Black Illinoisans opened the First Convention of the Colored Citizens of the State of Illinois at Warner’s Hall in Chicago. The three-day gathering, which continued through October 8, represented a major step in the organized struggle of African Americans against racial discrimination in antebellum Illinois. Delegates came from communities across the state to consider their civil, political, educational, economic, and social condition. Their proceedings provide an unusually detailed record of Black political thought in Illinois eight years before the Civil War began and twelve years before the state repealed most of its discriminatory Black Laws.
The convention met during an especially hostile period in Illinois law. The state had imposed restrictions on African Americans since its early years. Illinois’ 1848 Constitution required the General Assembly to prohibit additional free Black migration into the state. In 1853, legislators enacted an even harsher measure, which took effect on February 12. The statute prohibited free African Americans from entering Illinois with the intention of remaining there. Those who violated the law could be arrested and fined; those unable to pay could have their labor sold for a period sufficient to satisfy the penalty. The Illinois State Archives describes the 1853 measure as the harshest discriminatory Black Law enacted by a Northern state before the Civil War.
Against this legal background, delegates assembled at Warner’s Hall at 10:00 a.m. on October 6. J. D. Bonner of Cook County called the meeting to order. Reverend R. J. Robinson of Madison County initially served as temporary president, while A. H. Richardson and Henry Brown acted as temporary secretaries. Delegates represented Cook, Will, Morgan, Madison, Jo Daviess, Sangamon, Peoria, St. Clair, McLean, and other Illinois counties and communities. The convention subsequently elected Chicago businessman and civil-rights activist John Jones as its permanent president.
Jones was already an important figure in Black Illinois. A tailor and property owner, he had settled in Chicago during the 1840s and became deeply involved in abolitionism and opposition to Illinois’ discriminatory laws. Earlier in 1853, Jones had participated in the Colored National Convention at Rochester, New York, where he served as one of the vice presidents. His leadership in Chicago connected the Illinois gathering with the larger Colored Conventions movement, through which African Americans organized locally, regionally, and nationally during the nineteenth century.
The delegates established committees dealing with education, agriculture, mechanical trades, colonization, finance, and public appeals. They also prepared addresses to both Black Illinoisans and the broader population of the state. Their agenda demonstrated that opposition to discriminatory law formed only part of their program. Delegates also emphasized education, landownership, skilled trades, economic independence, temperance, intellectual development, and permanent political organization.
Frederick Douglass arrived at the convention on October 7. Delegates recessed to receive him, and Reverend Byrd Parker welcomed him to the gathering. Douglass was admitted as an honorary member and participated in discussions. He later addressed a large audience during the convention’s final evening session. His presence placed the Illinois meeting directly within the national antislavery and Black civil-rights network.
The convention ultimately adopted thirty-seven resolutions. Several directly attacked colonization proposals that encouraged free African Americans to leave the United States for Africa or other foreign destinations. Delegates rejected expatriation and affirmed their claim to the United States as their native country. They condemned the recently enacted Illinois law as contrary to justice and demanded its repeal. They also called for permanent statewide organization through a State Council and proposed elections for twenty council members.
Education received particular attention. The delegates protested that Black Illinoisans paid taxes supporting public schools while their children were denied equal access to those institutions. They characterized this condition as taxation without representation and urged Black residents and sympathetic white citizens to petition the legislature. The convention also protested restrictions on African Americans giving testimony in Illinois courts, identifying that exclusion as a serious barrier to equal protection and economic participation.
Economic advancement formed another major part of the program. Delegates encouraged Black Illinoisans to purchase land, build homes, cultivate farms, establish joint-stock companies, educate their children, learn useful trades, and organize local lyceums for intellectual discussion. The resolutions therefore combined demands for legal equality with programs of collective institution-building and economic independence.
The October 1853 Chicago convention did not immediately overturn Illinois’ Black Laws, but it created an organized public record of African American resistance to them. Additional Illinois Colored Conventions followed, including a major gathering at Alton in 1856. John Jones continued campaigning against racial legislation, and the Illinois General Assembly finally repealed most of the state’s Black Laws in 1865. The 1853 convention remains historically significant because Black Illinoisans, despite being denied fundamental political rights, assembled openly, elected their own leadership, debated public policy, proposed statewide institutions, challenged discriminatory law, and asserted their status as citizens entitled to the protections and opportunities of American government.
References / More Knowledge:
First Convention of the Colored Citizens of the State of Illinois. 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. Chicago, 1853. University of Delaware, Colored Conventions Project Collection. https://udspace.udel.edu/items/84ffe6bb-9667-4e31-a560-2658e881f97b UD Space
Illinois State Archives. “Illinois Black Law (1853).” 100 Most Valuable Documents at the Illinois State Archives. Illinois Secretary of State. https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/archives/online-exhibits/100-documents/1853-black-law.html
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois State Historic Preservation Office. “Generations of Pride: African American Timeline.” https://dnrhistoric.illinois.gov/research/genprideafam.html
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Office. Springfield, Illinois: Thematic Survey of African-American Community Historic Resources. https://dnrhistoric.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnrhistoric/preserve/recordation/thematic-survey-of-springfields-african-american-resources.pdf
Library of Congress. Proceedings of the Colored National Convention, Held in Rochester, July 6th, 7th, and 8th, 1853. Rochester: Office of Frederick Douglass’ Paper, 1853. https://www.loc.gov/item/34008448/
University of Delaware, Colored Conventions Project. “Proceedings of the First Convention of the Colored Citizens of the State of Illinois.” Digital transcript and proceedings. https://udspace.udel.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/03f18579-3cfe-4cbb-a485-8229d57aec8c/content