Colored Conventions Movement#List of conventions

File:Colored National Convention, Nashville in 1876.png

In the early 19th century, national and local conventions involving a variety of political and social issues were pursued by increasing numbers of Americans. In 1830 and 1831, political parties held their first national nominating conventions.{{cite book | title=American to the Backbone | publisher=Pegasus Books | author=Webber, Christopher L. | year=2011 | location=New York | pages=[https://archive.org/details/americantobackbo0000webb/page/63 63] | isbn=9781605981758 | url=https://archive.org/details/americantobackbo0000webb/page/63 }} Historian Howard H. Bell notes that the convention movement grew out of a trend toward greater self-expression among African Americans and was largely fostered by the appearance of newspapers such as Freedom's Journal, and was first suggested by Hezekiah Grice{{where|date=June 2020}}.{{cite book|last=Bell|first=Howard|title=A Survey of the Negro Convention Movement −1830-1861|date=1969|publisher=Arno Press|location=New York|page=10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_gGtph7VQwC&q=survey+of+the+negro+convention+movement|access-date=March 15, 2021|archive-date=April 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407200314/https://books.google.com/books?id=0_gGtph7VQwC&q=survey+of+the+negro+convention+movement|url-status=live}} The first documented convention was held at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia in September 1830.{{cite book|last=Ernest|first=John|title=A Nation Within a Nation: Organizing African-American Communities Before the Civil War|date=2011|publisher=Ivan R Dee|isbn=9781566638074|pages=107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNsfpqx2rI4C&q=convention|access-date=March 15, 2021|archive-date=April 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407200315/https://books.google.com/books?id=UNsfpqx2rI4C&q=convention|url-status=live}} Delegates to this convention discussed the prospect of emigrating to Canada to find refuge from the harsh fugitive slave laws and legal discrimination under which they lived.{{cite book|last=Bell|first=Howard|title=Minutes and Proceedings of the National Negro Conventions, 1830–1864|date=1969|publisher=Arno Press|location=New York|pages=1–12|chapter-url=http://coloredconventions.org/files/original/a1a162e13def18faa2b72718cbc3d3a6.pdf|chapter=1830, "Proceedings of the Convention," Philadelphia, PA}} {{dead link|date=July 2020}} The first convention elected as president Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent black denomination in the United States. The idea of buying land in Canada quickly gave way to addressing problems they faced at home, such as education and labor rights.

Philadelphia was the hub of the Colored Conventions movement for several years before nearby cities such as New York City, Albany, and Pittsburgh also started hosting conventions. By the 1850s, the conventions were extremely popular and multiple national, state, and local conventions were held every year. Although the majority of these antebellum conventions were held in northern, particularly New England states, conventions are documented{{where|date=June 2020}} as taking place in Kansas, Louisiana, and California.{{Cite book|last=California State Convention of Colored Citizens|first=Sacramento|url=https://archive.org/details/proceedings00cali|title=Proceedings|date=1865|publisher=San Francisco, Printed at the Office of "The Elevator,"|others=The Library of Congress}}{{Cite web|title=Colored Conventions Project Digital Records|url=https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/|access-date=2021-12-19|website=omeka.coloredconventions.org|archive-date=January 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107101643/https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/|url-status=live}} The conventions attracted the most prominent African-American leaders from across the country, including Frederick Douglass, Charles Bennett Ray, Lewis Hayden, Charles Lenox Remond, Mary Ann Shadd, and William Still.

Following the Civil War, Colored Conventions began to appear in the Southern states as well, with one author noting that "we can not deny that the various conventions of the colored people in the late insurrectionary States compare favorably with those of their white brethren...their resolutions are of an elevated humanity and common sense to which those of the other Conventions make no pretension."{{cite journal |date=December 16, 1865 |title=Convention of the Other Color |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015036764572&view=1up&seq=716 |journal=Harper's Weekly |page=786 |via=HathiTrust Digital Library}} More Colored Conventions took place in the South during the late 1860s than the entire antebellum period.

