Maryland State Colonization Society

When looking at former Governor George Howard's accomplishments (he served July 8, 1831-January 17, 1833) one of his first duties was to sign into law two bills that were racist and favored slaveholders of the state.   Skipping ahead, it is fortunate that the Maryland State Colonization Society effort failed in its goals, but not before thousands of free and manumitted Black people had emigrated to Liberia.  

In all fairness, there were perhaps many people, especially in the northern states, who genuinely felt that emigration to Africa was the best thing for our Black population because they would be free to govern themselves as true equals, something they did not see possible here.  There were many impassioned pleas to figure out how to end slavery and return African Americans to their native home (although there were generations born here that only knew Maryland and the United States as home).

 However, it seemed that the intent was clearly to remove all Black people and make Maryland an all-White state and a model for the rest of the country to follow.  

There was a competing emigration movement to Haiti which was designed by the Black population for the Black population in a place where White people were disallowed.  As the author  Ousmane K. Power-Greene (2014) suggests, the emigration movement to Haiti was seen as more acceptable than the colonization movement to most Black leaders.

Key Legislation

Chapter 281 of the 1831 Maryland laws was passed on March 12, 1832 called 

"An act relating to the People of Color in this state".

This Act established the Maryland State Colonization Society (MSCS) and a board of managers:

  "whose duty is shall be to remove from the state of Maryland, the people of color now free, and such as shall hereafter become so,  to the colony of Liberia, in Africa".  

This was to be  done with their consent, although Section 4 of the Act states:

"That in case any slave or slaves so manumitted [legally set free]  cannot be removed without separating families , and the said slave or slaves  so unwilling on that account to  be removed, shall desire to renounce the freedom so intended by the deed or will, then it shall and may be competent to such slave or slaves, to renounce, in open court , the benefit of said deed or will, and continue to be a slave".

 So if someone was going to be freed by manumission via a deed or will, and didn't want to be sent to Liberia without their family,  then they could renounce their freedom and remain a slave.    It is not known if this actually happened or how many instances of this situation arose,  because records are sparse and  there has been little research on the topic.

But it is clear that the MSCS intent was to rid Maryland of free Blacks.  In fact, Chapter 323 of the Maryland laws passed on March 14, 1832 and signed by  Governor Howard,  called

 "An act relating to Free Negroes and Slaves"

 tried to prohibit free Blacks from coming into Maryland from other states. 

"no free negro or mulatto shall immigrate to, or settle in this state"

This was how the power structure in Maryland felt.  There was a problem and they needed to figure out a way to solve it.

MSCS Board of Managers

Once the MSCS was active with a board of managers, they published their official statements in documents and in the press.  One of their statements below left no doubt of their intent, although they later made a claim that they were primarily about the abolition of slavery:

"The evil of an increasing black population is pressing upon us, and the longer that we delay to adopt measures to check it, the great does the task become...The resources of the state are not amply sufficient for the remove of the whole of her free coloured population, as well as of all those slaves who may be manumitted with the view of colonization..."

Although they tried to  make emigration to the colony of Africa a turning point for Maryland, they failed over the next couple of decades and instead were met with a civil war about slavery.

Was Colonization Widely Accepted?

The Maryland State Archives has a Website to educate Marylanders about the history of slavery in the state (http://slavery.msa.maryland.gov/).   However, it was puzzling to me that an authoritative organization would portray colonization as a positive thing:

"Colonization was common ground upon which both slavery supporters and opponents agreed. Many whites who felt that slavery was immoral believed that emigration from the United States was the only way that free blacks could escape racial prejudice and attain civil rights. "

This is a sweeping statement on a very complex issue.  As Ousmane K. Power-Greene (2014) published in his book "Against Wind and Tide : The African American Struggle Against the Colonization Movement" I suggest the Maryland State Archives read this to learn that the MSCS was not seen very positively by the majority of Blacks in those days.  The Whites that felt slavery was immoral and wanted to send free Blacks to Liberia to be truly free from oppression should have made equal justice the law of Maryland.  Although not discussed here, there were also economic and trade benefits to Maryland as well as the Christian support of colonization to convert the Africans nearby. 

Emigrants from Maryland to Liberia

The MSCS remained active for a number of years and published reports of their progress. According to the Maryland Colonization Journal of January 1856 (Volume 8, Number 8) the Board of Managers of the MSCS met on January 4th, 1856 and reported that:

• a total of 1,212 free Blacks emigrated from Maryland to Liberia (p. 135)

• a total of 4,877 enslaved people were manumitted and may have been sent to Liberia (p.139 - need verification of how many people actually went, if any)

  • 1,839 manumissions were immediate

  • 3.038 were prospective or conditional 

The Maryland State Archives state that there were  1,025 emigrants and 5,571 manumissions between 1831 and 1851 but that still doesn't answer exactly how many people emigrated.   However, in a census in November 1852 there was a list of 785 residents of "Maryland in Liberia" a decrease from the 804 residents counted during a census of 1849 and 757 people counted in the census of 1848.  With these population numbers it is not likely that they included many, if any at all, manumitted people. (see https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5400/sc5496/051300/051350/html/51350sources.html) 

Why did the MSCS Ultimately Fail?

The MSA further writes that:

"In a report to the society’s board of managers, travelling agent John H. Kennard unironically summarized many of the key reasons that blacks opposed colonization."

"They [free blacks] are taught to believe, and, do believe, that this is their country, their home. A Country and home, now wickedly withholden from them but which they will presently possess, own and control. Those who Emigrate to Liberia, are held up to the world, as the vilest and veriest traitors to their race, and especially so, towards their brethren in bonds. Every man woman and child who leaves this country for Africa is considered one taken from the strength of the colored population and by his departure, as protracting the time when the black man will by the strength of his own arm compel those who despise and oppress him, to acknowledge his rights, redress his wrongs, and restore the wages, long due and iniquitously withholden."

http://slavery.msa.maryland.gov/html/casestudies/mscs_overview.pdf