Freedom for Free Blacks

In the first three decades of the 1800s, the lives of formerly enslaved black men, women and children changed drastically. The Revolutionary War helped lead to new attitudes about slavery, especially among whites in the North. The war inspired a spirit of liberty and an appreciation for the service of the black soldiers. Partly for this reason, some Northern legislatures adopted laws that provided for the immediate or gradual end of slavery. Most Northern states took steps to end slavery.

After the Revolutionary War, numerous free blacks found jobs in tobacco plants, textile mills, and other factories. Some worked in shipyards, on ships, and later in railroad construction. Many of them became skilled in carpentry and others in trades. Some became merchants and editors.

Many of them came together to form communities and founded black churches. Many others, however, became outcasts, gathering in bleak shantytown poverty, depending on charity to survive. Many ex-slaves found themselves unable to do anything but stay right where they were, on white men's farms. Thus, they continued to work in their former owners, probably doing the same jobs, for minimal pay. (DeWan 2006).