Benevolent Societies 325took on much more of a community focus as the black free-
men, many from the generation of the American Revolution
and with a full belief in the Declaration of Independence,
worked to abolish the aspects of slavery that were extant in
their communities and for the manumission of the enslaved
populations of their states. In fact, many of these organiza-
tions began to push for an end to the Atlantic Slave Trade
and for the abolition of slavery in the United States.
As more people gained their freedom—whether
through legislation and/or gradual emancipation in North-
ern states or through the mass emancipation that followed
the Civil War in the Southern states—benevolent societies
continued to work for the benefi t of their communities,
providing support in a variety of ways. It was oft en through
the standards set in these organizations and the training re-
ceived there that the new freedmen acquired the tools they
would need to survive in their new environment. Many of
these organizations taught the life skills and deportment
that members would need to be successful in the outside
world. Further, although the majority of benevolent so-
cieties were strictly secular organizations, most stressed
a rigorous adherence to Christian moral character to its
members.
While providing leadership, guidance, and education
for newly freed slaves, these organizations also provided
leadership roles and upward mobility for the founders and
leaders of those organizations. As they worked to improve
the quality of life for their membership, in many cases these
individuals were able to move their own families into the
higher echelons of society. Th ey also became community
leaders on a broader scale as they advocated for the full
equal rights of citizenship for African Americans.
Most early benevolent societies admitted men only to
membership. Some of the earliest were a mutual aid soci-
ety formed in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1780; the Free
African Society in Philadelphia established by Richard
Allen and Absalom Jones in 1787; and the Brown Fellow-
ship Society organized in Charleston in 1790. In the 1790s,
organizations began to appear that admitted women. Th e
Free African Society in Philadelphia turned over its wel-
fare operations in 1793 to the Female Benevolent Society
of St. Th omas. Richard Allen’s wife, Sarah, organized the
Benevolent Daughters in 1796. Other early societies with
women members include the Daughters of Africa, formed
in 1812, and the American Female Bond Benevolent Soci-
ety in 1817.See also: Abolition, Slavery; Colored American Newspaper;
Colored Convention Movement; Th e Elevator
Leslie M. AlexanderBibliography
Alexander, Leslie M. African or American? Black Identity and Po-
litical Activism in New York City, 1784–1861. Champaign:
University of Illinois Press, 2008.
Daniels, Douglas Henry. Pioneer Urbanites: A Social and Cultural
History of Black San Francisco. Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1990.
Taylor, Quintard. In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Ameri-
cans in the West, 1528–1990. New York: Norton, 1999.
Wesley, Charles H. “Th e Negroes of New York in the Emancipa-
tion Movement.” Th e Journal of Negro History 24 (January
1939):65–103.
Wilder, Craig Steven. In the Company of Black Men: Th e African
Infl uence on African American Culture in New York City. New
York: New York University Press, 2001.
Benevolent Societies
Benevolent societies were organizations in the 19th century
dedicated to racial advancement. Th ese associations took a
number of diff erent forms—mutual aid societies, burial and
insurance organizations, fraternal organizations, educa-
tional groups, or community groups—and each developed
to help meet the needs of its members in the community.
Prior to the Civil War, such groups were established in the
slave states among the free people of color, generally among
the elite of the cities, to fi ll the void of services they could
not acquire within white society. Frequently, these organi-
zations provided a burial location for members and their
families, death benefi ts and educational assistance for the
widows and children of members, and relief for the dis-
abled and elderly among their ranks.
In the Northern states, benevolent societies sprung up
alongside the African American churches—or in place of
churches—where they developed as institutional centers of
the community for organization. As with the prewar societ-
ies of the South, these organizations were formed to meet
the needs of their collective membership and their fami-
lies—many of which could not be met in the larger, white
community. Benevolent societies were formed to provide
burial sites and death benefi ts to the members and their
families, as well as educational programs and relief for
members in need. However, the work of such organizations