African Americans in Beaufort - An Overview

The history of African Americans in Beaufort goes back to the 18th century, yet remarkably little research or study has ever been carried out on the subject. Prior to 1800, when the town's black population consisted entirely of slaves, the records are virtually silent on their lives and the crucial roles that they must have played in the development and very construction of the town and its society. The labor performed by these slaves, from clearing land to building houses to working as domestics and servants in white households, made possible the very existence of the town during the difficult settlement period of the 18th century. Beaufort's slaves, like most, left no written history; as a result they are anonymous and will likely remain so.

With the growth of the free-black population during the early decades of the 19th century, the fascinating story of African Americans, and their contribution, begins to unfold. Beaufort's black population, which stood at 122—all slaves—in 1800 when the entire town numbered only 559, grew to include 59 free blacks and 579 slaves in 1860, in a town of 1,610. The federal census records for 1850 and 1860 list the occupations of free blacks for the first time, revealing a wide range of skills and trades including house-carpenter, shoemaker, fisherman, farmer, and even four musicians. Five free blacks in Beaufort had achieved the status of property owner by 1860. The great majority were still enslaved, all working daily to build and develop the town which was then in the midst of an antebellum heyday as a fashionable summer resort.

After the siege and capture of Fort Macon, the Union occupation of Beaufort gave the area the status of a safe haven for freedmen, or refugee slaves, who quickly fled to safety from the surrounding rural areas, resulting in the establishment of a refugee camp at the north side of town in 1863. By 1865, there were 3,245 freedmen living in camps and shanties, in and around Beaufort, comprising what was then the Union's second largest refugee camp in North Carolina. The area north of Cedar Street was developed as a camp, or "tent city," much like the more famous James City encampment at New Bern, earning that area the nickname "Union Town."

Civil War diaries have revealed the moving story of how the town's newly-freed blacks attended night school during the Union occupation to satisfy their longing to learn to read—often paying cash or bartering scarce goods for the privilege. Few can begin to imagine what life was like during the war, when Beaufort's refugee camps were filled to overflowing with freed slaves in desperate need of housing, food, jobs, and education. Between 1860 and 1870, the black population of Beaufort doubled, due largely to the influx of freedmen during the war.

Within the confines of their "Union Town" neighborhood, blacks built an entire community during the late-19th century consisting of homes, churches, stores, fraternal lodges, and their own schools. Black carpenters and builders constructed numerous residences, creating a neighborhood of simple but functional small frame houses, many of them in the "story-and-a-jump" form, which was so popular for working-class housing throughout Beaufort. The size and approximate boundaries of the black neighborhood have changed little from the time of the Civil War until today: bounded by Broad Street and Cedar Street on the south, Turner at the west, Town Creek or Mulberry Street at the north, and Live Oak Street at the east. The late-19th century brought job opportunities for blacks, first in the mullet fishery, then in the menhaden factories which grew to employ hundreds of fishermen and workers in the fish processing operations. The period of Reconstruction brought with it an era of active black participation in town government that was to last until 1896. 

As blacks made gains economically and socially in the 20th century, they were able to rebuild and improve their Reconstruction-era neighborhood, using hard-earned wages from the menhaden fishing industry, domestic work, and a variety of other labor-intensive trades. Economic opportunities continued to grow in the early decades of the 20th century in the menhaden industry, the oyster and produce canneries, and at the two lumber mills. Steady wages made it possible for many blacks to build comfortable bungalow-style houses throughout the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, giving the neighborhood a more prosperous, modern appearance that it still has today in some blocks. The large late-19th century schoolhouse at the Washburn Seminary was replaced in 1926 with the beloved Queen Street School which served as the principal public school for blacks until integration during the 1960s.

The late-20th century brought yet more change to Beaufort's African Americans in many aspects of their society. Blacks again achieved representation in local government with the election of Abe Thurman as town commissioner in 1991, and the appointment of Charles MacDonald as Chief of Police in 1992. The decline of the menhaden industry resulted in the elimination of many well-paying jobs. Black population began a decline that still continues, falling from a high of 1,129 in 1960 to a 1990 total of 908. While the town's blacks have succeeded in their efforts to attain higher education and opportunity, the local job market has become a limiting factor, providing mainly service-oriented employment. In the final twist of irony, some of Beaufort's best-educated African Americans are today finding it necessary to leave their home town in order to obtain the professional-level jobs that are available only in larger cities. (Sandbeck 1995)