THE POSTBELLUM SOUTHERN CONVENTIONS MOVEMENT AND EMIGRATION DEBATE

"Louisiana - National Convention of Colored Citizens, in the house of Representatives, at New Orleans, April 10th," (1872). Image Courtesy of the Library of Congress. 

 

Although more attention has been paid to the Colored Conventions movement in the antebellum era, more conventions continued and flourished in the era after the Civil War. The map below illustrates the chronological progression of all currently known Colored Conventions with known locations that occurred between 1865 and 1879.

The Colored Conventions movement flourished in the South as well as the North following the Civil War. Formerly enslaved persons seized the opportunity to freely organize, defying escalating attempts to deny their civil rights. Explore the following pages of this section to learn more about the conventions themselves and their delegates and attendees.

Below is map that shows where Colored Conventions were held after the Civil War. Click on each point to read the minutes of the convention. Some minutes are still unavailable. 

Map rendered by Samantha de Vera. Data used for the map above is based on Colored Conventions Projects' records from Spring 2017.