Cincinnati riots of 1829

The Cincinnati race riots of 1829 were triggered by competition for jobs between Irish immigrants and native blacks and former slaves, in Cincinnati, Ohio^[1] but also were related to white fears given the rapid increases of free and fugitive blacks in the city during this decade, particularly in the preceding three years. Merchants complained about the poor neighborhoods along the river as having ill effects on their waterfront shops and trade with southern planters. Artisans excluded blacks from apprenticeships and jobs in the skilled trades. In June 1829 overseers of the poor announced that blacks would be required to post surety bonds of $500 (equivalent to $14,306 in 2023) within 30 days or face expulsion from the city and state. This was in accord with a 1807 Black Law passed by the Ohio legislature intended to discourage black settlement in the state.

Some blacks had already considered relocating to Canada, which they believed had a more accepting environment. They generally opposed the American Colonization Society's desire to export free people of color "back to Africa". African Americans had been in the United States for generations and wanted civil rights.

Proposed enforcement of Black Law, which the American Colonization Society pushed for so as to stimulate black emigration,^[2]: 262 convinced some leaders to leave the United States. The mob violence and destruction of their densely populated neighborhood in the First Ward caused an estimated 1,100-1,500 people of color to decide to leave Cincinnati altogether. Free blacks, former slaves and sympathetic whites donated money to help the refugees and survivors. Some settled elsewhere in the United States, while a smaller group moved to Canada. Most settled in existing towns in Ontario, where numerous refugee blacks lived after escaping from slavery. A group with more resources founded the Wilberforce Colony as a place of their own.^[3]

African Americans who remained in Cincinnati, and black migrants who joined them, were attacked again by white rioters in 1836 and 1841. By the latter date, they had strengthened their position in the city and used the political process to gain improvements in treatment. Anti-Black violence in the North was not uncommon.