The Philadelphia Negro. W. E. B. Du Bois
lost, for the appeal fell on deaf ears.13
A curious comment on human nature is this change of public opinion in Philadelphia between 1790 and 1837. No one thing explains it—it arose from a combination of circumstances. If, as in 1790, the new freedmen had been given peace and quiet and abundant work to develop sensible and aspiring leaders, the end would have been different; but a mass of poverty-stricken, ignorant fugitives and ill-trained freedmen had rushed to the city, swarmed in the vile slums which the rapidly growing city furnished, and met in social and economic competition equally ignorant but more vigorous foreigners. These foreigners outbid them at work, beat them on the streets, and were enabled to do this by the prejudice which Negro crime and the anti-slavery sentiment had aroused in the city.
Notwithstanding this the better class of Negroes never gave up. Their school increased in attendance; their churches and benevolent societies increased ; they held public meetings of protest and sympathy. And twice, in 1831 and 1833, there assembled in the city a general convention of the free Negroes of the country, representing five to eight States, which, among other things, sought to interest philanthropists of the city in the establishment of a Negro industrial school.14 When the Legislature showed a disposition in 1832 to curtail the liberties of Negroes, the Negroes held a mass meeting and memorialized the lawmaking body and endeavored to show that all Negroes were not criminals and paupers; they declared that while the Negroes formed eight per cent of the population they furnished but four per cent of the paupers ; that by actually produced tax receipts they could show that Negroes held at least
11. The Guild of the Caterers, 1840–1870.—The outlook for the Negro in Philadelphia about 1840 was not encouraging. The last of the first series of riots took place in 1842, and has been mentioned. The authorities were wakened to their duty by this last outbreak of barbarism, and for several years the spirit of lawlessness, which now extended far beyond the race question and seriously threatened the good name of the city, was kept within control. However, in 1849, a mob set upon a mulatto who had a white wife, at the corner of Sixth street and St. Mary's, and there ensued a pitched battle for a night and a day ; firemen fought with firemen ; the blacks, goaded to desperation, fought furiously ; houses were burned and firearms used, with the result that three white men and one Negro were killed and twenty-five wounded persons taken to the hospital. The militia was twice called before the disturbance was quelled. These riots and the tide of prejudice and economic proscription drove so many Negroes from the city that the black population actually showed a decrease in the decade 1840–50. Worse than this, the good name of the Negroes in the city had been lost through the increased crime and the undeniably frightful condition of the Negro slums. The foreign element gained all the new employments which the growing industries of the State opened, and competed for the trades and common vocations. The outlook was certainly dark.
It was at this time that there arose to prominence and power as remarkable a trade guild as ever ruled in a mediaeval city. It took complete leadership of the bewildered group of Negroes, and led them steadily on to a degree of affluence, culture and respect such as has probably never been surpassed in the history of the Negro in America. This was the guild of the caterers, and its masters include names which have been household words in the city for fifty years : Bogle, Augustin, Prosser, Dorsey, Jones and Mintou. To realize just the character of this new economic development we must not forget the economic history of the slaves. At first they were wholly house servants or field hands. As city life in the colony became more important, some of the slaves acquired trades, and thus there arose a class of Negro artisans. So long as the pecuniary interests of a slaveholding class stood back of these artisans the protests of white mechanics had little effect; indeed it is probable that between 1790 and 1820 a very large portion, and perhaps most, of the artisans of Philadelphia were Negroes. Thereafter, however, the sharp competition of the foreigners and the demand for new sorts of skilled labor of which the Negro was ignorant, and was not allowed to learn, pushed the black artisans more and more to the wall. In 1837 only about 350 men out of a city population of 10,500 Negroes, pursued trades, or about one in every twenty adults.
The question, therefore, of obtaining a decent livelihood was a pressing one for the better class of Negroes. The masses of the race continued to depend upon domestic service, where they still had a practical monopoly, and upon common labor, where they had some competition from the Irish. To the more pushing and energetic Negroes only two courses were open : to enter into commercial life in some small way, or to develop certain lines of home service into a more independent and lucrative employment. In this latter way was the most striking advance made ; the whole catering business, arising from an evolution shrewdly, persistently and tastefully directed, transformed the Negro cook and waiter into the public caterer and restaurateur, and raised a crowd of underpaid menials to become a set of self-reliant, original business men, who amassed fortunes for themselves and won general respect for their people.
The first prominent Negro caterer was Robert Bogle, who, early in the century, conducted an establishment on Eighth street, near Sansom. In his day he was one of the best known characters of Philadelphia, and virtually created the business of catering in the city.16 As the butler or waiter in a private family arranged the meals and attended the family on ordinary occasions, so the public waiter came to serve different families in the same capacity at larger and more elaborate functions; he was the butler of the smart set, and his taste of hand and eye and palate set the fashion of the day. This functionary filled a unique place in a time when social circles were very exclusive, and the millionaire and the French cook had not yet arrived. Bogle's place was eventually taken by Peter Augustin, a West Indian immigrant, who started a business in 1818 which is still carried on. It was the Augustin establishment that made Philadelphia catering famous all over the country. The best families of the city, and the most distinguished foreign guests, were served by this caterer. Other Negroes soon began to crowd into the field thus opened. The Prossers, father and son, were prominent among these, perfecting restaurant catering and making many famous dishes. Finally came the triumvirate Jones, Dorsey and Minton, who ruled the fashionable world from 1845–1875. Of these Dorsey was the most unique character ; with little education but great refinement of manner, he became a man of real weight in the community, and associated with many eminent men. “He had the sway of an imperial dictator. When a Democrat asked his menial service he refused, because ‘he could not wait on a party of persons who were disloyal to the government, and Lincoln’—pointing to the picture in his reception rooms—‘was the government.’”17 Jones was Virginia born, and a man of great care and faithfulness. He catered to families in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York.18 Minton, the younger of the three, long had a restaurant at Fourth and Chestnut, and became, as the others did, moderately wealthy.19
Such men wielded great personal influence, aided the Abolition cause to no little degree, and made Philadelphia noted for its cultivated and well-to-do Negro citizens. Their conspicuous success opened opportunities for Negroes in other lines. It was at this time that Stephen Smith amassed a very large fortune as a lumber merchant, with which he afterward handsomely endowed a home for aged and infirm Negroes. Whipper, Vidal and Purnell were associated with Smith at different times. Still and Bowers were coal merchants and Adger was in the furniture business. There were also some artists of ability : Bowser, who painted a portrait of Lincoln, and Douglass and Burr; Johnson, the leader of a famous colored band and a composer.20
During this time of effort, advance and assimilation the Negro population increased but slowly, for the economic struggle was too earnest for young and indiscriminate marriages, and immigrants had been frightened away by the riots. In 1840 there were 19,833 Negroes in the county, and ten years later, as has been noted, there were only 19,761. For the next decade there was