“自由”，但不平等

1797年6月, Prince Hall addressed his fellow Masons at the African Lodge at Menotomy (present-day Arlington, 麻萨诸塞州), referring to violence against them and urging "Patience I say, for were we not possess'd of a great measure of it you could not bear up under the daily insults you meet with in the streets of Boston; much more on public days of recreation, 你是怎么被羞辱的, 在这种程度上, 这样，你们的生命才真正掌握在自己手中.“很明显, 尽管波士顿的黑人在法律上是“自由的”, 他们远不是平等的, 在公众庆祝的日子里, 甚至在7月4日，在“自由的摇篮”."

根据历史学家Len Travers的说法, the dawn of the nineteenth century found Northern blacks "on the margins of their society, 身体上和形象上.在波士顿, 他们住在比肯山后面狭小的地方, but seem to have had a strong sense of community and were not without resources. In 1776, a Masonic African Lodge under Prince Hall had been sponsored by occupying British troops; in 1796, 城市黑人组织了波士顿非洲人协会, with an eye toward mutual aid; and in 1805, 波士顿的第一个非洲浸信会教堂开始了. 巴蒂尔 白色 observed in “‘这是值得骄傲的一天’:非洲裔美国人, 节日, 和北方的游行, 1741-1834,“那, as the city grew and the black community became more literate and upwardly mobile, the same urban environment that "gave blacks a chance … also brought them face to face with a white population who nourished a deep-seated and intensifying racism and resented any sign of African-American achievement."

Although early Independence Day celebrations were open to all, 随着种族间的紧张局势加剧, 黑人受到了打击, or outright chased from Independence Day and other public celebrations. 黑人选举日," usually held in May or June in conjunction with white celebrations of election week, was the one day on the calendar that blacks in Boston could enjoy the Common unmolested. 然而,, whites even treated that celebration as a source of entertainment and derision eventually changing the day to winter, 进一步压迫和边缘化社区.

取消一天

被剥夺了庆祝公共假日的机会, free Northern blacks created their own holiday commemorating the abolition of the slave trade in 1807. The first Boston celebration, held on 14 July 1808, was favorably described in detail in the 独立的编年史 7月18日的仪式是正常的，体面的，虔诚的和庄严的. The editors went on to add, 然而, that although the "events celebrated by 这些人 [emphasis added] are certainly of great interest to the cause of humanity and religion … we think, 然而, 这样的庆祝一次就足够了." Undissuaded, the African Society continued its annual July 14th observance. While the 1818 address noted that 14 July had been chosen "for convenience merely," 取消一天 shares the date with Bastille Day—whether coincidence or not is lost to history.

废奴日以庄严的仪式开始, 然而,庆祝, 列队前往非洲会议中心, 在那里向人群布道, 然后是晚餐. When newspapers took note of the event at all, it was generally in positive terms. Newspapers reported that 1818's anniversary "would have done honour to any assemblage, whatever" and that 1819’s procession had its "usual spirit and magnificence,但是在1820年, hints of the persecution Boston’s blacks faced were hinted at in the 波士顿日报广告人

The blacks of this town yesterday observed their annual festival … A crowd of persons assembled to witness their procession in State-street, 还有邻近的街道, 但我们很失望. The celebraters very judiciously adopted a different and shorter route, and thus avoided much of the ridicule which they usually encounter.

本报记者 解放者 in 1847 recalled that 取消一天 processions "were followed by the rabble; hissed, hooted and groaned at every turn; and one would suppose that Bedlam had broken loose.“威廉·库珀·内尔的 美国独立战争的有色人种爱国者 goes further, reporting a violent holiday melee that nearly ended in gunfire.

Bobolition猛烈抨击

It is in this milleu that "Bobolition" broadsides like the two held by the Society fit. Written in stereotypical "black dialect" and occasionally featuring grotesque caricatures, these broadsides mocked African Americans and what whites considered black pretensions to literacy, 体面, 向上流动. 显然是想激怒白人, especially those whom Prince Hall called out years earlier as "shameless, low-lived, 嫉妒, 恶意的人, some of them not long since servants in gentlemen's kitchings, 在刀, 照料马匹和驾驶马车,“这些侧舷本来是, 据肖恩·怀特说, ，在活动开始前贴满了整个波士顿."

然而事实证明，这些炮弹的流行是短暂的, they quickly morphed into minstrel shows and Jim Crow characterizations on an endless variety of advertisements, featuring "watermelon-eating negroes" and relentless buffoonery, that would only grow and reach ever greater proportions at the turn of the twentieth century.