National Conventions
Starting in 1830 and continuing until well after the Civil War, free, freed and self-emancipated Blacks came together in state and national political conventions. They strategized about how they might achieve educational, labor, and legal justice during decades when Black rights were constricting nationally and locally as well as during the intervening postwar years, before the very promise of a democracy that included all citizens was once foreclosed again. The Colored Conventions movement took place during critical decades which witnessed devastating anti-Black race riots and the growing popularity of the American Colonization Society; the Fugitive Slave Law and the proliferation of derogatory representations of Blacks; the Civil War and Reconstruction; and the return of Black disenfranchisement in legal, labor, and educational spheres in the late nineteenth century. Speakers at conventions responded by calling for community-based action that gathered funds, established schools and literary societies, and urged the necessity of organizing in what would become a decades-long campaign for civil and human rights. The convention minutes collected here illustrate the immense struggles and the profound courage of those who made it a point to organize and stand for what was rightly theirs.
Most conventions were organized either as state or national meetings, though there were some regional meetings for New England and the southern states, for example. You may also search by region, though these are twenty-first century terms and don't reflect the changing borders of the US in the nineteenth century itself. This collection is preserved in the University of Delaware Library Institutional Repository (UDSpace).
Select a convention to learn more information, to view minutes in a document viewer, or to download minutes in PDF format.
National Conventions
Note to visitors: In most cases, each convention has one primary document associated with it. When multiple documents are available for a convention, they are presented below the respective conventions with indentations.
Listings that do not have a link to a primary document are records we are seeking to add to the collection. Learn more about how you can contribute missing records at our Submit Records page.
1830 National Convention of Free People of Colour held in Philadelphia PA
1831 National Convention of Free People of Colour held in Philadelphia PA
1832 National Convention of Free People of Colour held in Philadelphia PA
1833 National Convention of Free People of Colour held in Philadelphia PA
1834 National Convention of Free People of Colour held in New York NY
1835 National Convention of Free People of Colour held in Philadelphia PA
1843 National Convention of Colored Citizens held in Buffalo NY
1847 National Convention of Colored People and Their Friends held in Troy NY
1848 National Convention of Colored Freemen held in Cleveland OH
1853 National Convention of the Free People of Color held in Rochester NY
1854 National Emigration Convention held in Cleveland OH
1855 National Convention of Colored People held in Philadelphia PA
1864 National Convention of Colored Men held in Syracuse NY
- Report on the 1864 National Convention of Colored Men held in Syracuse NY (The Christian Recorder, October 15, 1864)
- Report on the 1864 National Convention of Colored Men held in Syracuse NY containing list of delegates (The Christian Recorder, October 15, 1864)
- Report on the 1864 National Convention of Colored Men held in Syracuse NY (Rutland Weekly Herald, October 20, 1864)
1865 National Equal Rights League Convention held in Cleveland OH
1867 National Colored Convention held in Washington DC
1867 National Equal Rights Convention held in Washington DC
1867 National Convention of the Colored Soldiers and Sailors in Philadelphia PA
1869 National Convention of Colored Men held in Washington DC
1869 National Colored Labor Convention held in Washington DC
- Report on the 1869 National Colored Labor Convention held in Washington DC published in The Tipton Advertiser (January 21, 1869)
- Report on the 1869 National Colored Labor Convention held in Washington DC published in the Buchanan County Bulletin and Guardian (February 26, 1869)
1869 National Labor Convention of Colored Men held in Baltimore
1871 National Convention of Colored People held in St. Louis MO
1872 National Convention of Colored People held in New Orleans LA
1873 National Convention held in Washington DC
1873 National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC
- Report on the 1873 National Convention held in Washington DC (The Evening Star, December 10, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Convention held in Washington DC (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, December 27, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Convention held in Washington DC (Daily Rocky Mountain News, December 10, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC (The New National Era, December 11, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 Louisiana Delegation to the National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC (The National Era, December 11, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC (Daily Rocky Mountain News, December 14, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC (Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, December 10, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Convention held in Washington DC (Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, December 15, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Convention held in Washington DC (Georgia Weekly Telegraph and Georgia Journal & Messenger, December 16, 1873).
- Report on the 1873 National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC (Georgia Weekly Telegraph and Georgia Journal & Messenger, Dec 16, 1873 - Second Report)
- Report on the 1873 National Convention held in Washington DC (The Evening Star, December 9, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC (Daily Arkansas Gazette, December 10, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC (Little Rock Daily Republican, December 8, 1873)
- Report on the 1873 National Civil Rights Convention held in Washington DC (North American and United States Gazette, December 15, 1873)
1875 National Convention of Colored Newspaper Men held in Cincinnati OH
1876 National Convention of Colored People held in Nashville, Tennessee (Seeking Records)
1879 National Conference of Colored Men held in Nashville TN
1880 National Colored Press Convention held in Louisville, Kentucky (Seeking Records)
1882 National Colored Press Convention held in Washington, DC (Seeking Records)
1883 National Civil Rights Meeting held in Washington, D.C.
1883 National Colored Press Convention held in St. Louis, Missouri (Seeking Records)
1883 National Convention held in Louisville KY
1886 National Colored Press Convention held in Atlantic City, New Jersey (Seeking Records)
1887 National Colored Press Association held in Louisville, Kentucky
- Report on the 1887 National Colored Press Association held in Louisville, Kentucky published in New York Age (January 1, 1887)
- A report on the 1887 National Colored Press Association held in Louisville, Kentucky published in the Southern Standard (August 4, 1887)
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Report on the 1887 National Colored Press Association held in Louisville, KY published in the Washington Bee (August 6, 1887)
- Report on the 1887 National Colored Press Association held in Louisville, Kentucky published in the Bismarck Tribune (August 10, 1887)
- Report on the 1887 National Colored Press Association held in Louisville, Kentucky published in the New York Age (August 20, 1887)
1888 National Colored Press Association held in Nashville, Tennessee (Seeking Records)
1889 National Colored Press Convention held in Washington, DC (Seeking Records)
1890 National Convention of the Afro-American League held in Chicago, Illinois (Seeking Records)
1891 National Colored Press Convention held in Cincinnati, Ohio (Seeking Records)
1893 National Colored Convention held in Cincinnati OH (Seeking Records)
1893 National Council of Colored Men held in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Report on the 1893 National Colored Convention held in Cincinnati, OH published in the Atchison Daily Globe (November 29, 1893)
- Report on the 1893 National Colored Convention held in Cincinnati, OH published in The Emporia Daily Gazette (November 29, 1893)
- Report on the 1893 National Colored Convention held in Cincinnati, OH published in The Pascagoula Democrat-Star (December 8, 1893)
1894 National Afro-American Press Association Convention held in Richmond, Virginia (Seeking Records)
1894 National Convention of Colored Teachers held in Baltimore, Maryland (Seeking Records)