Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-02-04
FREE NEGROES OF NORTH
CAROLINA

important changes, such as the disfran-
| chisement of the boroughs and the re-
moyal Of the gubernatorial election from
| the legislature to the people, also dis
| franchised the free negroes. Hitherto
there had existed in this State the strange
anomaly OF class incompetent to tes-
tlfy in court. and otherwise almost as
| destitute of rights as brutes, exercising
a function everywhere deemed the first
of privileges, and which the vast mass
| OF freemen in the most enlightened coun-
tries OF the world are yet striving to at
tain But even prior to their disfran-
chisemcnt the free negroes were too timid
and lethargic ever to possess even the
modicum OF political influence to which
their numbers would seem TO have en-
| titled them. In few of the northern
counties only do they ever seem to have
become an object to demagorues There
is still a tradition among them in Gran
vile county that they lost the franchise
on account of their persistent support
| OF the notorious Potter. Potter. though
a man ofparts and a natural orator, was
a consummate demagogue and violent,
INSCRIPTIONS man, whose new departure
in iniquity evoked special legislation.
Toward the last, the free negroes falling
more and more into disrepute, their sup
| port carried such a stigma with it as 10
be an element of weakness rather than
| OF strength to a candidate. More than
| one candidate of those days, twitted by
his opponent on the stump about this
element Of his constituency, relorted by
declaring his willingness to throw out
/ fpna- lalfcJ : 4.
would do likewise.
After this period, the life of the free
negro grew unspeakably harder Not
so much that the laws were harsher, but
because the attitude of the whites be-
came and continued more hostile. Nei-
| Their the harshness nor the leniency of
the laws was of great moment to him.
who could in no wise put them in oper-
| alton even for his own protection. His
| lot added the disability of the slave to
| the responsibility of the freeman. De
| pendent on his own industry and enter
| prise, as the slave was not, he found the
| field OF his labor contracted, till subsis-
tence became Il formidable problem in
| deed. Except among the non-sIave-hold-
| ing farmers, who We're often too poor to
pay him sufficient hire to sustain life. he
could find little employment that did not
bring him in contact with the slave,
while the main end Of public policy was
TO keep them as far apart as possible. IN
termarrlage and social intercourse were
OF course strictly forbidden bv law.
With him, all depended on the temper
OF the whites among whom we lived. If
they were kind and well disposed. he
had 6fflp M a1y,Slafr - D,,4 AZ.
were cruel or alarmist. his condition was
pitiable beyond words Then all his
movements were closely watched. and
his actions ingeniouslY tortured TO sin
lister ends II, in quest Of employment,
he yentured out of his immediate neigh
borhood and neglected to take his free
papers, he got into serious trouble Even
carrying them in his pocket, if his ae-
tions aroused suspicion and his explana-
ton was not at once prompt, lucid, and
consistent, he got also into trouble
Dumb as witness against the domi-
nant race, he not untrequently became
the object OF the spite of malicious white
men, or the wanton cruelty of heartIess,
unthinking striplings
1t is not to be wondered that the free 4
negroes. unclastic and prone ounthrift,
underwent still further deterioration.
Cowed, pcrpexed, and disprited, they
huddled together on any scant, sterile
bit of land that they were fortunate
enough to be possessed of, erected clus-
tiers of their frail little huts. and like
oppressed, hopeless classes the world
over sunk into profound listlessness and
sloth The women grew mchaste. the
ali bnnnet until ~, L. = H..
term free negro" became SYNONYM
for all that was worthless and despicable.
Their settlements were commonly con-
tiguous to some town. the counties in
which were located Raleigh, Winning
ton, New Bernie and Fayetteville con-
tanning nearly fourth Of all the free
negroes in the State, III which the apter
males became BARRIERS, iiddlers, or Jacks
of-all-trales Some followed dilching.
well-digging, and such work as was con-
sidcred too porilous or too unhealthy to
risk slaves in It's performance, | never
knew a ncighborhood without free
negro shoemaker. In fact. they were
largely, perforce, a class of piddlers;
and like piddlers everywhere more in
dispensable than any other element Gf
the community. The majority kept soul
and body together with the product of
their sterile little patches, eked out with
a petty traffic in the rude articles of
their own make, such rs chairs, splint
baskets, horse-collars and door-mats
made from shucks and bark, dug
troughs, bread-trays, etc. Many derived
| almost their whole living from the sale
of ginger cakes, and water-melons, wild
nuts. and fruits when in season, at the
neighboring towns. or on SATURDAYS and
''big' days at the cross-road stores and
country postotiices.
In some of the county seats, during
| court week, IN aged specimen of this lat
| ter type is still occasionally to be seen
| selling ginger cakes. Generally tall,
meagre, STOPPING, slouching. for all the
world the color of his own wares. he
lounges half listlessly. half dcjectedly,
on the shafts of the little steer-cart bear
inc his antiquated CONNECTIONS, silently
awaiting the customers that never seem
TO come nowadays. He and his cakes
are almost the sole survivors of ante
| bellum days. But in all his silent mus
ings it seems not to have occurred to him
that he is an anachronism That he is
still catering to the obsolete eastronomy
of long-gone generation, and that his
| goodies are caviare to their grandchil-
dren, has never entered his mind At
| least, if it has, he is too staunch quiet
list or pcssimist, no one knows which, to
care much He has seen the primitive
wooden courthouse supplanted by pre-
tentious brick one; the once bounlless
courthouse green contracted and con-
tracted, till the pitiless marsh Of brick
and mortar has left him no stopping
place save an unsafe and ignoble one in
the gutter. He has seen man and nature
change, but it has never suggested new
methods, any more than the fact that
| people quit eating homemade ginger
cakes a generation ago has suggested
the ACCESSIBILITY Of disseminating their
| manufacture. Like the persistent sibvl
of old, his serene confidence in his wares
is not a jot abated because they are 10
norcd of men and have diminished in
quantity. And there he will be every
court week, moro punctual than Judge
or jury, till some hard-hearted board of
town commissioners pronounce him a
nuisance, when he viii uncomplainingly
take remoter stand, unless perchance
before then death the cleaner should fol-
low in the swath of death the reaper. -
Da0id Dodge, IN January atlantic.
The Value Of Riches.