Competition? Drive it out.

by Lisa Y. Henderson

The Mechanics of Washington, N.C., have formed an association, and published resolutions declaring that hereafter they will not give employment to any negro mechanic, or learn any negro boy a trade. They condemn the practice of masters letting slaves hire their own time. They refer to the influx of free negroes from Virginia, driven out by the laws of that State; and they express a determination to petition the Legislature of North Carolina to pass a similar act, or tax free negroes to raise a fund to send them to Africa. – North Carolinian.

Carolina Watchman, 15 August 1850.