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INGS TOME- Blacks In « Northern Illinois' Past <Eighteenth- in a regional history series by Virginia Differding and Walter Wallace, prepared as a Bicentennial contribution from Northern Illinois University. -- Ed.; Afro-Americans have played a crucial role in the . ex­ ploration, settlement and developmentj of northern Illinois from our earliest history as a territory When the French explored the commercial possibilities of lead mining in Jo Daviess county n the 1680's, black slaves provided the actual labor* When Chicago was no more than a trading post on the edge of a swamp, it was a black man, Jean Baptiste DuSable, who lived there, helped the revolutionary cause against Britain and cultivated the area as a commercial center on the edge of the virgin prairie. Until the U.S. census of 1810, we have no indication how many blacks lived in the Illinois territory. Surely several hundred slaves and freemen were here by the late 1700's. The Illinois slave population in 1810 was estimated at 168. This rose to §17 in 1820, 747 in 1830, then dropped in 1840 to 331 until slavery was outlawed in our state later that decade During this same period, the free black population stood at 613 in 1810, 457 in 1820, 1,637 in 1830 and 3,598 by 1840. Estimates for 1850 stand at 5,436 and for 1860 at 7,628. Such statistics giVe us a way of measuring the past. But what stands beyond them? Most blacks at first lived in the southern part of the state, though there were several hundred in northern Illinois, concentrated in Chicago, Rock- ford and Galena. Some were laborers or servants; others, farmers or businessmen Blacks lived in a situation created for them by white society Even after slavery was abolished, a Black code per­ sisted, creating a reality within which blacks were forced to function. According *|o the Illinois Revised Statutes of 1845„ Chapter 74, blacks and mulattos had to register with local authorities before they could settle in a given com­ munity They were forced to present certificates of, freedom. Without one, a black man, woman or child was( considered a runaway slave and could be arrested and held for periods of six to eight weeks while a local sheriff advertised his or her existence to slave hunters. Blacks were denied the rf&ht to a speedy trial by jury and were subject to punishments such as whippings. For instance, an entire black family was once arrested in Chicago and held for two months before being sent south with slave hunters. It was not unusual for a black person to be arrested as he walked down a street" Also, there is at least one instance where a slave auction was held in northern Illinois, in 1846, when $ freeman was arrested put up for auction by the Chicago constabulary.> Just as bidding started, a group" of whites Sympathetic to the * an ti -slavery movement charged up, a Mr. Ogden tossed 25 cents to the auctioneer and made off with his slave, whom he quickly set free. Even without a Black code, white community standards forced the Afro-American into a second-class ^citizen staftus. ' Blacks in Galena, Rockford and fhicago all too often were harassed and arrested. "A large part of the com­ munity was against them'" reflected L.C.P. Freer in an interview published in the Chicago Sunday Inter-Ocean in 1891. "While recognizing their freedom, they regarded them as slaves by divine right, and believed that they ought to he in slavery." To illustrate his point, Freer recollected the following in­ cident, which took place in pre- "Civil War Chicago. "One day I was sitting in my office when, I heard a man yelling, 'Kill him! Kill him!' I looked out the window and saw a big man weighing about 250 pounds, rushing down the street after a Negro and yelling to the people to kill him. "I thought something serious must have happend, and went down to investigate. I found that the Negro who was fleeing for his life had discovered that he was a free ipan in this state, and when the landlord at the hotel had treated him otherwise he resented it by impertinence. "Thus was his crime, and for this did the landlord want the people to kill him." Set against this early back­ drop and cut off from white society, blacks had to create their own institutions and ^lifestyles for survival Baptist church organizations often served as nucleus of a community. Black churches flourished in Chicago, Rockford and Galena and formed an important network for both social and political action. Through their music, social clubs, self-help organizations, and faith in the for«0i of an enthusiastic apocalyptic Christianity, blacks celebrated life with a tenacity of the human spirit for survival. Insurance societies, fraternal organizations and labor groups organized by blacks sought to relieve poverty and to give .direction to members of the Community. Black Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Tabor sprang up in Chicago and Rockford. Until the outbreak of the Civil War, the foremost political question in the black com-- munity dealt with slavery. Frederick Jackson Douglass and Henry Highland Garnet, perhaps ,the two most in­ fluential national black leaders in the anti-slavery movement of the 19th century, embodied the "new light" faction of „ abolitionism. Their position was clear: that for slavery to end, black people must organize themselves in strong national political movements. True freedom could come only when blacks organized a black movement for themselves. Moreover, they believed, blacks must openly and in a' united front resist the systems of oppression "according to the suggestion of expediency." This position stood in stark contrast to that maintained by William Lloyd Garrisop, , Benjamin Lundy and other white abolitionists who suggested that through moral education a kind of cultural revolution' would destroy slavery as an institution. ^ * The eventual split between black and white abolitionists appears to have roots in the furor aroused by "Waker's Appeal" in 1828. In that ad­ dress, an ex-slave, David Walker, argued that blacks, both slaves and freemen, must violently confront the structure of slavery.1' *' ' "Had you not rather be killed than to be a slave to a tyrant who takes the life of your mother, wife and dear little children?" Walker asked. "It is no more