The Journal of Negro History | Page 3

in other Northern cities during this
period, easily reached the position of thinking that it was a disgrace to
work with Negroes. This prejudice was so much more inconvenient to
the Negroes of Cincinnati than elsewhere because of the fact that most
of the menial labor in that city was done by Germans and Irishmen.
Now, since the Negroes could not follow ordinary menial occupations
there was nothing left them but the lowest form of "drudgery," for
which employers often preferred colored women. It was, therefore,
necessary in some cases for the mother to earn the living for the family
because the father could get nothing to do. A colored man could not
serve as an ordinary drayman or porter without subjecting his employer
to a heavy penalty.[19]
The trades unions were then proscribing the employment of colored
mechanics. Many who had worked at skilled labor were by this
prejudice forced to do drudgery or find employment in other cities. The
president of a "mechanical association" was publicly tried in 1830 by
that organization for the crime of assisting a colored youth to learn a
trade.[20] A young man of high character, who had at the
cabinet-making trade in Kentucky saved enough to purchase his
freedom, came to Cincinnati about this time, seeking employment. He
finally found a position in a shop conducted by an Englishman. On
entering the establishment, however, the workmen threw down their
tools, declaring that the Negro had to leave or that they would. The
unfortunate "intruder" was accordingly dismissed. He then entered the
employ of a slaveholder, who at the close of the Negro's two years of
service at common labor discovered that the black was a mechanic. The
employer then procured work for him as a rough carpenter. By dint of
perseverance and industry this Negro within a few years became a
master workman, employing at times six or eight men, but he never
received a single job of work from a native-born citizen from a free
State.[21]
The hardships of the Negroes of this city, however, had just begun. The
growth of a prejudiced public opinion led not only to legal proscription

and social ostracism but also to open persecution. With the cries of the
Southerners for the return of fugitives and the request of white
immigrants for the exclusion of Negroes from that section, came the
demand to solve the problem by enforcing the "Black Laws." Among
certain indulgent officials these enactments had been allowed to fall
into desuetude. These very demands, however, brought forward friends
as well as enemies of the colored people. Their first clash was testing
the constitutionality of the law of 1807. When the question came up
before the Supreme Court, this measure was upheld.[22] Encouraged
by such support, the foes of the Negroes forced an execution of the law.
The courts at first hesitated but finally took the position that the will of
the people should be obeyed. The Negroes asked for ninety days to
comply with the law and were given sixty. When the allotted time had
expired, however, many of them had not given bonds as required. The
only thing to do then was to force them to leave the city. The officials
again hesitated but a mob quickly formed to relieve them of the work.
This was the riot of 1829. Bands of ruffians held sway in the city for
three days, as the police were unable or unwilling to restore order.
Negroes were insulted on the streets, attacked in their homes, and even
killed. About a thousand or twelve hundred of them found it advisable
to leave for Canada West where they established the settlement known
as Wilberforce.[23]
This upheaval, though unusually alarming, was not altogether a bad
omen. It was due not only to the demands which the South was making
upon the North and the fear of the loss of Southern trade, but also to the
rise of the Abolition Societies, the growth of which such a riotous
condition as this had materially fostered. In a word, it was the sequel of
the struggle between the proslavery and the anti-slavery elements of the
city. This was the time when the friends of the Negroes were doing
most for them. Instead of frightening them away a group of respectable
white men in that community were beginning to think that they should
be trained to live there as useful citizens. Several schools and churches
for them were established. The Negroes themselves provided for their
own first school about 1820; but one Mr. Wing had sufficient courage
to admit persons of color to his evening classes after their first efforts
had failed. By 1834 many of the colored people were receiving
systematic instruction.[24] To some enemies of these dependents it

seemed that the tide was about