Prejudice Against Color in the Ship Yard

“A friend informs us that, while the steamer Bay State was undergoing repairs recently at the Charlestown dry dock, dissatisfaction arose among a portion of the workmen, because two colored men, (both fugitives from slavery), and an Irishman were  likewise employed upon the job … They informed the head carpenter that they would work for him no longer, unless the colored men and the Irishman were dismissed.   The carpenter, Mr. Hall, informed the malcontents that he should employ whom he saw fit, and that if they didn’t like his  terms they were at liberty to go as soon as they pleased.  Twenty-five of them accordingly left work, were immediately paid off, and afterwards endeavored to hold a meeting to get sympathy for their grievances, but with what success we do not know.  Mr.  Hall immediately obtained another complement of hands, and the steamer was ready for her ‘native element’, as the chroniclers of ship-news say,. on the day following.”  (Liberator, June 23, 1948, pg 2)