[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Page Header” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Exhibit Title” module_id=”exhibit-title” module_class=”page-header” _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_color=”#b7b7b7″ header_3_font=”||||||||” custom_margin=”||16px|||” custom_padding=”||0px|||” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”#E09900″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Page Title” module_id=”page-title” module_class=”page-header” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
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Illinois was infamous throughout the free states for its anti-Black policies. The Illinois legislature updated and intensified the state\u2019s racist laws from the 1820s through the 1850s. In addition to requiring that Black people register with local officials and criminalizing African Americans\u2019 public assembly, state laws barred Black people from testifying in court cases involving whites and promised public education to white children only.[1]<\/p>\n
In some locales the laws went unenforced. Still, the Illinois black laws made clear that free African Americans were not welcome in Illinois and not entitled to the same basic rights as white residents.<\/p>\n
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had declared slavery illegal across the entire region (what is now Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin). The Ordinance proclaimed: \u201cThere shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said territory.\u201d[2]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/oldsite.coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2021\/08\/CCP_007_JonesCertificates-1844.jpg” title_text=”Freedom Certificate of Mary Jones” show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||15px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.3em” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]Freedom Certificates of Mary and John Jones, 1844 Yet race-based slavery already existed in many places. French colonists had enslaved Native Americans and Africans since the eighteenth century, and British officials had continued the practice.<\/p>\n After the United States became an independent nation, enslavers implemented \u201cterm slavery\u201d to get around the Northwest Ordinance\u2019s ban on slavery. They brought enslaved people into the state and required them to enter contracts to labor without pay for extended periods of time — sometimes well beyond their life expectancy or as long as ninety-nine years.<\/p>\n Black people and white allies fought against these coercive practices. African Americans sometimes went to court to sue for their freedom, and increasingly they won. In the 1840s, the Illinois Supreme Court outlawed term slavery as well as other legalized forms of bondage.[3]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/oldsite.coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2022\/02\/CCP_157_RunawayNotice-1841.png” title_text=”CCP_157_RunawayNotice-1841″ show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.3em” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Notice of a “Runaway Slave,” Sangamon Journal<\/em>, June 4, 1841. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n But the end of slavery did not mean the beginning of racial equality. As early as 1819, the Illinois legislature enacted \u201cblack laws\u201d designed to deny basic rights to free African Americans. The goal of these laws was to discourage Black people from migrating into the state.<\/p>\n Composed of twenty-five sections, the 1819 black law required Black Illinoisans to provide local officials with documentation showing that they were free and to register with local officials if they wanted to reside legally in a community. Black people who could not prove their free status could be arrested, \u201cdeemed a runaway slave,\u201d and sold to labor without pay for up to one year. The law also \u00a0criminalized the assembly of three or more \u201cslaves or servants of color,\u201d and promised a fine for any person who hired an African American who had not officially registered.[4]<\/p>\n The Illinois legislature updated the black laws many times, and in 1853 it attempted to bar Black migration into the state. Black Illinoisans fought these policies for decades. The legislature finally repealed the black laws on Feb. 7, 1865.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″ admin_label=”Sources”]<\/p>\n 1. \u201cNegroes and Mulattoes,\u201d Chapter LXXIV, A Compilation of the Statutes of the State of Illinois . . . in force Jan. 1, 1856<\/i>, vol. 2 (Chicago: Keen and Lee, 1856), 776-84.<\/p>\n 2. \u201cAn Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio,\u201d July 13, 1787. Journals of the Continental Congress<\/i>, Volume 32, 334-343. Available at https:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/18th_century\/nworder.asp<\/a>.<\/p>\n 3. Darrel Dexter, Bondage in Egypt: Slavery in Southern Illinois<\/i>. (Cape Girardeau, MO: Center for Regional History Southeast Missouri State University, 2011), 10-11; M. Scott Heerman, The Alchemy of Slavery: Human Bondage and Emancipation in the Illinois Country, 1730-1865 <\/i>(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018).<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>(Source: Courtesy of Chicago History Museum, ICHi-031975<\/a>)[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|auto||auto|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
<\/strong>This notice, published in the\u00a0Sangamon Journal <\/i>newspaper, informed readers that a Black man named Henry had escaped from slavery and was being held as a \u201crunaway slave\u201d in the county jail. In accordance with Illinois law<\/a>, the sheriff informed readers that if Henry’s \u201cowner\u201d did not claim him and he wasn\u2019t otherwise \u201clegally discharged,\u201d he would be \u201csold\u201d in front of the sheriff\u2019s office on July 13, 1841, at 10:00 A.M. (The Sangamon County sheriff, William F. Elkin, became prominent in Illinois politics and was eventually appointed to the U.S. Land Office by Abraham Lincoln in 1861.) (Source: Courtesy of Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.)<\/span><\/p>\nSources<\/h4>\n