The Free Negro in north Carolina
John Hope Franklin's "The Free Negro in North Carolina, 1790-1860", written in 1943, examines the growth, legal status, and economic and social life of the free Negro in North Carolina. Franklin's purpose was to clarify and explain the status of the free Negro in North Carolina, and how the free Negro's status related to the rest of the population.The author revealed the advantages and disadvantages of being a free Negro in antebellum North Carolina through extensive research on laws passed during that time, statistics, and scores of other sources. Franklin discussed in great detail the population growth and the legal status of the free Negro in North Carolina. The free Negro population in this area grew in many ways. Natural increase, manumission of slaves by their owners, influx of runaway slaves, the immigra
In conclusion, I would recommend this book because of the wealth of information based mainly on facts, and not on the author's opinions. Franklin gives several reasons for the liberalism, "economic instability of the slave system, the unsettled state of the economic and social life, the presence of a large yeoman class, and the inarticulateness of a predominantly rural population. " Franklin's writing does not give the impression he believed North Carolina to be kind to the free Negro. There was a belief among the white population that it was important to rid North Carolina of the free Negro. In North Carolina there was great hostility toward the presence of the free Negro. The economic and social life of the free Negro was directly impacted by their legal status. However, North Carolina was one of the most liberal Southern states in enacting free Negro laws and enforcing existing legislation. Franklin's information flow is broken down into easily understandable sections, and he attempts to cover all aspects with painstaking accuracy, resulting in a thorough and high-quality work on the subject of the free Negro. This forced the free Negro to be economically and socially self sufficient, with little or no relations outside of their population. It appears however, that he believes they were not as harsh as the other Southern states. tion of slaves from other states, and free Negro's who purchased their friends and relatives out of slavery were all reasons the free Negro population grew in North Carolina. The author's findings on the subject of free Negros in North Carolina are interesting, but also horrifying due to the circumstances of the era. " The author's opinion of the legal system towards the free Negro questions how much freedom even the free Negro population actually had. Religious practices were also restricted because the free Negro population was unable to economically support separate churches and there were limited opportunities in the white and slave churches. Education was extremely limited for the free Negro, with the few literate free Negros coming out of the apprenticeship system rather than any formal education.
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