The Revolutionary War helped change the notion of slavery to many Americans as more than 40,000 free blacks lived in the American Colonies by the beginning of the 19th century. Many of the free blacks had opposed British rule, and most northern states had adopted measures to end slavery by the 19th century. Free blacks consisted of blacks free by law, those whose masters had freed them, those who had purchased their freedom, and those who were born to parents that were free. While whites still treated free blacks as inferior and with discrimination, many free blacks were gainfully employed in the 19th century, helping fuel America’s growing industrial revolution in industries from textiles to shipbuilding. Free blacks also became skilled trade and craftsmen, with many advancing to merchant or higher status. Many found a career in journalism. As one historian notes, “The best-known editors were Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm, who helped start the first black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, in 1827” (Free 1).
While free blacks were barred from patronizing many white establishments and educational institutions, some colleges and universities accepted blacks. By the mid-19th century, two black colleges would open, Lincoln University and Wilberforce University in Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively. Despite the discrimination and inequality faced by free blacks, their struggles compared little to black plantation slaves in the 19th century. Many of these slaves were routinely brutalized by bosses and masters. Education was forbidden to slaves, slaves were often sold away from their families, and harsh punishments were meted out to slaves for the least indiscretion. All the while slaves were being exploited and worn out from being used as a cheap supply of labor by southern plantation owners. In his Narrative of the Life of a Slave, Frederick Douglass details the horrors of plan
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