Introduction
An African American family gathers around to listen as a man reads a newspaper and a child uses a torch to illuminate it.
Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Soldier Examining Newspaper By Torchlight As Others Watch, Civil War Era." New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Black activists fiercely resisted the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, which forced states to participate in recapturing alleged fugitives. The law preyed not only on formerly enslaved persons but also free African Americans. Activists responded in various ways: they took slave catchers to courts, harbored fugitives, held meetings, and so forth. At the height of the law's enforcement, many African Americans saw that their future in the United States was bleak. Emigration, therefore, became an alluring, possible solution.
Whether it was best for African Americans to stay in the U. S. or to seek a better life elsewhere was the central question of the 1854 National Emigration Convention held in Cleveland, Ohio. Prominent Black Ohioans took the stage to express their support for and opposition to emigration. Mary Bibb, a staunch emigrationist who moved to Canada West upon the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, served as delegate and Third Vice President in the Convention. Numerous other African American women held official positions in the convention. These women's delegacy marks a shift in convention culture.
This exhibit looks at the debates and discussions within—and that surrounded—the convention. Sections of this exhibit also explore Black women's participation both in the emigration movement. We drew upon many nineteenth-century Black newspapers to examine the role of Black press in furthering the reach of Colored Conventions. The exhibit, therefore, tackles the ways The North Star, Frederick Douglass’ emerging prominent paper, covered the reports of and debates in the 1854 Convention. While the goals of nineteenth-century Black activists unified many of them, consensus was not always within reach.
Introduction written by Samantha de Vera, University of Delaware, Fall 2016.
Edited by Sarah Patterson.
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Credits and Citations
Curators: Part A: Ashley Durrance, Hannah Harkins, Nicholas Palombo, Leslie Rewis. Part B: Melanie Berry, Christy Hutcheson, Eli Jones, and Morgan Shaffer. Taught by: Benjamin Fagan, Auburn University, Fall, 2016.
Edited by Samantha Q. de Vera, Simone Austin and Sarah Patterson.
The Colored Conventions Project proudly partners with national and local teaching partners and student contributors to bring the buried history of nineteenth-century Black political organizing to digital life.
Special thanks to Gale®, part of Cengage Learning for granting permission to host digital images of newpapers in their database, 19th Century U.S. Newspaper and to Accessible Archives for permission to host digital images of newspapers in their database African American Newspapers: The 19th Century in this exhibit.
