3.
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Free-born
| - | A free man of color, autobiography of Willis Hodges, 1849, excerpts (PDF) |
| - | A free teenager, journal of Charlotte Forten, 1854-1858, excerpts (PDF) |
| - | "I was born of free parents," selections from narratives, 19th-20th c. (PDF) |
| - | "Colored we are," the debate over names and identity, 1830s (PDF) |
It is helpful at this point to view some demographic statistics (in rounded numbers):1
- Of the total U.S. population in 1860 (31 million):
Slaves comprised about 13% (4 million)
Free blacks comprised about 1½ (500,000).
- Of the total African American population in 1860 (4.5 million)
Slaves comprised about 89% (4 million)
Free blacks comprised about 11% (500,000).
- Of the free black population, 47% (226,000) lived in free states.
Of the free black population, the percentage of free-born is difficult to determine, yet their influence in the lives of their fellow freemen, newly freed slaves in the North, and later for enslaved blacks, extended beyond what numbers can imply. If one's identity as "American citizen" means "free," then free-born blacks held a unique position among black abolitionists. We look at the early years of two free-born African Americans of very different backgrounds who later became abolition activists in the North.
Willis Augustus Hodges, an African American free-born in Virginia in 1815, intended more with his memoir than simply recording his life. He hoped to counter the prevalent argument that enslaved blacks were happier and more secure than free blacks. "It is, therefore, needful," writes Hodges in his introduction, "that all the facts and light that can be, should be produced to eradicate these false impressions from the public mind." In these excerpts, we read of Hodges's experiences in Virginia and New York City, the events which motivated him to become an active abolitionist and in 1847 to found a newspaper, the Ram's Horn, to further the cause. Hodges completed his memoir in 1849; it was published in the Indianapolis Freedman in the 1880s and later as a book in 1896. He expresses hope and dismay for the prospects of free and enslaved African Americans, particularly their self-identity as manipulated by ill-willed and supposedly well-meaning whites.
When she began her private journal in 1854, Charlotte Forten was the sixteen-year-old daughter of free parents in Philadelphia (and granddaughter of sailmaker and abolitionist James Forten, Sr.; see #4: Entrepreneurs), beginning a new phase of her life as the only African American student in a white school in Salem, Massachusetts. Later she became active herself as an abolitionist—the well-known Charlotte Forten Grimké. Here we read a selection of her journal entries as an adolescent schoolgirl pursuing her personal intellectual interests as well as her burgeoning activism as a free woman of color. (Her 1864 article in Atlantic Monthly on teaching freed slaves in South Carolina is included in #7: Education.)
The WPA "former slave" narratives of the 1930s contain several memoirs of free-born blacks, and we read from a selection in the third selection. Finally, we view the debate among freepersons on the proper term to apply to themselves and their enslaved fellows—Ethiopian, African, Colored, Negro, Afric American? What does each name imply? Does the name make a difference? "Colored as we are, black though we may be," one commentator insists, "yet we demand our rights, the same rights other citizens have." (xx pages.)
Discussion questions
- Compare and contrast the experiences of Willis Hodges and Charlotte Forten. How do they relate to themselves as free-born African Americans?
- How do other blacks—enslaved and formerly enslaved—respond to them? How do they interpret and adjust to these responses?
- How do white people—southern and northern, pro- and anti-slavery—respond to them? How do they interpret and adjust to these responses?
- How do questions #2-3 help us analyze the "identity" of a person or group in the past?
- How accurate can we be? Do inaccuracies invalidate the effort? Why or why not?
- From the readings in this Toolbox, contrast the self-image ("identity") of enslaved blacks, freedmen (freed slaves) and freemen (free-born African Americans). To what extent do their experiences reflect these designations?
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Framing Questions
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How did African Americans construct identity in antebellum America? |
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How did enslaved and free blacks differ in their exercise of power and self-determination?
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How did African Americans define themselves as members of groups?
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Printing
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Supplemental Sites
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| *PDF file - You will need software on your computer that allows you to read and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this software, you may download it FREE from Adobe's Web site. |
Images:
- Willis Augustus Hodges, illustration in I. Garland Penn, The Afro-American Press and Its Editors, 1891.
- Charlotte Forten Grimké, studio portrait, ca. 1870s.
Both images reproduced by permission of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.
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1 Dr. Patrick Rael, Dept. of History, Bowdoin College:
-"Free Black Activism in the Antebellum North," The History Teacher (39:2), February 1996, online at http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ht/39.2/rael.html.
-"Data Analysis: African Americans on the Eve of the Civil War," at http://www.bowdoin.edu/~prael/lesson/tables.htm, citing "Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-1970" [Computer file] (Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 1997).
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