The post-war conventions culminated with the 1869 National Convention of Colored Men in Washington, D.C. The convention delegates wrote a letter congratulating General Ulysses S. Grant for being elected President of the United States, to which Grant responded, "I thank the Convention, of which you are the representative, for the confidence they have expressed, and I hope sincerely that the colored people of the Nation may receive every protection which the laws give to them. They shall have my efforts to secure such protection."{{cite journal |date=February 6, 1869 |title=The Colored Convention |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015014703279&view=1up&seq=86&q1=Convention |journal=Harper's Weekly |pages=81–82 |via=HathiTrust Digital Library}}

During Reconstruction the national, state, and local Colored Conventions evolved into other kinds of state and national organizations. Delegates at the National Convention of Colored Men in Syracuse, NY founded the National Equal Rights Leagues and attempted to form state-level Equal Rights League chapters across the United States. In response to a denial of African American admittance to the National Labor Union, community leaders formed the Colored National Labor Union (CNLU) in December 1869.{{cite encyclopedia|last=Rondinone|first=Troy|title=Colored National Labor Union|url=http://www.fofweb.com/History/MainPrintPage.asp?iPin=EAHV064&DataType=AmericanHistory&WinType=Free|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of American History: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1856 to 1869, Revised Edition, vol. V.|access-date=April 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418234203/http://www.fofweb.com/History/MainPrintPage.asp?iPin=EAHV064&DataType=AmericanHistory&WinType=Free|archive-date=April 18, 2014|url-status=live}} Many former Colored Convention delegates, including Isaac Myers and Frederick Douglass, were instrumental in organizing the CNLU.{{cite web|title=Today in Labor History: Black workers form national union|url=http://peoplesworld.org/today-in-labor-history-black-workers-form-national-union|access-date=April 17, 2014|date=December 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419012628/http://peoplesworld.org/today-in-labor-history-black-workers-form-national-union|archive-date=April 19, 2014|url-status=live}}

Colored Conventions continued to take place in the late 1880s and 1890s, including Indianapolis in 1887 and state conventions in New Jersey, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.{{cite journal |date=May 28, 1887 |title=The Convention of Colored Citizens |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015024448105&view=1up&seq=294&skin=2021&q1=Colored%20Convention |journal=Harper's Weekly |page=378 |via=HathiTrust Digital Library}} The convention movement slowed by the end of the century.

T. Thomas Fortune's National Afro-American League was formed in 1890 and held national and state-level meetings throughout the 1890s. From 1896 to 1914, W. E. B. Du Bois held an annual conference at Atlanta University of national importance. In 1898, bishop Alexander Walters founded the National Afro-American Council, which met annually until 1907 and with Fortune and Booker T. Washington playing prominent roles. In 1905, Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter met near Niagara Falls, Canada, founding the Niagara Movement.

Du Bois' continued activism and relationships forged at these meetings led to the foundation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) by Moorfield Storey, Mary White Ovington and Du Bois in 1909.

{{Main|Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention|New York State Convention of Colored Citizens|California State Convention of Colored Citizens}}

