1850 Census of Columbia

A Snapshot of an African American Community: Using Census Records to Learn More about the African American Community in Columbia, PA

Historical Background
Every 10 years since 1790, the U.S. Government has taken a census to enumerate the population so as to apportion seats in the House of Representatives. Census enumerators canvass their districts house-to-house, collecting information about individuals and households on large forms called population schedules. In each decennial census, Americans from the famous to the unsung and the infamous appear.
Working with pictures of the original document can be helpful and fulfilling but it may be difficult for some students to read and interpret. In this exercise, we will use databases and the original census form to evaluate the census information. A number of databases have been created to facilitate the research of the census records from Columbia, PA. The database was derived from originals held at the Columbia Historical Society.
The information briefly tallied in the census reports gives us a glimpse of the lives of African Americans in Columbia. For example, the census shows us that William Whipper was a merchant, owned $2000 worth of real estate, was married to Hariet, and had two children. Columbia had many other African American residents that had similar census bios which is not surprising because of the fairly large African American presence there. This census data can be used to learn more about the vibrant African American community in Columbia.

Teaching Activities
Vocabulary Development
1. Many terms in your explanation of the census and in these documents need to be identified for students. Ask students to use classroom resources (textbooks and reference books) to explain such terms as census, document, aggregate, and enumeration and its varieties.
Analyzing the Data
2. Begin by studying a blank 1850 census form. (Blank census forms are available from Familytreemaker.com, http://www.genealogy.com/00000061.html?Welcome=993712871) Discuss the different categories of the census with the students. Define terms they may be unfamiliar with such as place of abode, mulatto, deaf and dumb, insane, idiotic, pauper, and convict. Ask them why they think each category was important to the government. Ask them why age, sex, and skin color were important. Ask them to fill out the form for themselves or a family member.
3. Have students go to the computers with partners. In order to get a snapshot of the makeup of Lancaster County, go to the United States Historical Census Data Browser (http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/).

Ask students to select the 1850 census from the left-hand column.
Once there, have them select "total free colored population" from 'Free Colored' Population, "total aggregate population" from Tot. Population, Marriage, Births, Deaths, and "total white population" from White Population.
Then students should click "Browse 1850 Data" in order to see this information.
A table with a view of this data from state to state will appear. Students should scroll down to Pennsylvania and select it. Then they need to scroll down in order to select "View Counties".
Once there, show students how to find proportions for populations. Ask them to find the proportion of 'free colored' to total and 'white' to total.
Ask students to compare these numbers to other counties.

4. Instruct students to access the online database (go to http://filemaker.millersville.edu or have a link directly on the desktop). Once there, ask them to select "1850 Columbia Census." They will need to enter a username and password, both are "guest". Students should take a few minutes to become familiar with the database. Point out how to click on "Next" in order to go to the next 25 entries and show them the difference between form and table view. Ask the students to match up the various categories with the census form they have. Explain why there is a House Number and Family Number (these simply correlate to when the census enumerator visited various homes and/or families). Instruct students to pick a person of their same sex among the first 25 records and then have the students fill out the census entry for that person on their form.
5. Next, ask them to look for black or mulatto people that own real estate property. They should list 5 property owners with their census data on their forms. Ask them if any of these people are women. If none of them found any women, ask them why women may not have owned property. Ask them to then find and list 5 black or mulatto women over the age of 20.
Research and Synthesis
6. Direct students to write a paragraph describing the lifestyle of 5 of the African Americans they listed on their forms based only on information provided by the census. Students might include such topics as work, family, employment, and how these people may have interacted in their community. How would their lives have touched each other?

Lesson plan use themes and ideas from a lesson plan at the National Archives and Records Administration