{"id":74,"date":"2025-05-14T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/african-free-schools\/?page_id=74"},"modified":"2026-07-23T16:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:21:09","slug":"toc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/toc\/","title":{"rendered":"Table of Contents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-custom-color-2-color has-text-color has-link-color has-archivo-font-family has-x-large-font-size wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:900;text-transform:none\"><strong>\u201cWe will plant our trees in American soil and repose in the shade thereof.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2014 <em>Proceedings of the First Convention of the Colored Citizens of the State of Illinois, Convened at the City of Chicago, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 6th, 7th and 8th, 1853<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-626f4720 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"padding-right:200px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-right:150px\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1 \u2014 Black Life in Antebellum Illinois<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The earliest Black residents of Illinois lived near the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, adjacent to the slave states just on the other side of them: Kentucky and Missouri. Black Illinoisans formed lasting communities and built a formidable protest movement, but they also contended with racist laws known as \u201cblack laws,\u201d and everyday hostility from white residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2 \u2014 Foundations of Protest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Black political mobilization began in communities and was shaped by local opportunities and challenges. African American residents of Illinois built churches and schools to bolster their communities, and those institutions became a foundation for abolitionist and civil rights organizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3 \u2014 Making Black Chicago<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 1840s and 1850s, Chicago emerged as a center for Black life and activism, for Illinois and for the Midwest as a whole.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4 \u2014 The Illinois Colored Convention of 1853<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A repressive new law, passed by the state legislature in winter 1853, galvanized Black Illinoisans to organize their first statewide convention. Illinois leaders pressed Frederick Douglass to call a national convention that summer. Then, in October, delegates from across the state met in Chicago, where they issued a powerful address claiming their rights as citizens and made plans for continuing to fight the Illinois black laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5 \u2014 Delegates and Their Families<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The women and men associated with early Black political organizing in Illinois led fascinating lives. Many were born in slave states and moved to north in search of greater opportunities. On average they were more prosperous than most Black Illinoisans of their era, but their political agenda\u2014repealing the black laws, securing the vote for Black men, and ensuring education for Black children\u2014benefited everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Credits &amp; Acknowledgements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This exhibit is the result of more than two years of planning, teaching, research, writing, and editing. Learn more about the team involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/further-reading\/\">Further Reading<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Explore the bibliography for this exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe will plant our trees in American soil and repose in the shade thereof.\u201d \u2014 Proceedings of the First Convention of the Colored Citizens of the State of Illinois, Convened at the City of Chicago, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, October 6th, 7th and 8th, 1853. 1 \u2014 Black Life in Antebellum Illinois The earliest Black [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6829,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-74","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7416,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74\/revisions\/7416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}