African Ancestry in Illinois
HISTORY & BACKGROUND A HISTORY OF
AFRICAN AMERICANS
IN ILLINOIS
Illinois
was a part of the Northwest Territory until 1800, Indian Territory from
1800 – 1809, Illinois Territory from 1809 – 1818 and Statehood in
1818. African Americans or Negroes as we were called then
can be accounted for living in Illinois sometime after 1736. James
Rumsey sold a cargo of Negro slaves to the French in the early Illinois
settlement. A number of the Negroes were documented as slaves of these
French inhabitants by 1765. The Ordinance of 1787
(Northwest Ordinance) was drafted by Thomas Jefferson prohibiting
slavery in the Northwest Territory of which Illinois was included. Upon
receiving this news, the French slaveholders began moving away. They
returned only after receiving assurance the law did not apply to slaves
held prior to the ordinance. In 1803, Illinois adopted an indenture law
to bind Negroes to perform hard and tedious work for long periods of
time. This served as a workaround to the Northwest Ordinance, in effect
making the lives of Illinois Negroes not much better than slaves. Slavery
was an issue throughout the history of Illinois. Both pro-slavery and
anti-slavery advocates fought politically for and against legalizing
slavery for many years. In 1818, pro-slavery advocates debated the
Ordinance on the grounds that legalized slavery in Missouri would lure
away the wealthier Southern settlers in Illinois. Although the indenture
law was passed, Illinois politicians such as William Henry Harrison
continued to push to have slavery permitted in Illinois. In 1805 and
1897 even stiffer indenture laws were passed to indenture whole families
of Negroes. Repeatedly petitions were filed during these
years to permit slavery. But according to rumor Thomas Jefferson with
the assistance of James Lemen blocked these petitions. In 1822 – 1823,
a resolution was passed to amend the constitution to allow slavery. An
anti-slavery group lead by Governor Edward Coles and comprised of Morris
Birbeck an English settler and Hooper Warren of the Edwardsville
Spectator to name a few, fought the issue. In the 1824 elections their
arguments won over the pro-slavery proposal and Illinois was declared
free. This did not however, stop kidnappings of Negroes. In
the 1820’s these kidnappings went literally unnoticed. Sentiment was
generally against the Negro anyway. Abolitionist however fought the
issue. One such person was Elijah P. Lovejoy. Lovejoy published a
newspaper, the Alton Observer in which he spoke out against slavery.
Mobs destroyed his presses attempting to discourage him. It was
defending one of the presses that brought about his demise on November
7, 1837. Other abolitionist began to publish literature against slavery.
Some of them were:
There
were still many citizens of the State who were pro-slavery. As more
states were added to the Union, slavery continued to be a political
issue. "Northern men were insisting that there be no further
compromises with slavery’ that the peculiar institution might be
tolerated where it already existed but not elsewhere."[1] This continued debate brought about the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise dealt with the admission of California, Utah and New Mexico as states but omitted any mention of slavery. A work around law was created called the Black Laws in 1853. The Black Laws permitted the sell of any free Black entering Illinois into servitude. Prior to the civil
war, Illinois Democratic sentiment professed loyalty to the Union but
willingness to compromise with the South. Southern Illinois residents
leaned toward the Confederacy and unsuccessful talks of splitting to
form a separate state allied with the Confederacy was held in Williamson
County. When the General Assembly session ratified the
Thirteenth Amendment, the Black Laws were also eliminated. Thus, making
Blacks free.
STATE & LOCAL RESOURCES
African Americans In Illinois by Illinois State Illinois State Genealogical Society Illinois State Historical Library Illinois State Historical Society
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