The study of the history of the Negroes of Cincinnati is unusually
important for the reason that from no other annals do we get such
striking evidence that the colored people generally thrive when
encouraged by their white neighbors. This story is otherwise significant
when we consider the fact that about a fourth of the persons of color
settling in the State of Ohio during the first half of the last century
made their homes in this city. Situated on a north bend of the Ohio
where commerce breaks bulk, Cincinnati rapidly developed, attracting
both foreigners and Americans, among whom were not a few Negroes.
Exactly how many persons of color were in this city during the first
decade of the nineteenth century is not yet known. It has been said that
there were no Negroes in Hamilton County in 1800.[1] It is evident, too,
that the real exodus of free Negroes and fugitives from the South to the
Northwest Territory did not begin prior to 1815, although their
attention had been earlier directed to this section as a more desirable
place for colonization than the shores of Africa.[2] As the reaction
following the era of good feeling toward the Negroes during the
revolutionary period had not reached its climax free persons of color
had been content to remain in the South.[3] The unexpected immigration
of these Negroes into this section and the last bold effort made to
drive them out marked epochs in their history in this city. The history
of these people prior to the Civil War, therefore, falls into three
periods, one of toleration from 1800 to 1826, one of persecution from
1826 to 1841, and one of amelioration from 1841 to 1861.

In the beginning the Negroes were not a live issue in Cincinnati. The
question of their settlement in that community was debated but resulted