by Roger Chartier:
Statistics about certain ethnic populations are hard to come by, but historical archives and old publications such as the Farmers Almanac and other magazines and government documents give us some facts to better understand the demographics of the time.
This is information from the 1850 US census showing the populations by state and reflecting the population of free and slave African Americans as well as other census information.
The page is copied form an 1855 publication of the New Bedford, Ma. Farmers Almanac.
New Bedford, Ma was well known to runaway slaves as a safe haven.
The underground railroad (a series of safe houses and transportation from the south to the free north) was supported with local residents and in particular by the Quaker population of the city.
See WWW.WhalingCity.net for more history of New Bedford, Ma.
Click the image for a larger resolution.
