1848 Colored National Convention facts for kids

The 1848 Colored National Convention was an important meeting held by free Black men in the United States. It was part of a larger series of meetings called the Colored Conventions Movement. This particular convention took place from September 6 to September 8, 1848, in Cleveland, Ohio, at the local courthouse. During the convention, members voted on 34 different ideas, called Resolutions, to help improve the lives of African Americans.

The Colored Conventions Movement

The Colored Conventions Movement started in the 1830s and continued to meet off and on until 1893. The main goal of these conventions was to help Black people gain freedom and draw attention to the rights that enslaved people and free African Americans should have under the U.S. Constitution. These meetings brought together free African Americans from states like Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, New York, and even Canada.

Important People at the Convention

Many important leaders attended the convention. Frederick Douglass, a famous activist who fought for equal rights, was the president of the meeting. J. Jones served as the vice president, and William H. Day was the secretary. Other vice presidents included Allen Jones (from Ohio), Thomas Johnson (from Michigan), and Abner H. Francis (from New York). William H. Burnham and Justin Holland, both from Ohio, were assistant secretaries. Other notable members included M. R. Delaney, H. Bibb, and G. W. Tucker.

What Happened at the Convention

The convention officially started on Wednesday, September 6, 1848, at 10:00 a.m. The first part of the meeting involved calling out names to see who was there and assigning people to different roles. Later that day, the president gave a speech, and everyone sang a song about freedom. More speeches and freedom songs followed, ending the first day.

The second day began at 9:00 a.m. with a prayer. After another roll call, the group approved the notes from the previous day. Then, they started discussing the important Resolutions. They took a break while talking about the eighth Resolution. The meeting continued in the afternoon with more prayers and discussions. The day ended with everyone singing "Come join the Abolitionists".

On Friday, the convention started again at 9:00 a.m. with a prayer. They took a short break after sending a summary of their discussions to be published. The final part of the convention began at 2:30 p.m. with another prayer.

Key Ideas Discussed

The main purpose of the convention was to find ways to challenge the unfair treatment that African Americans faced. They also wanted to find ways to help Black people achieve more equality with white people. The convention suggested that African Americans needed to get more education. They believed that instead of working *for* white people, Black people should work *with* them.

The leaders felt that African Americans should expand their minds and become more educated. This would help them challenge those who opposed equality for everyone. To achieve this, they suggested reading newspapers and books to improve their knowledge and help Black people rise to the same level as white people.

Here are some of the important ideas, or Resolutions, they discussed and voted on:

• They wanted equality for all people and opposed anything that put people down.
• Everyone should have the same chances to learn trades and jobs.
• Education was very important, especially for children, who should at least get a business education.
• They suggested forming a group to bring people together and focus their efforts on freedom and equality.
• They believed liberty was the most important thing and should never be given up.
• Slavery was seen as the worst thing, and they agreed that everything possible must be done to end it.
• They wanted to know how many Black people lived in the North, so ministers were asked to count them and send the information to the next convention.
• Staying sober was seen as a good way to improve their community, and they suggested forming groups to encourage this.
• They strongly supported the Free Soil Movement and the Buffalo Convention, which aimed to stop the spread of slavery. They wanted to be known as abolitionists, meaning people who wanted to end slavery.
• They believed liberty was a right for everyone and encouraged enslaved people to try to escape whenever they had a chance.
• They promised to help their fellow Black people who were still enslaved to escape.
• They strongly encouraged children to attend schools.
• They wanted a political party to be created that supported "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Men," and everyone should support it.
• They thanked Frederick Douglass for leading the convention fairly.
• They recognized they needed to learn more about military tactics and weapons to be better prepared. They planned to create "Vigilant Committees" for this.
• They thanked the people of Cleveland for their help. They also praised The North Star newspaper, edited by Frederick Douglass, saying it was very important for helping Black people improve their lives.
• They wanted annual conventions to continue meeting and asking lawmakers to get rid of "Black Laws" and all laws against enslaved people and African Americans.
• They believed that "taxation and representation ought to go together," meaning it was wrong to pay taxes without having a voice in government.
• They criticized Christian churches in America that supported slavery.
• They wanted to support other conventions that fought for suffering people.
• They planned for the next convention to be held in Detroit or Pittsburgh in 1850.
• They condemned the American Colonization Society, a group that wanted to send free Black people to Africa, calling them dishonest.
• They believed that in God's eyes, prejudice against people because of their skin color was wrong and unnatural.
• They believed in the equality of men and women, and women were encouraged to join future conventions.
• They decided that criticizing white people only made prejudice worse and should be stopped.

Women's Role in the Movement

Even though women were not officially part of this specific convention, Resolution 33 was changed to say: "Whereas, we fully believe in the equality of sexes, therefore, that we hereby invite females hereafter to take part in our deliberations." This meant they wanted women to be involved in future meetings and discussions.