Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia | National Negro Convention Movement

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The idea for a National Negro Convention first emerged among black leaders in response to events in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the late 1820s. Following Cincinnati’s enforcement of Ohio’s “black laws” in 1829 and subsequent violence unleashed by white mobs against the city’s black community, in the spring of 1830 Hezekiah Grice (1801-?), a Baltimore activist, appealed to African American leaders throughout the North to devise a plan for emigration to Canada. His appeal went unanswered for several months until Richard Allen (1760-1831), minister and founder of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia, called a national meeting of black leaders to address this issue.

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Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia | National Negro Convention Movement

An offshoot of the National Negro Convention Movement was the American Moral Reform Society, one of whose leaders was wealthy Philadelphia businessman James Forten. The Philadelphia-based organization's purpose was to advance black communities through education and promoting moral behavior such as t...