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- Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 12:42:04 -0500
- Sender: History <HISTORY@PSUVM.BITNET>
- From: "Philip J. Schwarz" <pschwarz@CABELL.VCU.EDU>
- Subject: Re: i'm curious...
- In-Reply-To: <01GTXG64HRVM8Y5ZN4@Gems.VCU.EDU>; from "Ken Koester" at Jan 25,
- 93 7:56 am
- Lines: 45
-
- In reply to questions about the free black population and free
- black slave holding I offer the following figures and brief
- remarks--once again, focussed on Virginia:
-
- Free Black Population of Virginia, 1790-1860
- Free Black % change, prev. growth rate, FB % of total
- Year Population decade prev. decade population
- 1790 12,866 ---- ---- 1.7
- 1800 24,901 93.5 .068 2.8
- 1810 37,281 50.0 .041 3.8
- 1820 44,729 20.0 .018 4.2
- 1830 55,307 23.6 .021 4.5
- 1840 58,435 5.7 .0005 4.7
- 1850 54,333 -7.0 -.0007 3.8
- 1860 58,154 7.0 .00068 3.6
-
- Note: I computed these figures 8 or 9 years ago. I have not
- checked them since. In the words of Jackson Turner Main about a
- preliminary table he once presented, "place no bets."
-
- These population data reflect the impact of the 1806 and 1816
- legislation. The difference between the measures of change in
- 17990-1800, 1800-1810, and 1810-1820 resulted from decreasing
- emancipations and decreasing numbers of free blacks who stayed in
- Virginia after being freed. Most growth resulted from
- reproduction. The 1806 and 1816 laws were not consistently or
- regularly enforced, but they presented an obvious danger to free
- African Americans.
-
- Free black slave holding: New laws of 1832 and 1857 sharply
- curtailed slave holding by free blacks. This was whites'
- intervention rather than African Americans' decisions at work.
- For perspective on this subject see Loren Schweninger's _Black
- Property Owners in the South_, which cites the standard sources.
-
- ****************************************
- *** ***
- *** Philip J. Schwarz ***
- *** Department of History ***
- *** Virginia Commonwealth Univ. ***
- *** Box 2001 ***
- *** Richmond, VA 23284-2001 ***
- *** pschwarz@cabell.vcu.edu ***
- *** ***
- ****************************************
-