Most Northern states did not allow them to testify in
court against whites. This meant that, if a white man beat a black,
the black had no legal protection unless another white was willing to
testify on his behalf.
On several occasions white hostility erupted into violence.
Black workmen were harassed, abolitionists beaten, and entire
communities terrorized. One of the worst of these events occurred in
Cincinnati in 1829. With the rapid growth of "Little Africa," that
city's black ghetto, the local citizens decided to enforce the state's
anti-integration legislation. Some twenty years before, the state had
passed a law requiring blacks entering the state to provide proof of
their freedom and to post a bond as guarantee of their good behavior.
When the inhabitants of "Little Africa" obtained an extension of the
30-day time limit within which they were to comply with the law, the
citizens of Cincinnati were outraged, and they took matters into their
own hands. White mobs ransacked the area, indiscriminately and
mercilessly beating women and children, looting stores and burning
houses.
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