Of Boston’s 61,392 residents, 1,875 (3.1%) are described as “free colored persons.”

A third of them, many small business owners, artisans and craftsmen, live on the lower slopes of Beacon Hill. Other black neighborhoods are today’s West End and near the wharves of the North End. The separate towns of Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown, and Brighton have an additional combined none-white population of 136.