The Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention was a series of

Colored Convention The Colored Conventions Movement, or Black Conventions Movement, was a series of national, regional, and state conventions held irregularly during the decades preceding and following the American Civil War. The delegates who attended these convent ...

in the 19th century. The convention was one of several

social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...

conventions that took place in the mid-19th century in many states across the United States.

History

1830 Philadelphia

The 1830 convention at

Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...

in Philadelphia was led by Bishop Richard Allen, the founder of the National Negro Convention.Wesley, Charles H.,
Richard Allen: Apostle of Freedom
', Associated Publishers, 1935, pp. 234–238. It was held on September 15, 1830, and lasted ten-days. The first convention occurred directly after the 1829 riots in Cincinnati, which was one topic of discussion, other topics included African American land purchase, improving social conditions in the United States, and establishing settlements in "upper Canada". Forty delegates from seven states were in attendance, other leaders during the 1830 convention included James Forten, Rev. Samuel E. Cornish, Rev.

Peter Williams Jr. Peter Williams Jr. (1786–1840) was an African-American Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal priest, the second ordained in the United States and the first to serve in New York City. He was an Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist ...

, William Hamilton,

Philip Alexander Bell Philip Alexander Bell (1808–1889) was a 19th-century American newspaper editor and abolitionist. Born in New York City, he was educated at the African Free School and became politically active at the 1832 Colored Convention. He began his news ...

, Hezekiah Grice, and

James W. C. Pennington James William Charles Pennington ( – October 22, 1870) was an American abolitionist, orator, minister and writer active in Brooklyn, New York. He escaped at the age of 19 from slavery in western Maryland and reached New York. After working in ...

1831 Philadelphia

During the 1831 First Annual Convention of the People of Color at the Wesleyan Church in Philadelphia,

Thomas L. Jennings Thomas L. Jennings (January 1, 1791 – February 13, 1856) was an African-American inventor, tradesman, entrepreneur, and abolitionist in New York City, New York. He has the distinction of being the first African-American patent-holder in histor ...

served as the secretary. Fifteen delegates from five states attended the 1831 event, which included leaders such as James G. Barbadoes.

1833 Philadelphia

At the 1833 Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color held on August 26, 1833 at 526 Pearl Street, Philadelphia, they had a tribute to the late William Wilberforce, who had died weeks earlier on July 29, 1833.

1898 Reading

During the 1898 Pennsylvania State Convention of the Afro-American League in Reading, featured 200 delegates endorsing Republican candidate Matthew Quay for re-election as senator. Speakers included the Mayor of Reading,

Jacob Weidel Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jac ...

; and the founder of the all African-American National Guard unit,

William Hilton Catlin William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

List of related events

* 1830 First national convention at

, Philadelphia * 1831 First Annual Convention of the People of Color, Philadelphia * 1833 Third Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color, Philadelphia * 1841 Pennsylvania State Convention of Colored Freemen, Pittsburgh * 1848 Pennsylvania State Convention of Colored Citizens, Harrisburg * 1851 Pennsylvania State Convention of Colored People, Sandy Lake * 1855 Colored National Convention of 1855, Colored National Convention, Franklin Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * 1865 Colored People's Convention, Allegheny County * 1865 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Harrisburg * 1865 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Harrisburg * 1866 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Pittsburgh * 1868 Pennsylvania State Convention of Colored Men, Pittsburgh * 1868 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Williamsport * 1869 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Philadelphia * 1872 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Harrisburg * 1873 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Wilkes-Barre * 1874 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Reading * 1877 Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention, Erie * 1898 Pennsylvania State Convention of the Afro-American League, Reading

References

{{Authority control Colored Conventions Abolitionist conventions in the United States African Americans' rights organizations History of African-American civil rights African-American history of Pennsylvania 1830 in Pennsylvania