Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Historic Preservation (MHP)
Department
Architecture
Committee Chair/Advisor
Bradford Watson
Committee Member
Chloe Stuber
Committee Member
Christina Butler
Committee Member
Rachel Fore
Abstract
In Charleston, South Carolina, for all but one year from 1790 to 1860, the enslaved and free Black population outnumbered that of the white. Through manumission, the process of an enslaved person gaining their freedom, the free Black population grew substantially and reached a peak in South Carolina during the nineteenth century. This large community of free people of color (FPOC), shifted the social climate by upsetting the balance of white power, thus increasing racial conflict, tension, and legislation that aimed to control the movement of FPOC.
Despite FPOC comprising a significant portion of the total population of Charleston, there is no comprehensive literature delineating where they lived within the city. This study utilized a mixed-methods approach including archival research and spatial mapping to determine the geographical distribution and movement of FPOC within the city of Charleston from 1790 to 1861. This study provides a useful case study for understanding both the racial makeup of a prominent nineteenth-century American city and the lasting effects this community formation has had on Charleston today.
The findings of this study indicate that FPOC were dispersed throughout the entirety of the city of Charleston likely due to proximity to employment and other FPOC. It was not until the 1850s that the majority of the population migrated north on the Charleston peninsula, to burgeoning immigrant communities and newly annexed portions of the city that historically were considered desirable due to low real estate prices and lack of white policing.
Recommended Citation
Ullman, Alexandra, "The Geography of Race: A Spatial Analysis of Free People of Color in the City of Charleston (1790-1861)" (2026). All Theses. 4690.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4690
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Archival Science Commons, Black History Commons, Geographic Information Sciences Commons, Human Geography Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Migration Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Social History Commons, Spatial Science Commons, Urban Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons