ual Convention of the Free
People of Color_, p. 18.]

The friends of the colored race, however, were not easily discouraged
by that "vulgar race prejudice which reigns in the breasts of working
classes."[1] Arthur Tappan, Gerrit Smith, and William Lloyd Garrison
made the appeal in behalf of the untrained laborers.[2] Although they
knew the difficulties encountered by Negroes seeking to learn trades,
and could daily observe how unwilling master mechanics were to receive
colored boys as apprentices, the abolitionists persisted in saying
that by perseverance these youths could succeed in procuring
profitable situations.[3] Garrison believed that their failure to find
employment at trades was not due so much to racial differences as to
their lack of training. Speaking to the free people of color in their
convention in Philadelphia in 1831, he could give them no better
advice than that "wherever you can, put your children to trades. A
good trade is better than a fortune, because when once obtained it
cannot be taken away." Discussing the matter further, he said: "Now,
there can be no reason why your sons should fail to make as ingenious
and industrious mechanics, as any white apprentices; and when they
once get trades, they will be able to accumulate money; money begets
influence, and influence respectability. Influence, wealth, and
character will certainly destroy those prejudices which now separate
you from society."[4]

[Footnote 1: _Minutes of the Fourth Annual Convention for the
Improvement of the Free People of Color_, p. 26.]

[Footnote 2: This statement is based on articles appearing in _The
Liberator_ from time to time.]

[Footnote 3: _Minutes of the Second Annual Convention for the
Improvement of the Free People of Color_, 1831, p. 10.]

[Footnote 4: _Minutes of the Second Annual Convention for the
Improvement of the Free People of Color_, 1831, p. II.]

To expect the cooeperation of the white working classes in thus
elevating the colored race turned out to be a delusion. They reached
the conclusion that in making their headway against capital they had a
better chance without Negroes than with them. White mechanics of the
North not only refused to accept colored boys as apprentices, but
would not even work for employers who persisted in hiring Negroes.
Generally refused by the master mechanics of Cincinnati, a colored
cabinet-maker finally found an Englishman who was willing to hire him,
but the employees o