Little Known Black History Fact – Black America 250: January 21, 1831-The day that  Portsmouth, Ohio Blacks were forcibly deported by order of city officials-described as Black Friday. 

In the 1830s,  according to local lore, Huston Hollow, located eight miles above Portsmouth, became the location of an African-American community, which often served as the first Underground Railroad stop for fugitive slaves who crossed the Ohio River at Portsmouth. Here Joseph Love and Dan Lucas, both African American, are said to have been the most active operators, helping move runaway slaves up the Scioto Valley to the next station in Pike County.Huston Hollow’s black community is said to have its origin in one of Portsmouth’s most notorious events and what must be considered one of the city’s darkest chapters of history. “Black Friday,” as it has come to be known, involved the forced expulsion of much of the city’s black population, a number of which found refuge in Huston Hollow. On Friday, January 21st, 1831, the following notice appeared in the city’s paper: “The citizens of Portsmouth are adopting measures to free the town of its colored population. We saw a paper, yesterday, with between one and two hundred names, including most of the house-holders, in which they pledged themselves not to employ any of them who have not complied with the law. The authorities have requested us to give notice that they will hereafter enforce the law indiscriminately.”Complying with the request of city officials, Elijah Glover, the editor of the Portsmouth Courier, dutifully placed this notice prominently in the columns of his newspaper. According to the oldest historical accounts of the controversy, eighty African American residents of the city were expelled under the threat of enforcement of Ohio “Black Laws.” Among other discriminatory requirements, the “Black Laws” stipulated that all African-American residents were to register with their county clerk, proving their free status. Runaway slaves who decided for various reasons to make a go at it here — rather than seek greater security and freedom in Canada — as well as those who may have been born free but did not have proper papers, made Portsmouth their home, often finding employment on the margins of society, scrapping by in the shadows of the law.

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