South Carolina  E. Horace Fitchett observed in his 1940 study of free blacks in Charleston, published in The Journal of Negro History, that early in the eighteenth century continuing into the very early nineteenth century, "there emerged in Charleston a relatively economically independent group of free Negroes." In 1819 they were listed in thirty different occupations, including 11 as carpenters, 10 as tailors, 22 as seamstresses, six as shoemakers, and one as the owner of a hotel. By 1849 there were 50 different types of work listed - including 50 carpenters, 43 tailors, 9 shoemakers, and 21 butchers. By 1860, Charleston's free black men engaged in at least 65 different occupations, although 10 occupations provided employment for almost half of them and 81% of all skilled free black workers. In spite of the many Show The most common black enterprises were small cookshops and groceries, which usually doubled as saloons and gambling houses where free Negroes, slaves, and occasionally whites gathered.Michael P. Johnson and James L. Roark, in their book, No Chariot Let Down: Free People of Color on the Eve of the Civil War, describe the skill[ed] free blacks as the: working aristocracy, an aristocracy with callouses. Their wealth was only a fraction of that of Charleston's white aristocrats, and, unlike the white aristocracy, it did not consist of lush tidewater plantations or gangs of slaves. Instead, it was largely in the form of urban real estate, an outgrowth of their quest for economic security.In spite of their skill and efforts, free black workers still faced many problems in a slave-holding society. For example, Charleston's City Council attempted to fix the wages of free blacks at $1 per day or 12 an hour. In addition, many whites were hostile to the high skill levels of free blacks. While many whites avoided "black jobs," there was increasing competition for jobs by the late antebellum and this increased the hostility of many whites against African-Americans.
In Charleston, if not elsewhere, it appears that freedom and especially the aristocracy, was linked with light skin. Johnson and Roark observe that while mulattoes made up only 5% of South Carolina's slaves, they comprised nearly three-quarters of the state's 9,914 free persons of color just before the Civil War. They also note that Charleston's free colored elite was "uniformly brown, even though about a quarter of the city's 3,237 free Negroes were black."
Where did these slaves owned by other blacks come from? and why? Some authors have remarked that black proprietors, shop owners, and craftsmen were little different from their white counterparts and, when help was needed, they turned to the most available labor supply - African-American slaves. While some purchased family members or friends in order to protect them from the terror of slavery, not all were motivated by humanitarian interests. Fitchett observed that the behavior of at least the brown elite "was a replica of that class in white society which they aspired to be like." More importantly, he explains that: It is fair to say that the upper caste free Negro served as a custodian of the [white] system. He interrupted plans which the detached, discontented, underprivileged Negroes designed to overthrow or to offend the mores of the system.The practice of the elite free blacks owning slaves increased the social distance between the two groups and greatly increased slave suspicions of the free group. This was reinforced by the difference in skin colors - while slaves were largely a black group, the free black ranks were dominated by mulattoes. These factors made it much more difficult for the elite free persons of color and freed black slaves to forge a united front after the Civil War. Fitchett observed in 1940 that, "one of the characteristics of the free Negro of Charleston . . . is that it was a class-conscious group; and identified its interest, loyalties, and manners with the upper cast members of the society in so far as that behavior did not offend or disturb the status quo." We shouldn't, however, judge these free blacks harshly. They lived in a hostile society where blacks were assumed to be slaves and freedom was tenuous. Regrettably, this gulf between the "average" free person of color and the "brown elite" has not been well studied by historians or archaeologists. It's important to remember that more than 75% of Charleston's free African Americans were propertyless and only about one out of six heads of household owned property worth $2,000 or more. There was a broad economic - and likely societal - gulf between Charleston's free black aristocracy and the vast majority of the "free persons of color." Berlin notes that most black women worked at "menial, servile occupations," since Southern cities such as Charleston offered few opportunities for employment of women, regardless of color. He comments that: Like poor white women, most free Negro women worked as cooks, laundresses, housekeepers, and peddlers. But many more free Negro than white women were forced to work. The social imbalance of the free Negro caste in the cities placed many black women at the head of their household, and even when a man was present, his income was often insufficient to support the family.This was made a more pressing problem by the disparity in the sexes. In 1861 there were 56 free black men for every 100 free black women. Since the vast majority of the free persons of color were little better than slaves themselves, many formed strong bonds with the slave community. In particular, Charleston's African Church was especially important for bringing the two groups together.How did the antebellum period affect slaves?During the roughly 100-year Antebellum era the demand for slave labor and the U.S. ban on importing more slaves from Africa drove up prices for slaves. This made it profitable for smaller farmers in older settled areas such as Virginia to sell their slaves further south and west.
What problems did slaves face when they were free?Hundreds of thousands of African Americans in the South faced new difficulties: finding a way to forge an economically independent life in the face of hostile whites, little or no education, and few other resources, such as money.
What was slavery like in the antebellum era?The punishments took many forms, including whippings, torture, mutilation, imprisonment, and being sold away from the plantation. Slaves were even sometimes murdered. Some masters were more "benevolent" than others, and punished less often or severely.
What was a problem that free African Americans faced in the 1700s?They could be kidnapped and sold into slavery. They could not choose where to work. They were not allowed to seek an education.
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Why was finding employment and supporting a family difficult for free blacks during the antebellum period?
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