EXODUSTERS

'Exodusters' was a name given to black Americans who fled the Southern United States for Kansas in 1879 and 1880. After the end of Reconstruction, racial oppression and rumors of the reinstitution of slavery led many former slaves to seek a new place in which to live. Many settled in Kansas because of its fame as the land of the abolitionist John Brown (1800–1859). The state was reputed to be more progressive and tolerant than most others, and was well known among black Americans because of the efforts of such separatist leaders as Benjamin "Pap" Singleton.
The 'Kansas Exodus' was an unorganized mass migration, which began in 1879. Local relief agencies, such as the Kansas Freedman's Relief Association, did try to provide aid; but it was never enough to meet the needs of the impoverished migrants. The Exodusters continued coming to Kansas through the summer of 1880, after which year the movement died out.

Contents

Academic references

Exodusters in Fiction

External links

Academic references

★ Athearn, Robert G. "Black Exodus: The Migration of 1879." ''The Prairie Scout'' 3 (1975): 86-97.

★ Athearn,
★ Schwendemann, Glen. "Nicodemus: Negro Haven on the Solomon." ''Kansas Historical Quarterly'' 34 (spring 1968): 10-31.

★ Campney, Brent M. S. 'This is Not Dixie:' The Imagined South,
The Kansas Free State Narrative, and the Rhetoric of Racist Violence ''Southern Spaces'' 6 September 2007

★ Schwendemann, Glen. "St. Louis and the 'Exodusters' of 1879." ''Journal of Negro History'' 46 (January 1961): 32-46.

★ Schwendemann, Glen. "Wyandotte and the First 'Exodusters' of 1879." ''Kansas Historical Quarterly'' 26 (autumn 1960): 233-249.

★ Strickland, Arvarh E. "Toward the Promised Land: The Exodus to Kansas and Afterward." ''Missouri Historical Review'' 69 (July 1975): 376-412.

★ Van Deusen, John G. "The Exodusters of 1879." ''Journal of Negro History'' 21 (April 1936): 111-129.

★ Williams, Nudie E. "Black Newspapers and the Exodusters of 1879." ''Kansas History'' 8 (winter 1985/86): 217-225.

Exodusters in Fiction

★ Gabriel's Story, by David Anthony Durham.

External links

★ (PBS ''The West'' "Exodusters")

★ (Kansas State Historical Society, Exoduster Flier)
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