Black activists organized the Colored Convention movement to fight for citizenship

Evidence

It fell to Black activists to fight for citizenship and resist colonization, and with that the Colored Convention movement was started. At the inaugural gathering in 1830, Black men came together from New England, the mid-Atlantic, and as far south as Virginia to discuss the rise of Black laws and the prospect of leaving the United States. Among them were delegates from Ohio who were being driven out of their state by discriminatory Black laws. The way forward was not yet clear. Without a way to ensure their equality, some delegates urged resettling in Canada, where Black Americans might be guaranteed that “no invidious distinction of colour is recognised…there we shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of other citizens.” — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 704

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: state-level coercion as emigration policy — legal restriction used to drive a demographic change without technically expelling anyone.