David Walker writes an appeal that is a call to action for Black people to advocate for rights. “This country is as much ours as it is the whites, whether they will admit it now or not, they will see and believe it by and by.” (page 62). Walker’s Appeal spread widely up and down the Eastern seaboard
The first of many national “Colored” conventions is held at Mother Bethel AME church in Philadelphia. Colored conventions bought together Black leaders from throughout the United States to align on issues such as abolition, suffrage and temperance.
Black men, including Stephen Smith, voted in Columbia, PA in 1832 (see Gosse, 123). There were also reports of Black men being turned away at the polls in 1830 and 1831.
Nat Turner leads a liberation action to free enslaved people in South Carolina. White people in Pennsylvania react by introducing more legislation to restrict Black rights.
Increased Black organization and political power causes white supremacist lawmakers to propose legislation to prevent rising Black power. Franklin Vansant introduces House Bill 446 to create stronger fugitive slave laws, ban Black emigration, and “regulate the conduct” of Black citizens.
Leaders of the Black community led by James Forten, Robert Purvis and William Whipper draw up a written statement (referred to as a ‘memorial’), opposing HB 446, arguing that they should have full rights as citizens as they are ‘freemen’ who pay taxes.
The early conventions focused on moral uplift through temperance and education and emigration to Canada.
The Black community in Philadelphia is attacked by white mobs for 4 days. 2 people were killed, 40 homes destroyed.
William Fogg, a Black property owner in Luzerne County, PA, attempts to vote. Hiram Hobbs, the elections inspector, turns him away. Fogg sues for his right to vote. The case eventually reaches the PA Supreme Court.
The Pennsylvania Abolition Society creates a committee to ‘Visit the Colored People’, perhaps in response to increasingly biased and false newspaper reporting about Black people
James Forten files a legal document that proves his service in the Revolutionary War. Historian Julie Winch has noted that this may have been a preemptive move to counter perceived upcoming threats to Black rights.
The Pennsylvania legislature meets in Harrisburg to begin to make changes to the constitution. The right to vote is a key issue. Universal suffrage is proposed
Fearing the rise of Black voting power, John Sterigere proposes to insert the word “white” in front of “freemen” in Article III of the PA Constitution. If approved, this would remove voting rights for all Black men in PA.
A large meeting is held at Mother Bethel AME church in Philadelphia to begin drafting a memorial to the proposal to remove Black voting rights. Charles Gardner and Frederick A. Hinton begin writing and complete the memorial with a few weeks but it is not officially submitted until six months later
John B. Vashon, Joseph Mahonney, Samuel Ranyolds, Thomas Knox and Lewis Woodson submit a memorial providing legal arguments in support of Black voting rights. This memorial is called ‘The Pittsburgh Memorial’.
The PA Constitutional Convention becomes known as ‘The Reform Convention’. After submitting the ‘Pittsburgh Memorial’, John B. Vashon and Lewis Woodson go to Harrisburg to observe the proceedings. They report the proceedings to Black community leaders in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
After the summer break, the constitutional convention reconvenes at Musical Fund hall, in the heart of Black Philadelphia.
30 to 40 Black men vote in the Bucks county elections, which may have led to the defeat of county Democrats.
The white press claims the Black votes were ‘illegal’. They claim that Black men are not included in the ‘freemen’ definition of the PA Constitution. The Democrats file suit asking for the votes to be overturned.
Judge John Fox argues that Black votes don’t count and overturns the election. While he does look at intent of the PA founders when they wrote the 1790 constitution, his opinion is influenced by his belief, stated in the opinion, that Black people are “inferior”.
The Pennsylvania Abolition Society and Charles Gardner complete their analysis of census data collected in the year prior and distribute a report to delegates called “The Present State and Condition of the Free People of Color or Philadelphia”
The memorial written by Charles Gardner and Frederick A. Hinton is finally submitted to delegates. The memorial seeks to convince them of the moral, social and financial worth of the Black community.
The Reform Convention votes to insert the word “white” into Article III, Section 1. This defines “freemen” as white only effectively removing the right to vote from Black men. The constitution is changed but still must be ratified by the population of Pennsylvania in October.
JP Burr, James Forten, Jr., John B Vashon, Lewis Woodson and Thomas Butler are singled out due to their race and forcibly removed from the Reform Convention at Musical Fund Hall.
Black community leaders Robert Purvis, James Cornish, J.C. bowers, Robert B. Forten, J.J.G. Bias, James Needham and John P. Burr meet at St
The PA supreme court rules William Fogg cannot vote because he is Black. “Justice Gibson declared that because blacks were inherently inferior they could be excluded from the political process” (Smith, page 295).
The ‘Appeal of the 40,000 threatened with Disenfranchisement’ is delivered first to the Black community at a meeting at First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. It is then distributed widely to Pennsylvania citizens to convince them to vote ‘no’ to inserting the word ‘white’ in the constitution.
A second printing of the ‘Report on the Present State and Condition of the Free People of Color of Philadelphia’ is printed and includes new information on beneficial societies and education. The report is distributed to the public.
The newly built Pennsylvania Hall was the site of the Female Anti-Slavery Convention from May 15-May 18. On May 18, mobs attacked and torched Pennsylvania Hall and it was burned to the ground. There is evidence that municipal authorities allowed the structure to burn
The PA Constitution is ratified by a close vote of 113971 FOR to 112759 AGAINST effectively disenfranchising Black voters.