7. According to the text, how did free blacks in the North respond to discrimination? * Free Blacks in the North African Americans in the North lived freer lives, but blacks experienced discrimination, or unequal treatment, everywhere they turned. In many states, African Americans were denied the right to vote. They had trouble finding good jobs. In the 1850s, some 87 percent of free blacks in New York held low-paying jobs. "Why should I strive hard?" asked one young African American. “What are my prospects? ... No one will employ me; white boys won't work with me." In addition to unequal treatment, policies of segregation separated blacks from whites in nearly all public places. Black children were often denied entry into public schools. Those states that did educate black children set up separate schools for that purpose. A New Yorker observed around 1860, "Even the noblest black is denied that which is free to the vilest [worst] white. The omnibus, the [railroad] car, the ballot-box, the jury box, the halls of legislation, the army. the public lands, the school, the church, the lecture room, the social circle, the [restaurant] table, are all either absolutely or virtually denied to him." Douglass discovered how deeply rooted this racism was when he tried to join a church in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and was turned away. “I tried all the other churches in New Bedford with the same result," he wrote. African Americans responded to discrimination by organizing to help themselves. In 1816, Richard Allen, formally enslaved, became the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The AME, which still exists today, quickly became a center of African American life. Allen also created organizations to improve the lives of blacks, such as the African Society for the Education of Youth. Other Northern blacks started their own schools, churches, and self-help organizations. In 1853, free blacks formed the National Council of Colored People to protest the unequal treatment they received. Such treatment, the council declared, "would humble the proudest, crush the energies of the strongest, and retard the progress of the swiftest." That blacks were neither humbled nor crushed by prejudice and discrimination was evidence of their courage and spirit. Actively protesting Running Away Going to Canada Organizing themselves

7. According to the text, how did free blacks in the North respond to discrimination? * Free Blacks in the North African Americans in the North lived freer lives, but blacks experienced discrimination, or unequal treatment, everywhere they turned. In many states, African Americans were denied the right to vote. They had trouble finding good jobs. In the 1850s, some 87 percent of free blacks in New York held low-paying jobs. "Why should I strive hard?" asked one young African American. “What are my prospects? ... No one will employ me; white boys won't work with me." In addition to unequal treatment, policies of segregation separated blacks from whites in nearly all public places. Black children were often denied entry into public schools. Those states that did educate black children set up separate schools for that purpose. A New Yorker observed around 1860, "Even the noblest black is denied that which is free to the vilest [worst] white. The omnibus, the [railroad] car, the ballot-box, the jury box, the halls of legislation, the army. the public lands, the school, the church, the lecture room, the social circle, the [restaurant] table, are all either absolutely or virtually denied to him." Douglass discovered how deeply rooted this racism was when he tried to join a church in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and was turned away. “I tried all the other churches in New Bedford with the same result," he wrote. African Americans responded to discrimination by organizing to help themselves. In 1816, Richard Allen, formally enslaved, became the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The AME, which still exists today, quickly became a center of African American life. Allen also created organizations to improve the lives of blacks, such as the African Society for the Education of Youth. Other Northern blacks started their own schools, churches, and self-help organizations. In 1853, free blacks formed the National Council of Colored People to protest the unequal treatment they received. Such treatment, the council declared, "would humble the proudest, crush the energies of the strongest, and retard the progress of the swiftest." That blacks were neither humbled nor crushed by prejudice and discrimination was evidence of their courage and spirit. Actively protesting Running Away Going to Canada Organizing themselves