Note (return) — Chapter XI

In the sphere of civil rights the Negroes, in spite of circumstances, were making progress, and that by their own efforts as well as those of their friends the Abolitionists. Their papers helped decidedly. The Journal of Freedom (commonly known as Freedom's Journal), begun March 30, 1827, ran for three years. It had numerous successors, but no one of outstanding strength before the North Star (later known as Frederick Douglass' Paper) began publication in 1847, continuing until the Civil War. Largely through the effort of Paul Cuffe for the franchise, New Bedford, Mass., was generally prominent in all that made for racial prosperity. Here even by 1850 the Negro voters held the balance of power and accordingly exerted a potent influence on Election day.179 Under date March 6, 1840, there was brought up for repeal so much of the Massachusetts Statutes as forbade intermarriage between white persons and Negroes, mulattoes, or Indians, as "contrary to the principles of Christianity and republicanism." The committee said that it did not recommend a repeal in the expectation that the number of connections, legal or illegal, between the races would be thereupon increased; but its object rather was that wherever such connections were found the usual civil liabilities and obligations should not fail to attach to the contracting parties. The enactment was repealed. In the same state, by January, 1843, an act forbidding discrimination on railroads was passed. This grew out of separate petitions or remonstrances from Francis Jackson and Joseph Nunn, each man being supported by friends, and the petitioners based their request "not on the supposition that the colored man is not as well treated as his white fellow-citizen, but on the broad principle that the constitution allows no distinction in public privileges among the different classes of citizens in this commonwealth."180 In New York City an interesting case arose over the question of public conveyances. When about 1852 horse-cars began to supersede omnibuses on the streets, the Negro was excluded from the use of them, and he continued to be excluded until 1855, when a decision of Judge Rockwell gave him the right to enter them. The decision was ignored and the Negro continued to be excluded as before. One Sunday in May, however, Rev. James W.C. Pennington, after service, reminded his hearers of Judge Rockwell's decision, urged them to stand up for their rights, and especially to inform any friends who might visit the city during the coming anniversary week that Negroes were no longer excluded from the street cars. He himself then boarded a car on Sixth Avenue, refused to leave when requested to do so, and was forcibly ejected. He brought suit against the company and won his case; and thus the Negro made further advance toward full citizenship in New York.181