Free Black Population Density in 1850 This map shows that the vast majority of African-Americans who were not slaves in 1850 lived in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states. Small pockets of free blacks existed in the South, especially in New Orleans, Louisville, and the tidewaters of South Caroline, Virginia and Maryland. But the map also shows that few African-Americans lived in Illinois or other states of the Old Northwest.
Image source: Northern Illinois University
©Copyright 2002 Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project