must have
been more complicated. In theircase not only was theregreatertemptationand
opportunityforescape, but the slave ownersmay have been moreinclined,because
of this hazard, to sell or transfertheirchattelsto less marginallocationsor else to
manumitthem. Nevertheless.this somewhatfictiveparcel of missingslaves must
1 I am indebted to Siebert (The Underground
Railroad, p. 379) for this idea, and have attempted
to carryit somewhat furtherthan he was inclined to.
398
WILBUR
ZELINSKY
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THE POPULATION
GEOGRAPHY
OF THE FREE NEGRO
399
have been predominantly
composedof migrantsto the North,and ifthegreaterpart
of 19,050 Negroes moved fromthis relativelylimitedarea in only io years,the
figureforall of the South must have been quite large in the fullcourse of time.
Table 2. Discrepanciesin Negropopulationchangesin bordercountiesof
borderstatesas comparedwithothercounties,I850-60
State
Missouri
Kentucky
Slave population
-
9,384
-
1,243
Virginia
Maryland
Delaware
-
Total
-14,497
Grand total
Frepultgro
-
38i
i6o
71
-3,962
+
-
657
3,146
67
-
299
-4,553
-19,050
The sex ratiooffreeNegroeshas been studiedbystateswiththeaim ofdiscovering
of males
clues as to thenatureand directionof freeNegro migration.The deficiency
that is particularlyacute in the Slave States may be ascribed to a manumission
differential
favouringfemalesand to theprobabilitythata somewhatgreaternumber
of males thanfemalesparticipatedin long-distancemigrations,
and especiallyin the
UndergroundRailroad, a hypothesiswhich the strongmale componentsin the
states of the Old North-westtend to support. The very great preponderanceof
offrontier
demography.The nearly
males on thewestcoast is chieflya manifestation
normal ratios in the relativelyundisturbedareas of northernNew England may
representtheend-resultof a long periodwithoutmanumissionsand of low mobility,
while the preponderanceof females in Pennsylvaniaand New York is partially
oftheirprincipalmetropolisesforfemalemigrants.
explainedbythestrongattraction
The free Negro populations in Minnesota, Kansas, Arkansas and Texas were
significant.
probablytoo small fortheirsex ratiosto be statistically
In Table 3 we have listedthe sex ratiosforall citiescontaining500 or more free
Negro inhabitantsin x86o. In the great majorityof cases the femaleelementis
much morestronglyrepresentedthanthe male even when comparedwiththe state
figureforfreeNegroes,and the factof this quite unevenparcellingof the sexes in
citiesmusthave been apparentto the people involved.The existenceof a highratio
in Chicago, Buffalo,Troy, Cleveland and Pittsburgh,all of which were important
portsor stoppingplaces on the routesto Canada, lends credenceto the contention
that the physicalhazards of the UndergroundRailroad favouredthe participation
of males. The total picture,then,conformscloselywith the accepted theorythat
males predominatein long range migrationsand femalesin the shortermigratory
movements.
A final but ratherdifficultmethod for studyingmigrationis by means of age
of factorswhichinfluencethe relativeimportanceof
composition.The multiplicity
the variousage categoriesseverelylimitsthe usefulnessof thisclass of information.
differential
and mortality,
Manumissiondifferentials,
differential
migrations
fertility
WILBUR
400
ZELINSKY
and the various peculiaritiesof the large base populationto which the group is
referredmake fora complex interplayof causes. With these reservationsin mind,
it may be statedthata deficiencyin any age group,exceptthe youngest,indicates
emigration,and an excess immigration.The situation for Ohio is rather too
ambiguous to permit interpretationunless we recall that the state had been
receivingas well as sendingout large numbersof migrantsforhalfa centuryand
Table 3. Sex ratioin urbanfreeNegropopulationsof 500 or more,i86o
Pop.
Alabama
Mobile
California
San Francisco
Connecticut
Hartford
New Haven
Delaware
Wilmington
Georgia
Savannah
Illinois
Chicago
Indiana
New Albany
Kentucky
Lontuisvil
Louisville
Louisiana
New Orleans
St Landry
Maryland
Annapolis
Baltimore
Frederick
Massachusetts
Boston
New Bedford
Michigan
Michigan
L
Detroit
Missouri
St Louis
New 7ersey
Camden
Newark
Trenton
87 3
76-8
817
224-5
20 15
92-1
9482
71-8
99-5
58-6
1,176
709
1,488
2,210
912
84.6
99-7
102-7
9 14
89I,9.7
705
102-7
955
78.I
627
7
8 I .7
1,91I7
79-9
71.9
98-5
89-9
8i-I
6745
54-8
87 77II 82
82-3
I0,689
776
826
25,680
1,310
i
77.6
2,26
I,5I5
84.1
1,403
8o-9
1,755
I 110-4
I0-4
92-8
94-7
65-9
74-4
8I 4
778
1,287
Pop.
New York
Albany
Brooklyn
Buffalo
New York
Troy
North Carolina
Newbern
Wilmington
Ohio
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Columbus
Pennsylvania
Carlisle
Chambersburg
Columbia
Harrisburg
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Rhode Island
Newport
Providence
South Carolina
Charleston
Tennessee
Nashville
Nahil7779
Virginia
Alexandria
Petersburg
Richmond
Districtof
Columbia
Georgetown
Washington
89.7
84.4
77 6
I05-9
76-I
89-8
95o5
6i-o
74-2
649
4,313
809
12,472
711
689
573
I012
96.4
105-9
86-9
98-6
73-
8o7
86-2
86-6
70-1
89-2
86-3
72-7
84-8
3,731
799
997
509
524
648
1,321
22,I85
1,154
69I
76-5
1,537
62-7
3,237
94'0
7I9
9I*4
~~~70-1
78?7
79.6
68-9
72-1
1,415
3,244
2,576
1,358
9,209
675
would have achieved an age distributionpatternpeculiar to it; but the data for
Michigan clearlyindicate the in-migration
of youngadults,and especiallymales,
who are the parents of a ratherlarge number of children.The newness of the
Michigan populationis suggestedby the deficitsin the older ages. In the South,
Virginia,Delaware and North Carolina conformnicelywiththe powerfulcertainty
thatthese were major source areas formigrants. Except in the case of Delaware,
the movementwas predominantly
male. The age compositionof the northerncities
is, as expected,quite abnormal,and a recentaccelerationin the influxof young
THE POPULATION
GEOGRAPHY
40I
OF THE FREE NEGRO
adults may be indicatedby the generalscarcityof the aged. In the southerncities
a somewhatless abnormalsituationwith a greaterproportionof childrenand the
aged mightimplythat these cities receivedfewermigrantsthan did the northern
metropolises.
From the foregoingfactsand analyseswe can inferverylittleof value concerning
theabsolutevolumeofeitherthelegitimatemigrationoffreeNegroesor the Underground Railroad except that a good many tens of thousandsof individualswere
involved. Nevertheless,such factsmightbe workedout by means of more refined
statisticaltechniques.
We have in this paper traced the originsof the free Negro populationof the
and attempted
chronicledits distribution,
United States,noted its characteristics,
explanationsfor these spatial patterns.We have closed with a briefand highly
imperfectessay on the migrationsof thisgroup,and as a partingsuggestionit can
of an obscure recordmay yetclarifythe outlines
be hoped thatcloserinvestigation
of a significantshiftin populationand one of the more poorly chartedareas of
Americanhistoricalgeography.
J DIiV
27