How Free Were Blacks in the North

Yesenia Fajardo

Mr. Howe

U.S History 2408-1140

12 December 2016

How Free Were Free Blacks in the North?

           James Baldwin once said “To be born in a free society and not to born free is to be born into a lie” many African Americans were restricted of doing numerous amount of things due to racism. In 1850, 14% of Americans were considered to be African American. This was four and one-half million African Americans, but not all were slaves. 10 years later, in 1860, 476,000 blacks were free. They were all scattered, 250,000 of them lived in the South, 221,000 in the North, and 4,000 lived in the West. Most importantly, the North was split into three region- New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and the Midwest. The North was large and was industrialized and started to embrace the idea of capitalism. Slavery was outlawed, but in some states the Gradual Emancipation law had to be passed first before slavery would end immediately. Free blacks were not anywhere close to being free in the North. What free really means is not being under control or in the of another individual, and to be able to act or be done as one wishes. Free blacks in the North were not free at all for the following reasons; Blacks could not vote, were strongly discriminated by Whites and felt inferior to whites.

        Blacks in the North, were not slaves,but they did not have equal rights as whites did. The New England region was by far, the most free region out of the 3 that existed. No states allowed blacks to vote except for 5 out of the 6 states in the New England region (Doc. A).  The one state that did not allow blacks to vote was Connecticut, the other blacks were given that freedom to vote. One out of the 16 states throughout the 3 regions, allowed blacks to serve jury duty. The majority of blacks did not have as many opportunities as other blacks did. “No other states allowed blacks to serve jury duty either except for Massachusetts” (Doc. A). Some blacks in the North were given the opportunity to vote, but they were not allowed for any reason to serve jury duty. There is very little freedom given to the blacks in which does not meet the standards of the significance of what “free” really means.

       The North’s population was not just made up of blacks, there were whites as well. The white population in the North was very racist that Mackay said “We shall not make the black man a slave; we shall not buy him or sell him; but we shall not associate with him” (Doc. B). The level of discrimination towards blacks was very high, considering that they did not associate with them in any way. This of course made blacks in the North feel uncomfortable knowing that they were not welcomed by the whites. Blacks basically had no rights, since every single one of their actions had to be approved by the whites. They were not able to be themselves, but had to be what the whites wanted them to be. “We are another race, and he is inferior: Let him know his place - and keep it” (Doc B). No white man can ever  compare himself to a black man, because  their viewpoint consists of whites and blacks to be extremely different and inferior. Blacks in the North were absolutely not given any freedom whatsoever, meaning, free blacks are not really free.