Unit 4.12 - African Americans in the Early Republic

key terms/events and significance

Free African Americans in the North (ARC)

• 250000 lived in the North (1%) 1860 / represented 50% of all free African Americans in America

• Freedom enabled them to maintain a family & land / discrimination → own Christian congregations

• Freedom ≠ economic or political equality → prejudices / couldn’t vote & hold jobs in skilled professions or crafts

• Immigrants → displaced them from their occupations & jobs since the Revolution

Free African Americans in the South (ARC)

• Freed by White fathers / self-purchase / lived in cities where they could own property

• Not equal with the Whites, not permitted to vote, & barred from certain occupations / constantly in danger of being kidnapped by slave traders / had to show paper to prove their free status

• Stay because they wanted to be near their family members / thought the North offered no greater opportunities

Slave Resistance (SOC)

• Suffered from freedom deprivation / family separation / sexual exploitation → maintained a strong sense of family & faith

• Contested status / restrained actions (slowdowns & equipment sabotage) / runaways with severe physical mistreatment if caught / uprising

Explain how and why slave populations changed in the period.

Slave populations changed due to forced migration and natural reproduction. Many slaves were freed through various means, thus forming their own families and communities.