A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

Chapter 14 The Abolition MovementOhio and other states carved from the 1787 Northwest Territory were the refuge of fleeing slavesfor many years before the Civil War. Thomas Jefferson, who was a slave owner himself, wrote in theordinances of the Northwest territory that owning slaves was forbidden in those lands. Congress thenpassed the ordinances. The term abolitionist was later used to describe those who supported theabolishment of slavery. But even in slave free states it was against the law to aid those fleeing theirowners.Lane Theological Seminary was opened in Walnut Hills in 1829. It was Presbyterian in faith andno tuition was charged. The abolitionist, Theodore Weld, lectured there in 1833. As a result of Weld’svisit, the students split into two factions; abolitionists vs. those favoring the colonizing of AfricanAmericans by sending them to Liberia, Africa. The colonization movement was supported by thosethat held slavery as being morally wrong yet they were concerned by the number of free AfricanAmericans in the society around them.Liberia was founded in 1821 by the American Colonization Society with the intention that freedslaves would be relocated to the country of their origin. This plan was supported by the then PresidentJames Monroe, for whom Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, was named. In Cincinnati, Charles McMickenpurchased 10,000 acres (1830) in Liberia. McMicken envisioned his land to be solely for AfricanAmericans from Cincinnati on which a school would be built. Why a school so far away? This wasMcMicken’s answer 18 “...those who are not willing to go to Liberia to acquire knowledge of theduties of freedom, are not worthy of it.”According to Wendell P. Dabney, 19 “Peter H. Clark was then selected to go as explorer to this‘Ohio in Africa.’ But when he reached New Orleans he refused to embark in the dirty lumberschooner that had been chartered to carry him and one hundred and nineteen other persons. The othersstarted.Before getting out of the Gulf of Mexico the unfortunate emigrants were attacked by smallpox.The captain finally put into Charleston, S. C., for medical help. Here all the well ones were put in jailfor coming into the state in contravention of law. After lingering there three months they were freedand set out again on their journey. In less than six months ninety per cent of them were dead.”McMicken in 1848 again contributed money towards the colonization effort. According toDabney 20 “...Mr. McMicken inserted a clause in his will prohibiting colored youth from sharing in thebenefits of any education facilities he might provide for the youth of the Queen City.” McMicken wasthe founder of the University of Cincinnati.For eighteen nights these ‘Lane Debates’ ran with the majority of students favoringemancipation of the slaves. A black student at Lane Seminary, James Bradley, told of his years ofslavery in Arkansas.Cincinnati newspapers covered the ‘Lane Debates’ with disparaging editorials and thepopulation at large was against abolition, trying to force those teaching in the African Americanschools to leave the city. There was a real possibility that the Seminary would be burned, as well asthe houses of the professors.Following their consciences, the students of Lane established an African American school,teaching 225 people twice a week. This action was not sanctioned by the faculty and the seminarywas almost internally destroyed over the divided opinion of the slave question. The studentsparticipating in this work were expelled, the abolition society disbanded and some of the students and18 The Cincinnati Herald, Sept. 20, 197519 Cincinnati’s Colored Citizens, Wendell P. Dabney, pg. 101, 1926. This incident is also in: History of Schools in Cincinnati,Isaac Martin, Chapter XXVI, pages 181-183.20 Op cit.99