The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
"By the following letter from a gentleman on a tour through Virginia to
the editor, it will appear that we are to have a colony of free negroes
(no less than five hundred) planted in our adjoining county. Much as we
commiserate the situation of those who, when emancipated, are obliged to
leave their country or again be enslaved, we trust our constitution and
laws are not so defective as to suffer us to be overrun by such a
wretched population:
"'Richmond, Va., May 10, 1819.
"'_Dear Sir_:--Since my arrival in this county I have understood that
a large family of negroes, consisting of about five hundred, have
lately been liberated and are to be marched to Ohio, and there
settled on land provided for them agreeably to the will of a Mr.
Gess, who formerly owned them. There are persons now engaged in
collecting the poor miserable beings from different quarters and
driving them like cattle to Goochland county, from whence they will
take up their line of march to Ohio. I am told that they are perhaps
as depraved and ignorant a set of people as any of their kind and
that their departure is hailed with joy by all those who have lived
in their neighborhood. Ohio will suffer seriously from the iniquitous
policy pursued by the States of Virginia and Kent. in driving all
their free negroes upon us. The people of Ohio are bound in justice
to themselves to adopt some counteracting measure. Many people here
are of the opinion that we may be compelled to introduce slavery in
Ohio in self-defense, and they appear to be gratified that we are
suffering many of the evils attending it, without (as they call it)
any of the benefits. I have been gratified to tell them what I
believe to be true--that nineteen twentieths of the people of Ohio
are so opposed to slavery that they would not consent to its
introduction under any circumstances; and, although they commiserate
the situation of those who have been liberated and compelled to
abandon their country or again be made slaves, yet in justice to
themselves and their posterity they will refuse admittance to such a
population.
"'Your most ob't., "'A. T.'
"(Editor) We understand from a respectable authority that 270 of said
negroes have landed at Ripley and are to settle near the center of Brown
county on White Oak, the residue of 500 to follow soon
after."--Quillin's "The Color Line in Ohio," pp. 28-29 and _The
Supporter, Chillicothe_, June 16, 1819.
In view of this alarm aroused by the so-called Negro invasion the Ohio
colonizationists availed themselves of the opportunity to set forth their
plan as the only solution of the problem. The following articles are
interesting.
"NEW STYLE COLONIZATION
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account