Free Negro - Regional Differences

Regional Differences

The lives of free blacks varied depending on their location within the United States. There was a significant free black bias towards cities, as many rural free blacks migrated to cities over time, both in the North and the South. Cities were the chief destinations for migrating free blacks in the South, as cities gave free blacks a wider range of economic and social opportunities. Most southern cities had independently black run churches as well as secret schools for educational advancement. Northern cities also gave blacks better opportunities. For example, free Negroes who lived in Boston generally had more access to formal education.

Before the American Revolution, there were very few free blacks in the Southern colonies. The Lower South, except for its cities, did not attract many free blacks. The number of urban free Negroes grew faster than the total free black population, and this growth largely came from a mass migration or rural free Negroes moving to cities. The South overall developed two distinct groups of free Negroes; the Lower South free Negroes were more urban, educated, and had lighter skin than free blacks in the Upper South.

Even with the presence of significant free black populations in the South, there was still a significant bias towards the North for free blacks. During the nineteenth century, the population of free blacks in the South shrunk as a significant portion of the free black population migrated northward. This migration even moved some of the more prominent and talented free black figures out of the southern caste of free Negroes into the North, draining the south of potential free black leaders.This difference in distribution of free blacks persisted until the Civil War.