African American Connecticut Explored

10 Black Governors, 1780 to 1856

69 For African Americans, the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought renewed battles for the abolition of slavery and the rights of citizenship. The struggle for these twin goals coincided with the continuation of the Black Governor elections. These became the staging ground for African American assertiveness and a symbol of political leadership. An earlier essay in this volume on the topic traced African political traditions and the origins of the elections of the Black Governors from 1749 to 1780, with commentary on the nineteenth century. This essay resumes the exploration of this ceremonial African American leadership position from the late eighteenth century to 1856, with a selective look at several of Connecticut ’s Black Governors. Black Governors’ advocacy for the right to vote and other rights of citizenship, along with their participation in the fight to abolish slavery, distinguishes them from their white American political counterparts who, among their other duties, were bound to protect slavery as a constitutional right. Slavery had been a legal institution in Connecticut since the colonial period. The U.S. Constitution legalized slavery in the entire United States under the property provision of the Fifth Amendment—enslaved African Americans were legally defined as property. While there was no explicit provision in the state constitution that required Connecticut state governors to protect slavery, they were obligated to uphold Connecticut’s proslavery statutes and the U.S. Constitution. Connecticut Governor Roger Sherman Baldwin introduced legislation to abolish slavery in 1844. It failed. Furthermore, during the early republic and leading into the Jacksonian era of the 1820s and 1830s, legislatures across the country constricted the provisions for the right to vote for African Americans. These provisions extended the right to vote to all white American men age twenty-one or older regardless of property ownership. In Connecticut, African Americans were excluded from Katherine J. Harris 10 The Black Governors, 1780 to 1856 70 1789 to Civil War voting by law. It is in this context that the Black Governors elections continued until 1856.1 Research on the life of Farmington’s Black Governor Peter Freeman , who lived from 1752 to 1826, reveals a detailed picture of his enslavement, freedom, land ownership, military service, retirement, and election in 1780. As noted in the introductory essay on the Black Governors, Peter Freeman was the child of enslaved parents Cuff and Phebe Freeman, who were originally from Middletown.2 Peter and his father Cuff made several land transactions that resulted in their owning some 94 acres of land located along the Farmington , Plainville, and Bristol town lines. Peter and Cuff raised such crops as wheat and traded rye and other products with their white American and African American neighbors. A February 22, 1851, article in a supplement to the Connecticut Courant offered a view of Freeman and his prominent role in the community. The author is thought to be William S. Porter, who recorded Farmington and Hartford’s local history. I would add the name of Peter Freeman, well remembered by persons of middle . . . and old age. Cuff and Peter Freeman were owners of a large farm in the west part of Farmington and were good . . . citizens, but the decision of Judge Judson . . . [has] denied them that title. Peter Freeman was for several years elected governor of the blacks . . . a man [with?] more than common intelligence and well versed in history. He served honorably through the Revolutionary war; and keenly felt the dishonor and injustice put upon him when, after fighting side by side with his white brother . . . he was denied the privilege of going up with him to the ballot box.3 Although Porter’s commentary was vague as to Freeman’s specific duties as Governor of Farmington’s African American community , the commentary, nevertheless, offers an important description of Freeman when his memory was still fresh in Porter’s mind. He highlighted Freeman’s intelligence and military service and the denial of his right to vote. This circumstance may have compelled him to use his leadership position as Black Governor as an opportunity to express a political voice within his community even as he continued to pursue the franchise. Freeman served as mediator in matters involving Farmington ’s African American members and the white community, possibly dealing with land and economic transactions. He also presided over ceremonies for special occasions. The research thus far has not uncovered any specific occasions, but African Americans in Farm- The...