[2] The
Negro community in the northwestern part of that State was broken up
entirely.[3] The African Methodist and Baptist churches of Buffalo
lost many communicants. Out of a membership of one hundred and
fourteen, the colored Baptist church of Rochester lost one hundred and
twelve, including its pastor. About the same time eighty-four members
of the African Baptist church of Detroit crossed into Canada.[4] The
break-up of these churches meant the end of the day and Sunday-schools
which were maintained in them. Moreover, the migration of these
Negroes aroused such bitter feeling against them that their
schoolhouses were frequently burned. It often seemed that it was just
as unpopular to educate the blacks in the North as in the South. Ohio,
Illinois, and Oregon enacted laws to prevent them from coming into
those commonwealths.
[Footnote 1: Evans, _A History of Scioto County, Ohio_, p. 613.]
[Footnote 2: Siebert, _The Underground Railroad_, p. 249.]
[Footnote 3: _Ibid_., p. 249.]
[Footnote 4: _Ibid_., p. 250.]
We have, however, sufficient evidence of large undertakings to educate
the colored people then finding homes in less turbulent parts beyond
the Ohio.
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