Critical Review: Leon Litwack’s North of Slavery - The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860

 

Critical Review of Leon Litwack’s

North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860

 

There is a common misconception regarding the differences in social inclusivity during the Antebellum period Southern and Northern states. However, the assumption that “free states” before the Civil War offered real freedom is inaccurate. Leon Litwack’s North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860 addresses common misconceptions surrounding this historical era and the racial climate in the “free states” of the North. In a review of this historical piece, another scholar Frazier suggests, “The 'crisis of the 1850’s brought to a head racial policies which were based upon the doctrine of white supremacy and the famous decision of 'Chief Justice Taney that the 'Negro 'had no rights which the white man was bound to respect" was a logical outcome of the doctrine.”[1] North of Slavery contests the misconceptions of the “free North,” revealing the ways systemic racism shaped the lives of Black Americans even in Northern states.

Litwack’s principle argument is that the North was no more accommodating to free Blacks in the Antebellum period. He supports this argument with the laws, practices, and memoirs of Black experiences within the Antebellum North. The extensive research performed for this work incorporated a wide range of methods including written accounts, historical documents, sermons, abolitionist writings and more. In his review of North of Slavery, Frazier highlights the main contentions in Litwack’s assessment in writing, “Since the Negro did not have the legal status of a citizen, his segregation and sub ordinate status in the American community were regarded simply as the working out of natural laws in regard to an inferior race.”[2] He uses a thematic approach, analyzing different relative perspectives and events. The work is strong in its use of broad sources to support his thesis. With regards to its significance in historiography, “This excellent work is based on a wealth of documents consisting of many unknown and many untapped sources of information on the Negro.”[3]

The historian asserts that states in the Antebellum North were not truly free for Black Americans because of institutional racism and legal barriers which were widespread during this time. In Higgins’ review of North of Slavery, the historian insists, “The value of Mr. Litwack's book is that it helps us to a national perspective of ante-bellum United States. The house was divided more profoundly than Mr. Lincoln knew; and even now the fissures threaten the structure.”[4] The work details the ways in which Northern states restricted Black civil rights by suppressing their access to employment, voting, education, employment, and housing. Residents in these territories were complicit in anti-Black discrimination, although many among them were opposed to slavery. Higgins adds, “One can sense through these pages the perplexity of the Negro's predicament; an alien in his native land, he was at every hand made to know that America, north or south, was unwilling to be a mixed society without institutional qualifications.” Despite the traditional ideas of enslaved people as one without agency, the Black community was active in self-help, protest, and building in the face of these barriers. Litwack gives clarification to this topic and refutes the exclusive North-vs-South binary of Antebellum history.

Litwack analyzes and cites relevant legislation and court records, along with Black publications, period speeches, and letters. He incorporates assessment of recorded accounts and documents from abolitionists and Black American leaders. This work is also supported by Antebellum records from Northern states not participating the practice of chattel labor exploitation. According to Frazier, “This excellent work is based on a wealth of documents consisting of many unknown and many untapped sources of information on the Negro.“[5] Litwack illustrates these misconceptions of “free states” by comparing regional differences, with emphasis on political structures and their consequences on society. Huggins asserts, “Aside from a possible disservice to a forgotten people, the failure to consider the northern Negro in the social and political histories of the United States has resulted in a warping of the past: Negroes, slavery, and racism were southern; the north meant freedom, democracy, and human.[6] He points out that even the Abolitionists were not open to equal rights and provisions for Black Americans in “free states”.[7] Litwack illuminates the integration of both Black and white voices to demonstrate competing ideologies with a mostly topical approach and some chronological context.

North of Slavery was a Groundbreaking assessment at the time of its publishing. It was the first serious challenge to the misconception of the “free North” in historical scholarship. A review of Litwack’s assessment by Bardoff contends, “It is a triumph of careful scholarship and straightforward historical writing. The reader is left in no doubt concerning the author's sympathies and indignations, but Litwack keeps his emotions calmly in check. The result is a highly informative chapter of American history and a sobering indictment.”[8] The writer examined and utilized a diverse group of sources, some that have been overlooked in this discussion prior to North of Slavery. According to Bardoff, “We have long needed a comprehensive, scholarly, and candid survey of the ante bellum northern Negro. It is here at last, well written, overwhelmingly documented, a splendid monograph.”[9] His comprehensive assessment encompasses a concrete moral and scholarly perspective.

The history scholar uses his findings to reconstruct the experiences and lives of African Americans in the Antebellum North as historical negotiators rather than victims. He details the ways Black Americans gained strength during their fight for social inclusivity, including obtaining education to become teachers, newspaper publishers, and leaders of religious bodies.[10] Although his presentation is nuanced and thorough, it doesn’t include much details surrounding the experiences of Black Americans in the Antebellum North, or their grassroots efforts to be recognized as “free” and worthy of inclusion in American society.

After the publication of North of Slavery, there was an increase of historical scholarship detailing racism in the North which altered the way historians recognize “freedom” and “citizenship” in Pre- Civil War America. Franklin states in his review of the book, “Without equivocation it makes the point that the race problem was national in scope more than a century ago, when the free states were pioneering in establishing pattens of segregation and discrimination that were to be the national norm for many succeeding generations.”[11] Litwack’s assessment is still very relevant in contemporary American society, and his argument laid the foundation for critical race study.

 

 

 

Sources

Leon F. Litwack, North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790–1860. University of Chicago Press, 1961.

Scholarly Reviews of this work:

Bardolph, Richard. The American Historical Review, Vol. 67, No. 2.1962. Oxford University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1843479.

Franklin, John Hope. Review of The Negro in the Ante–Bellum North, by Leon F. Litwack. The Journal of Negro Education 31, no. 2 (1962): 155–155. https://doi.org/10.2307/2294026.

Frazier, E. Franklin. The Journal of Southern History 27, no. 4 (1961): 540–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/2204324.

Huggins, Nathan Irvin. The New England Quarterly 34, no. 4 (1961): 537–39. https://doi.org/10.2307/363537.

 

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[1] E. Franklin Frazier. The Journal of Southern History 27, no. 4. 1961. Page 541. https://doi.org/10.2307/2204324.

[2] Ibid. Page 542.

[3] Frazier. Page 542

[4] Nathan Irvin Huggins. The New England Quarterly 34, no. 4. 1961. Page 539. https://doi.org/10.2307/363537.

[5] Frazier. Page 542.

[6] Huggins. Page 538.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Richard Bardolph. The American Historical Review, Vol. 67, No. 2.1962. Oxford University Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1843479. Page 438.

[9] Ibid. Page 439.

[10] John Hope Franklin. Review of The Negro in the Ante–Bellum North, by Leon F. Litwack. The Journal of Negro Education 31, no. 2. 1962. Page155. https://doi.org/10.2307/2294026.

[11] Ibid.