344 Political Activity and Resistance to Oppression: From the American Revolution to the Civil War
purpose of investigating the possibility of Canadian migra-
tion. Shortly thereaft er, they commenced their most infl u-
ential activity; they issued a call for Northern black leaders
to craft a unifi ed position on colonization and emigration,
either to collectively remain or to leave. Among those to
receive the appeal was Hezekiah Grice, a well-respected
activist in Baltimore who had been a longtime supporter
of emigration. Grice replied enthusiastically to the idea
and sent a circular to his brethren throughout the North
requesting their attendance at a convention to discuss the
black community’s destiny. In response, Grice received an
urgent message from Bishop Richard Allen of Philadelphia.
Apparently, Allen had seen the letter from New York activ-
ists endorsing the conference and expressed concern that
the New York contingency would gain the upper hand. As a
result, Allen and a group of local leaders immediately orga-
nized a national convention to be held in Philadelphia later
that year. Th ese events ultimately served as the foundation
for a series of meetings that brought black leaders together
from across the North for the fi rst time in history. How-
ever, a cloud of division hung over their endeavors from
the beginning, given that New Yorkers boycotted the fi rst
round of proceedings out of disgust for the Philadelphians’
attempt to hijack the movement.
As a result, the fi rst three national conventions were
held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although the fi rst con-
vention was not widely attended, it gave birth to the idea
that it was important to communicate with the black com-
munity nationwide. On September 20, 1830, 40 delegates
attended this fi rst convention. Th ey arrived from seven
states and met at the historic Bethel Methodist Church in
Philadelphia. Richard Allen, the Bishop of the Negro Con-
vention, was elected president. Recognizing that they were
risking their lives and threatened by violence, the mem-
bers met in secret the fi rst fi ve days and then decided as
a convention to operate in open session. Concerns about
the dangers of holding a national convention were not un-
founded, considering that two years later, at the third con-
vention meetings, the governor of Virginia, John Floyd, had
a spy reporting back to him the substance of the discussions
and the names of all that attended.
Th e convention organized the “American Society of
Free Persons of Colour, for Improving Th eir Condition in
the United States; for Purchasing Lands; and for the Estab-
lishing of a Settlement in Upper Canada,” with auxiliaries
to be established in every community. Each auxiliary wasHutton, Frankie. Th e Early Black Press in America, 1827 to 1860.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Jacobs, Donald M., ed. Antebellum Black Newspapers. Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press, 1976.
O’Kelly, Charlotte G. “Black Newspapers and Black Protest
Movement: Th eir Historical Relationship.” Phylon 43, no. 1
(1982):1–14.
Penn, I. (Irvine) Garland. Th e Afro-American Press and Its Editors.
New York: Arno Press, 1969.
Pride, Armistead Scott. A History of the Black Press. Washington,
D.C.: Howard University Press, 1997.
Colored Convention Movement
Th e colored convention movement was a series of confer-
ences held by northern blacks in the 19th century. Initially,
the colored conventions were designed to settle a funda-
mental question within the black community: should free
blacks emigrate from the United States and relocate in a
more welcoming country, or should they fi ght for aboli-
tion and citizenship in the United States? Ultimately, the
delegates resolved to stay and agitate for their rights in the
United States, and thus, the conventions served as an op-
portunity to articulate the black leadership’s views on a
wide variety of issues ranging from education and morality
to abolition and suff rage.
By 1830, 319,000 free blacks lived in the North, re-
sulting from manumissions in the South and Northern
gradual emancipation. Cities such as Philadelphia, New
York, and Cincinnati grew exponentially. Northern African
Americans used their conventions to combat the prejudice
spurred by job competition from immigrants of European
and Mexican descent, poverty and crime in the cities, and
the ideas of black inferiority used to justify racism and black
oppression and to separate themselves from white antislav-
ery societies whose agendas were oft en riddled with contra-
dictions and who oft en incompletely addressed the issues
facing the entire black community. In short, black men
and women in the convention movement sought to reform
American society in how it viewed race, black suff rage, and
the processes by which full equality could be achieved.
Contrary to popular belief, the origins of the colored
conventions emanated from within New York City’s black
community. Early in 1830, a group of black activists, in-
cluding Peter Williams Jr., Th omas L. Jennings, and Th eo-
dore Wright, formed the Wilberforce Colony Society for the