increased only 23,736 from 1850 to 1860, that of the free States increased 29,839.  In the South only Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina showed a noticeable increase in the number of free persons of color during the decade immediately preceding the Civil War.  This element of the population had only slightly increased in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia.  The number of free Negroes of Florida remained practically constant.  Those of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas diminished.  In the North, of course, the tendency was in the other direction.  With the exception of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, which had about the same free colored population in 1860 as they had in 1850, there was a general increase in the number of Negroes in the free States.  Ohio led in this respect having had during this period an increase of 11,394.[2]

[Footnote 1:  Jones, Religious Instruction of the Negroes, p. 115.]

[Footnote 2:  See statistics on pages 237-240.]

On comparing the educational statistics of these sections this truth becomes more apparent.  In 1850 there were 4,354 colored children attending school in the South, but by 1860 this number had dropped to 3,651.  Slight increases were noted only in Alabama, Missouri, Delaware, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia.  Georgia and Mississippi had then practically deprived all Negroes of this privilege.  The former, which reported one colored child as attending school in 1850, had just seven in 1860; the latter had none in 1850 and only two in 1860.  In all other slave States the number of pupils of African blood had materially decreased.[1] In the free States there were 22,107 colored children in school in 1850, and 28,978 in 1860.  Most of these were in New Jersey, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania, which in 1860 had 2,741; 5,671; 5,694; and 7,573, respectively.[2]

[Footnote 1:  STATISTICS OF THE FREE COLORED POPULATION OF THE
  UNITED STATES IN 1850

ATTENDING         ADULTS UNABLE
SCHOOL             TO READ
STATE      Population Males Females Total Males Females  Total

Alabama         2,265    33      35    68    108      127     235
Arkansas          608     6       5    11     61       55     116
California        962     1       0     1     88       29     117
Connecticut     7,693   689     575  1,264   292      273     567
Delaware       18,073    92      95    187 2,724    2,921   5,645
Florida           932    29      37     66   116      154     270
Georgia         2,931     1       0      1   208      259     467
Illinois        5,436   162     161    323   605      624   1,229
Indiana        11,262   484     443    927 1,024    1,146   2,170
Iowa              333    12       5     17    15       18      33
Kentucky       10,011   128     160    288 1,431    1,588   3,029
Louisiana      17,462   629     590  1,219 1,038    2,351   3,389