Wilberforce Colony

Wilberforce Colony was a colony established about 1829 by free African American citizens, north of present-day London, Ontario, Canada. It was an effort by American blacks to create a place where they could live in political freedom.When American black communities favored emigration at all (and many did not), they preferred going to a country where free blacks could hold full political control of their destiny. The establishment of what became the Wilberforce Colony in Canada was one such movement. It was planned by blacks from Cincinnati, Ohio, who emigrated following passage of discriminatory laws in 1828 and a destructive riot against them in 1829.The frontier colony grew quickly upon its founding. Internal disputes, lack of funding and the draw of urban jobs led to its decline by 1850. In the 1840s, many Irish immigrants settled in this area after fleeing famine in their homeland. Altogether, the Wilberforce Colony survived as an independent community fewer than 20 years.BackgroundThe increase in Cincinnati's black population in the decade starting in 1820 was rapid and pronounced. Although Ohio was a free state, the southern portion was influenced settlers from the South and racial tensions grew. In 1820, some 433 African Americans comprised less than 4% of the city's population, but over the next decade the city's black population swelled by more than 400%. This change alarmed some white residents. In response to a citizens' petition in 1828, the Cincinnati City Council appointed a committee "to take measures to prevent the increase of negro population within the city." In March of that year the Ohio Supreme Court decided that the 1807 state Black Laws, which placed restrictions on blacks in many areas of life and employment, were constitutional. The Cincinnati City Council enforced this restrictive legislation.