• 1830 convention at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania{{Cite journal |last=Bell |first=Howard H. |date=1960 |title=Some Reform Interests of the Negro during the 1850's as Reflected in State Conventions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/274343 |journal=Phylon |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=173–181 |doi=10.2307/274343 |jstor=274343 |issn=0031-8906}}
• 1831 First Annual Convention of the People of Color, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania{{citation|last=Yee|first=Shirley|title=National Negro Convention Movement (1831-1864)|date=April 1, 2011|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/national-negro-convention-movement-1831-1864/|publisher=blackpast.org|access-date=September 2, 2020|archive-date=August 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820011637/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/national-negro-convention-movement-1831-1864/|url-status=live}}
• 1833 Third Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color in these United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34wuAAAAYAAJ |title=Minutes and Proceedings of the Third Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Colour in These United States |date=1833 |publisher=By Order of the Convention |language=en}}
• 1834 Fourth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color in the United States, New York, New York{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XV1HAQAAMAAJ |title=Minutes and Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Colour in These United States |date=1834 |publisher=By Order of the Convention |language=en}}
• 1835 Fifth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color in the United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z11HAQAAMAAJ |title=Minutes and Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Colour in These United States |date=1835 |publisher=By Order of the Convention |language=en}}
• 1835 Convention which Formed the Maine Union in Behalf of the Colored Race, Portland, Maine{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/proceedingsofcon00main |title=Proceedings of the Convention Which Formed the Maine Union in Behalf of the Colored Race |date=1835 |publisher=Portland, Merrill and Byram |others=The Library of Congress, Maine Union in Behalf of the Colored Race |location=Portland, ME}}
• 1837 Convention in Columbus, Ohio{{Cite web|last1=Masur|first1=Kate|author-link=Kate Masur|title=Decades Before the Civil War, Black Activists Organized for Racial Equality|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/decades-civil-war-black-activists-organized-racial-equality-180977321/|access-date=2022-01-30|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en|archive-date=January 30, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130195229/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/decades-civil-war-black-activists-organized-racial-equality-180977321/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=1837-09-08|others=Kate Masur|title=Convention of the Colored People of Ohio|url=https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/1590|access-date=2022-01-30|website=The Philanthropist|language=English|archive-date=January 30, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130195234/https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/1590|url-status=live}}
• 1840 New York State Convention of Colored Citizens, Albany, New York
• 1841 State Convention of the Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/ASPC0002406900 |title=Proceedings of the State Convention of the Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania : held in Pittsburgh, on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of August, 1841, for the purpose of considering their condition, and the means of its improvement. |date=1841 |publisher=Convention of the Colored Freemen of Pennsylvania |location=Pittsburgh, PA}}
• 1843 National Convention of Colored Citizens in Buffalo, New York
• 1847 National Convention of Colored People and Their Friends in Troy, New York
• 1848 National Convention of Colored Freemen in Newark, New Jersey
• 1849 State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio, Columbus, Ohio{{Cite book |last=Day |first=William Howard |url=http://archive.org/details/ASPC0001904200 |title=Minutes and address of the State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio : convened at Columbus, January 10th, 11th, 12th, & 13th, 1849. |date=1849 |publisher=State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio |location=Columbus, Ohio}}
• 1850 Fugitive Slave Convention, Cazenovia, New York
• 1851 State Convention of Colored Men, Columbus, Ohio{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/ASPC0001871300 |title=Address to the constitutional convention of Ohio: from the state convention of colored men held in the city of Columbus, January 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th, 1851. |date=1851 |publisher=State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio}}
• 1853 State Convention of Colored Citizens, Columbus, Ohio{{Cite web |title=Article 5 -- No Title |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1853/02/11/75353105.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |website=The New York Times, Times Machine |language=en}}
• 1855 Colored National Convention at Franklin Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1855 First California State Convention of Colored Citizens, Sacramento, California
• 1857 Convention of Colored Citizens, New York City, New York{{Cite news |date=1857-09-25 |title=Free-Suffrage Convention--Second Day's Proceedings. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1857/09/25/archives/freesuffrage-conventionsecond-days-proceedings.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}
• 1858 Convention of Colored Men, Chatham, Canada West; May 8–10, 1858, organized by John Brown.{{cite journal|last=Hinton|first=R[ichard] J[osiah]|date=June 1889|title=John Brown and his men, before and after the raid on Harper's Ferry, October 16th, 17th, 18th, 1859.|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.32000000492225&view=1up&seq=709&q1=Brown|journal=Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly|volume=2|pages=691–703, at pp. 695–696|number=6|access-date=January 26, 2021|archive-date=June 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614164203/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.32000000492225&view=1up&seq=709&q1=Brown|url-status=live}}
• 1858 New York State Convention of Colored Citizens, Troy, New York{{Cite news |date=1858-10-07 |title=Gerrit Smith and his Colored Friends. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1858/10/07/archives/gerrit-smith-and-his-colored-friends.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}
• 1863 Convention of Colored Men, Poughkeepsie, New York{{Cite news |date=1863-06-23 |title=Convention of Colored Men Postponed. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1863/06/23/archives/convention-of-colored-men-postponed.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}
• 1864 National Convention of Colored Men, Syracuse, New York
• 1865 State Equal Rights' Convention, of the Colored People of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania{{Cite book |last1=Catto |first1=Octavius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYIvAAAAYAAJ |title=Proceedings of the State Equal Rights' Convention, of the Colored People of Pennsylvania, Held in the City of Harrisburg February 8th, 9th, and 10th, 1865: Together with a Few of the Arguments Presented Suggesting the Necessity for Holding the Convention, and an Address of the Colored State Convention to the People of Pennsylvania |last2=Green |first2=Alfred M. |last3=Bustill |first3=Joseph C. |date=1865 |publisher=Order of the Convention |location=Philadelphia, Penn. |language=en}}
• 1865 Virginia State Convention of Colored People, Alexandria, Virginia{{Cite news |date=1865-08-13 |title=The Late Convention of Colored Men; Address to the Loyal Citizens of the United States and to Congress |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/08/13/archives/the-late-convention-of-colored-men-address-to-the-loyal-citizens-of.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}
• 1865 South Carolina State Convention of Colored People in Charleston, South Carolina
• 1865 First Annual Meeting of the National Equal Rights League, Cleveland, Ohio; the "John Brown Song" was sung at the meeting (page 11){{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ulAAAAAYAAJ |title=Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the National Equal Rights League Held in Cleveland, Ohio, October 19, 20, and 21, 1865 |date=1865 |publisher=E.C. Markley and Son, National Equal Rights League |language=en}}
• 1867 Illinois State Convention of Colored Men, Galesburg, Illinois{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/proceedingsof00illinois |title=Proceedings of the Illinois State Convention of Colored Men, assembled at Galesburg, October 16th, 17th, and 18th, containing the state and national addresses promulgated by it, with a list of the delegates composing it |date=1867 |publisher=Church, Goodman and Donnelley, printers |others=The Library of Congress, Illinois State Convention of Colored Men Galesburg |location=Chicago, IL}}
• 1869 National Convention of Colored Men of America, Washington, D.C.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMxtAAAAMAAJ |title=Proceedings of the National Convention of the Colored Men of America: Held in Washington, D. C., on January 13, 14, 15, and 16, 1869 |date=1869 |publisher=Printed at the Great Republic Book and Newspaper Printing Establishment, National Convention of the Colored Men of America |location=Washington, D.C. |language=en}}
• 1870 Colored Labor Convention, Saratoga Springs, New York
• 1870 Missouri State Colored People's Educational Convention, Jefferson City, Missouri
• 1871 State Convention of the Colored Citizens, Nashville, Tennessee{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/proceedingsofsta00stat |title=Proceedings of the State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Tennessee, held in Nashville, Feb. 22d, 23d, 24th & 25th, 1871 |date=1871 |publisher=[Nashville] C. LeRoi, printer |others=The Library of Congress, State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Tennessee, Nashville}}
• 1873 National Civil Rights Convention, Washington, D.C.
• 1876 Colored National Convention, Nashville, Tennessee
• 1882 Convention of Colored Citizens, Macon, Georgia{{Cite news |date=1883-12-08 |title=Education in the South: A Convention of Colored Citizens to Discuss the Question |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1883/12/08/archives/education-in-the-south-a-convention-of-colored-citizens-to-discuss.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}
• 1883 Convention of Colored Citizens, Norwich, Connecticut{{Cite news |date=1883-12-31 |title=Insisting on Their Rights; The Colored Citizens' Convention of the State of Connecticut |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1883/12/31/archives/insisting-on-their-rights-the-colored-citizens-convention-of-the.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}
• 1883 Convention of Colored Citizens, Nashville, Tennessee{{Cite news |date=1883-08-27 |title=Tennessee Colored Men |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1883/08/27/archives/tennessee-colored-men.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}
• 1887 National Convention of Colored Men, Indianapolis, Indiana
• 1889 Colored Catholic Congress, Washington, D.C.; held yearly (with exception) until 1894
• 1895 First National Conference of the Colored Women of America, Boston, Massachusetts
• 1896 Conference of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, New York; merged with other groups to form the National Association of Colored Women, after the 1904 National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, Washington, D.C.{{cite book

