liberally to objects of charity. Some Negroes burned out in 1839 were
promptly relieved by members of their own race. A white family in
distress was befriended by a colored woman. The Negroes contributed also
to the support of missionaries in Jamaica and during the years from 1836
to 1840 assisted twenty-five emancipated slaves on their way from
Cincinnati to Mercer County, Ohio.[34]

During this period they had made progress in other than material things.
Their improvement in religion and morals was remarkable. They then had
four flourishing Sabbath Schools with 310 regular attendants, one
Baptist and two Methodist churches with a membership of 800, a "Total
Abstinence Temperance Society" for adults numbering 450, and a "Sabbath
School or Youth's Society" of 180 members. A few of these violated their
pledges, but when we consider the fact that one fourth of the entire
colored population belonged to temperance organizations while less than
one tenth of the whites were thus connected, we must admit that this was
no mean achievement. Among the Negroes public sentiment was then such
that no colored man could openly sell intoxicating drinks. This growing
temperance was exhibited, too, in the decreasing fondness for dress and
finery. There was less tendency to strive merely to get a fine suit of
clothes and exhibit one's self on the streets. Places of vice were not
so much frequented and barber shops which on Sundays formerly became a
rendezvous for the idle and the garrulous were with few exceptions
closed by 1840. This influence of the religious organizations reached
also beyond the limits of Cincinnati. A theological student from the
State of New York said after spending some time in New Orleans, that the
influence of the elevation of the colored people of Cincinnati was felt
all the way down the river. Travelers often spoke of the difference in
the appearance of barbers and waiters on the boats.[35]