New York City in the 1830s was an eclectic mix of ethnic cultures, native languages, social mores and above all - post-slavery tensions..
In 1799, legislators in the state capital, Albany, began the emancipation process of blacks by passing legislation freeing all children born to slaves on and after 4 July 1799. For slaves born prior to that date, freedom would have to wait until 1827. Even then, ex-slaves were to serves a period of indentured servitude to their masters for up to twenty years. For some slaves, even freedom was not free.
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As the recently liberated blacks began to compete with ever larger pools of Irish and Italian immigrants for unskilled jobs, the number of racial incidents began to increase. In the autumn of 1833, James Watson Webb, a former duel-prone army officer who published the New York Courier and Enquirer newspaper, was again looking for a fight. Rather than challenging a man to fire pistols at ten paces, however, Webb had decided to round up a band of racist and resentful men to break up a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society. Although unsuccessful, it was an ominous sign of the thinning socio-economic fabric loosely holding whites, newly freed blacks and the fragile economy together.
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Although blacks had had their shackles removed, what should be done with them? As some believed that the legacy of slavery and reigning discrimination were two insuperable obstacles to overcome, a significant group of whites and a small minority of blacks supported 'colonization' or removal of blacks back to Africa. Not only was this idea wildly unpopular in the black community (For good or ill, America was their home) but it was also excoriated by both white and black abolitionists.
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In early 1834, unsympathetic whites to the plight of ex-slaves began a propaganda campaign on this very subject. They 'accused' abolitionists of wanting to allow blacks to be fully integrated into society. Their incendiary rhetoric charged abolitionists with wanting to have blacks and whites sit in school together, dine in public together and work together. While true of some abolitionists, most of them (including blacks) supported a more modest plan for racial co-existence. Of all the charges made by the anti-abolitionists, however, the one accusing all abolitionists of wishing to allow interracial marriage ultimately pushed New York City over the edge in the early stages of summer. After decades of being the greatest slaveholding city in the North, white citizens simply could not process the notion of Africans, still deemed by many as quasi-barbaric, marrying their daughters.
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On Independence Day, angry mobs confronted a group of abolitionists celebrating the 4th of July. Three days later, a double-booking of the Sacred Musical Society (all white musicians) and a group of blacks scheduled to celebrate their Emancipation Day resulted in fisticuffs. In short, the Sacred Music Society lost. When word got out of the 'assault' on the 'Sacred Musical Society' by a group of ex-slaves, angry mobs of whites formed mobs and began a campaign of violence and intimidation on both blacks and abolitionists of any color. Over a three day period, houses were burned, property destroyed and several blacks (and those sympathetic to them) were attacked on the streets.
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The consequences were both immediate and contained a long-term impact. Those who had been campaigning for equal rights for blacks retreated and often muted their voices on important issues of fairness and equality. Samuel Cornish (pictured), a black Presbyterian minister and abolitionist, became even more temperate, if not almost meek, in his approach to the cause of his own people. After the riots, Cornish essentially declared himself wholly supportive of the New York State law against interracial marriage in order to assuage the fears of white establishment. He was not alone. If segregation and discrimination were unacceptable, public disorder, violence and chaos were even more so.
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In short, the forces of ignorance and violence had won. The drive to give blacks a semblance of dignity after years of unspeakable humiliation yielded to fear and self-interest. Supporters of black rights became docile and clung to an ideology of 'gradualism' for the betterment of ex-slaves. As a result, another generation of blacks was lost to quasi-citizen status - in utter violation to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
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Should Samuel Cornish and abolitionists be judged as failures and/or possibly cowards? Or were they simply acting maturely and prudently under the circumstances?
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Let history decide.
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(Picture - Samuel Cornish)
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J Roquen