harm for you to kill a mart who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a drink of water when thirsty," Walker added. "The only penetrable point of a tvrar^is fear of death," GarrisOT repeated in 1860. Throughout the country, "Walker's Address" was printed and circulated by black churches and allied abolitionist groups (while it was banned and put down by Garrison and the American Anti-Slavery society). It went through at least four printings in Chicago by 1830. " Confronting their own situation, blacks in our area o r g a n i z e d s e l f - h e l p organizations and labor unions throughout the Civil War. They worked fervently on their own u n d e r g r o u n d r a i l r o a d , especially in Bureau, Cook, Henry, Kane, LaSalle, Ogle and Will counties. Black businesses were started and flourished Throughout the 1850's and 1860's, black labor unions in Cljicago, . notably the longshoremen, fbught • to protect their jobs as free and equal citizens, all too often this took the form of violent con­ frontations in the streets, such as a three day clash in 1862 in Chicago between members of white and black longshoremen associations. A major black self-help organization, which eventually became national, was founded in Chicago in 1863 under the title of the Northwestern Freedman's.', Aid commission. The commission sought to help slaves and blacks fleeing the South, to assist them in establishing new lives. In 1865, the group rose to national prominence as the American FreedmarTs Aid Commission. During Reconstruction and after the Civil War, blacks in northern Illinois strove to stabilize their growing com­ munities. NEXT: Writers' Project in Illinois. TURN ONSl Two New Members Among Hospital Board Nominees Two new board members are among nominees for the board of directors of Memorial Hospital for McHenry County association. Their names will be presented ^to the association's membership along with those of other nominees at the annual meeting Tuesday evening, Jan. 25, at Crystal take >. Association members will be receiving a formal reservation notification in the mail soon, said Bert Hanson, executive director of the county-wide hospital at Woodstock. New board nominees are D. Frank Kelsey, Crystal Lake, and Richard Thompson, Woodstock. Thompson served on the board from 1969 to 1975. Retiring directors include two vetefan directors, Richard . Zieman, who is president of the board, and Kenneth Decker. Both Zieman and Decker are six-year veterans of service to the community as members of the board. Nominated for reelection each for three-year terms each to repfres&it the auxiliary on the board are.-Mrs. Charlotte -Barber. Mrs Bernadette Linder, and- Mrs,. Phyllis ; Habeck. Aft en, the annual meeting at the Branded Steak House, starting at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25. the board will meet to consider the recommended slate of officers: William J.. Caldwell, Jr.. president: Kenneth Schuh, first vice-president. Donald J. Cooney. second vice-president;. Wayne L. Brown, treasurer: and Farlin Caufield, secretary. Annual meeting en^ tertainment will be provided by the Woodstock high school chorus. News reflecting increased use of Memorial Hospital for McHenry County by Doth in­ patients and outpatients will be reported in statistiealdata to be presented in the annual report. One reason for that increase is a result of greater public dependence on the full time emergency service program, Hanson reviewed. The full time emergency service with a physician on duty within the hospital 24- hour^a-day was instituted last July. This data shows the result of that expanded service, with the number of patients cared for by month, first in 1976 and then in 1975: July--b077, 914; August- 1,159-. 7%; September-| ,004, 765: October-1,022, 690;/; November-1,027 , 601: Hanson said the board of directors signed a contract with Critioal Care Medicine associates to supply skilled emergency room physicians for the around-the-clock service. Hanson said the first six months of, the service have been pleasing insofar as meeting the public requirements are concerned. Staff physicians like the decision because it permits them to get proper rest and to care for their own practice. Until July 1, active hosptial medical staff members shared the responsibility. - PAlifc » • PLAlMltALER-MbUN^UAY, JA.MAKY 5, 1977 from HISTORY'S SCRAPBOOK DATES AND EVENTS FROM YESTERYEARS' December 31, 1879 - A New Year's Eve crowd assembles at Menlo Park, New Jersey to witness Thomas Edison's first public demonstration of lighting through the medium of the incandescent lamp. \ . s\ 4 w v . " January 1, 1863 - The Homestead Act of the United States goes i n t o e f f e c t . * , j ' ' ~ V January 2,1960 • Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts an­ nounces his candidacy for the 1960 Democratic Presidential nomination. ~ ^ I * January 3, 1959 - President Eisenhower signs a proclamation admitting Alaska into the Union as the nation's 49th state- January 4,1896 - Utah, the 45th st$te, is admitted int. ,. Union. 3812 West Elm Street Established 1875 / Phone 385-0170 McHenry. Illinois 60050 BUDDYRUFF ITS FINISHED! Air- r-.,r-> ,-r TT i«ttY CMONi... LET'S- m CAN BiJIuP 11 z> r-/iN<=»nc-i^; WE PIPIT tuBgV/ t J - i e S T A N D S UP IT'S <A mobile- HOME' BLlILP JASON IT AROUND WlM SO A wo House: "THE' SIZET WILU ye<S. &JT. K\G>HT XXL GET SOME MA/LS Published Every Wednesday & Friday a? McHenry. Illinois Second Class Postage Paid at McHenry, Illinois " By McHENRY PUBLISHING COMPANY Subscribers are requested to provide immediate notice ot change of address to The McHenry Plaindealer, 3812 W Elm St., McHenry, IL 60050 A deduction of one month from the expiration of a subscription will be made where a change of address is provided through the Posl Office Department j THE MCHENRY PLAINDEALER ' I s \ 1 I I I 1 I Larry E. Lund •• Publisher Adele Froehlich • Editor 7Mttl>Efy WEWSMPEB NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION Fret Press A itr r«w<»< m NNA SUSTAINING 5 MEMBER --1976 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES , 1 Year $10.50 l Year... $15.00 In McHenry and Lake Outside McHenry and County• Lake County 1A/NY CANT GOVERNMENf REDUCE I HON-ESSEHT1AL SPENDING? 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