Cincinnati riots of 1841

The Cincinnati Riots of 1841 occurred after a long drought had created widespread unemployment in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Over a period of several days in September 1841, unemployed whites attacked the blacks, who defended themselves and fought back. Many blacks were rounded up and held behind a cordon and then moved to the jail. According to the authorities, this was for their own protection.

By 1840, Cincinnati had grown from a frontier settlement to the 6th largest city in the US. It was a crowded city of contrasts, with prosperous neighborhoods and squalid, violent slums inhabited by immigrants from Europe and black migrants from the South.

Many of the businessmen who controlled the city were interested in good relationships with the slave-owning states to the south of the Ohio River and were hostile to abolitionists and blacks. Although this was a free state, the Ohio constitution denied blacks the franchise, and the Black Laws imposed further restrictions.

Black children were denied education in the public schools, but black propertyowners had to pay taxes to support these schools. Since 1829 Black migrants to the state had to register and provide surety. A black could not serve on a jury, testify in legal cases involving a white person, or serve in the militia.

Drawn by the economic opportunities, many blacks had settled in the city. the black population had grown from 690 in 1826 to an official count of 2,240 out of a total of 44,000 citizens by 1840. At the same time, the city had a high proportion of foreign-born residents, nearly 40%. Especially the Irish competed with blacks for work and housing, and tensions rose as the crowding increased. In 1850 Cincinnati had more blacks than any city of what was later called the Old Northwest, as they could find jobs on the steamboats and associated jobs on the riverfront. By this time, many blacks had gained skilled jobs as craftsmen or tradesmen, earning good wages for the time. Many owned property.

On 1 August 1841, the black leaders held ceremonies to commemorate the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 that abolished slavery in the British colonies (except for India); their celebration was viewed with hostility by many whites. That month the city experienced a drought and heat wave that caused the Ohio River to drop to the lowest waterline yet recorded, putting many men out of work who were dependent on river traffic. Idled and hot, they got testy and argumentative.

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