|access-date=June 1, 2021

|title=A History of the Club Movement Among the Colored Women of the United States of America as contained in the Minutes of the Conventions, Held in Boston, July 29, 30, 31, 1895, and of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, Held in Washington, D.C., July 20, 21, 22, 1896

|year=1902

|url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/ibwells-0009-006.pdf

|archive-date=May 19, 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519195529/http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/ibwells-0009-006.pdf

|url-status=live

}}

• 1896 Atlanta Conference of Negro Problems, Atlanta, Georgia; and held annually until 1914, organized by W. E. B. Du Bois.
• 1897 Hampton Negro Conference, Hampton, Virginia; and held annually until 1912
• 1905 Niagara Conference, Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. Organized by W. E. B. DuBois and others.
• 1906 Second Conference of the Niagara Movement, Storer College, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
• 1907 Third Conference of the Niagara Movement, Boston.
• 1909 National Negro Convention in New York, 50 years after 1859. Includes letter of Wm. Lloyd Garrison on his inability to attend. The proceedings were published, and reprinted in 1969.{{cite book

|title=Proceedings of the National Negro Conference 1909

|access-date=May 30, 2021

|location=New York

|date=1969

|editor-first=James. M.

|editor-last=McPherson

|editor-link=James M. McPherson

|publisher=The New York Times and Arno Press

|url=https://archive.org/details/proceedingsof00nati/page/n5/mode/2up}}

• Clifton Conference, series of African American religious conferences
• American Negro Labor Congress, series of African American Communist Party conferences
• George T. Downing
• Henry Highland Garnet
• Henry Moxley

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://coloredconventions.org/ ColoredConventions.org] includes PDFs of antebellum and post-bellum convention minutes, teaching resources, online exhibits and a critical bibliography.
• Digital Public Library of America. [http://dp.la/search?page_size=100&q=Colored+Convention&utf8=✓ Items related to colored conventions], various dates

Category:African Americans' rights organizations

Category:History of African-American civil rights

Category:Abolitionist conventions in the United States