The Northwest Ordinance’s prohibition on enslavement did not prevent Black Americans who lived in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ from encountering significant racism. Both the 1802 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Constitution and subsequent state laws prevented Black Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵans from voting, serving on juries, and, until 1848, accessing public schools. Despite such restrictions, which included paying a $500 bond to enter the state, freedom from bondage and personal connections led to the creation of Black American and mixed-raced communities throughout the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ River Valley.
Claiming an Education: Early Black American Humanists
Leaders and Pioneers: Places, People and Voices
People: Tablertown and the Persons of Color Museum
One of the earliest Black American communities was Tablertown (also known as Kilvert), founded by a Virginian slave holder, Michael Tabler (1774-1843), who fathered six children with Hannah, one of his father’s enslaved women. In the early 1830s, after purchasing Hannah’s freedom and emancipating his six children, Tabler moved to Athens County, a move that better ensured their freedom and enabled them to inherit his property. After acquiring additional properties, Tablertown grew into a thriving multi-racial community, a story told in David Butcher’s Persons of Color' museum.
David Butcher talks about Michael Tabler, his eighth-great grandfather and founder of Tablertown, in an and in the .
Voices: John Newton Templeton, First Black American to Earn an Advanced Degree in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ
John Newton Templeton was the first Black American to earn an advanced degree in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ and is believed to be the fourth Black college graduate in the country. Templeton was born into enslavement in South Carolina but was freed by his owner and moved to Adams County, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ. In 1824, with the encouragement of President Reverend Robert Wilson, Templeton enrolled at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University, where he worked, studied and participated in the Athenian Literary Society. Templeton went on to teach Black students in Virginia and in Pittsburgh, where he also helped support an abolitionist paper, The Mystery. Templeton’s time at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ University was the subject of Distinguished Professor Charles Smith’s play Free Man of Color.