Context

The 1849 State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio met at a fascinating point in the history of Black activism in the state. The delegates met in January, just months before many of the state's infamous "Black Laws" were surprisingly abolished by the state legislature. Unable to predict the actions of the state legislature, however, much of the convention centered around the often-repeated pleas for the destruction of said laws. While there is no evidence directly linking the repeal of the Black Laws to this convention, it is worthy of further inquiry.

Another reason why the timing of the convention was interesting regarded a new education law passed just a year prior. In an action that indicated potential successes from the state's previous Colored Conventions, the Ohio General Assembly finally authorized schools for Black children. While such a law marked meaningful progress in acquiring educational opportunities for Black Ohioans, it also contained numerous shortcomings. The law stated explicitly that tax money from white Ohioans could not be used to support such schools, the schools should be segregated, a separate school for Black children would only be created if there were over twenty Black students in the educational area, and white families still had the power to object to their inclusion. The legislature thus opened a pathway for free Black Ohioans to receive an education, but simultaneously undermined it. Delegates at the 1849 Colored Convention discussed how to combat the weaknesses of the law.

One final reason why the timing of the 1849 convention was noteworthy was the occurrence of the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention held in the United States, in the previous year. While numerous Colored Conventions had been held in the state of Ohio prior to the convention of 1849, this was the first convention that contained a record of women delegates. As Jewon Woo argued in her essay for The Colored Conventions Movement: Black Organizing in the Nineteenth Century, the narrative that took shape through the minutes of each convention "centered male voices while the conventions functioned as a stage for Black male leadership."1 In the 1849 convention, however, women in attendance were committed to challenging the status quo. One of these delegates, Jane P. Merritt, submitted the following statement to the convention through her husband:

"Whereas we the ladies have been invited to attend the Convention, and have been deprived of a voice, which we the ladies deem wrong and shameful. Therefore,

Resolved, That we will attend no more after tonight, unless the privilege is granted." 2

In a historic moment for the Ohio Colored Conventions, the resolution was passed. Women would now have a voice in the proceedings.

Colonization

Summary

One of the most heated debates of the 1849 Ohio Colored Convention was regarding the topic of colonization. The proposed resolution strongly and unequivocally opposed submission to schemes of colonization, favoring a firm stance for Black Americans to stay in America rather than emigrate. After a long debate on the floor of the convention, which we unfortunately do not have the full minutes of since the secretary was "obliged to leave," the resolution was assigned to a committee of three delegates. Two of the three members of the committee wrote a majority report condemning the resolution and recommending that the convention reject it. Despite these objections, however, the convention passed the resolution. The State Convention of the Colored Citizens in Ohio had firmly rejected calls from across the nation for Black Americans to leave their country.

Proposed Resolution

Resolved, That we will never submit to the system of Colonization to any part of the world, in or out of the United States; and we say once for all to those soliciting us, that all of their appeals to us are in vain; our minds are made up to remain in the United States, and contend for our rights at all hazards.

The Debate

Support

J.L. Watson of Cuyahoga County stood in support of the resolution. He focused his attention on the "Pilgrim Fathers." He argued that: "But what was it sir, that brought them here? Their indomitable love of liberty. Their unabated hatred to tyranny, and firm resolve to be freemen. Go to Liberia. Become President, Senator, Judge or what not. Come to this country and see how the founders of this scheme will treat you. I hope the resolution will pass."

Walker Depp of Lorain County stood in support of the resolution. Depp "said he never would favor any scheme of colonization, he believed that God created all men free and equal. We have come here for our rights and our rights we will have. His motto should be, "Fight on, fight ever."

Opposition

David Jenkins of Franklin County stood in opposition to the resolution. He believed that there were "circumstances under which it would be beneficial" to emigrate. He argued that "we can never be anything in the United States."

George R. Williams of Ross County also stood in opposition to the resolution. "Mr. Williams thought the resolution ought to be discussed with great care, as it affected not only this State, but every State in the Union. He said that he did not want to look up to the white man for every thing. We must have a nationality. I am for going any where, so we can be an independent people."

John Mercer Langston of Ross County gave a speech in opposition to the resolution and, interestingly, was the only speech that was entirely reprinted in the minutes. See below.

John Mercer Langston

"Mr. President, I regret exceedingly that this question has been forced upon the Convention. But trusting as we do, in the omnipotence of truth, we are willing and ready to 'battle on and battle ever.' The resolution goes against the emigration of the colored people, free and bond, of the United States. I for one, sir, am willing, dearly as I love my native, land, (a land which will not protect me however,) to leave it, and go wherever I can be free. We have already drank too long the cup of bitterness and woe, and do gentlemen want to drink it any longer? The spirit of our people must be aroused, they must feel and act as men. Let them proclaim from hill-top and alley, the memorable sentence given birth to by a Roman slave, 'Homo sum atque nihil humani a me alienum puto.'" The prejudices, he said, were strong in, this country, against the colored man, and he was fearful that they would remain so. He thought we must have a nationality, before we can become anybody. Why sir, the very fact of our remaining in this country, is humiliating, virtually acknowledging our inferiority to the white man; I hope sir, that gentlemen, will vote down the Resolution."

To Committee

Failing to come to a consensus on the resolution through remarks on the floor, the convention chose to send the resolution to a committee of three for further discussion and consideration. The three committee members were J.L. Watson, John Mercer Langston, and W. Hurst Burnham.

Majority Report

Whereas, the question of colonization in the United States, is being greatly agitated, and whereas, certain colored men, together with whites, the United States, have taken a position relatively to the matter which deem incorrect, detrimental and destructive to our interest; and whereas, we deem it expedient for us to define our position on this point, determined at any hazard whatever, never to submit to any scheme of colonization, in any part of the world, in or out of the United States, while a vestige of slavery lasts; therefore,

Resolved, That in the event of universal emancipation, taking our freed brother as our coadjutor and helper in the work, prompted by the spirit of the fathers of '76, and following the light of liberty yet flickering in our minds, we are willing, it being optional, to draw out from the American government, and form a separate and independent one, enacting our own laws and regulations, trusting for success only in the God of Liberty and the Controller of human destiny.

J. Mercer Langston, W. Hurst Burnham, Committee.

Minority Report

Resolved, That we will never submit to the system of colonization to any part of the world, in or out of the United States; and we say, once for all, to those soliciting us, that all of their appeals to us are in vain. Our minds are made up to remain in the United States, and contend for our rights at all hazards.

J.L. Watson

Back to the Convention Floor

While the majority report of the small committee strongly opposed the resolution, that was ultimately only a recommendation to the rest of the convention. Once the matter returned to the floor for all to debate, it quickly became clear that sentiment was in favor of the resolution. Elder Shelton of Hamilton County argued that: "We are free-born Americans, but are robbed of our rights by our American-born brethren. A portion of us have the elective franchise, and exercising that right in common with others, love the soil upon which we were born. I would say to gentlemen, stay where you are, and never think of leaving this land as long as one chain is to be heard clanking, or the cry of millions to be heard floating on every breeze." The convention chose to adopt the resolution, strongly condemning all schemes of colonization.

Sources

1. Foreman, P. Gabrielle (Pier Gabrielle), Jim Casey, and Sarah Lynn Patterson, eds. The Colored Conventions Movement : Black Organizing in the Nineteenth Century. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2021.

2. State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio (1849 : Columbus, OH), “Minutes and address of the State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio, convened at Columbus, January 10th, 11th, 12th, & 13th, 1849.,” Colored Conventions Project Digital Records, accessed November 18, 2024, https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/247.

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