"When I landed on the soil, I looked on the ground and I says this is free ground. Then I looked on the heavens, and I says them is free and beautiful heavens. Then I looked within my heart, and I says to myself I wonder why I never was free before?"

-- John Solomon Lewis, on his arrival in Kansas

Exodusters

What is an Exoduster?

• Freed African Americans that came to Kansas from the South– They were generally poor

Why were they called Exodusters?

• Given the name Exodusters, after the Bible story of the exodus from Egypt

• "Exodus" means a mass departure or emigration– They were called that because they

emigrated from the south to the west in large masses.

When did Exodusters begin to leave the South?

• In the 1870s, they got to Kansas by using a steamboat to get up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

Year Population of African Americans in Kansas

1860 625 free, 2 slaves

1870 17,108

1880 43, 107

1890 49, 710

What hardships did the Exodusters meet on the journey?

• Boat did not supply food or bedding– had to supply it themselves

• Not enough money to travel the full distance– half way they were dropped off and had to walk the

rest of the way

• Sickness and death• When they arrived they had usually no money and

couldn’t find work– Governor John St. John formed the Freemen’s Relief

Organization because northeast Kansas was overwhelmed by the stranded and poor Exodusters. Eventually many Exodusters moved to cities around the state where they could find work.

What poor conditions caused the African American exodus from the South?

1. Federal troops were removed from the South after the reconstruction period. This meant the South treated African Americans like 2nd Class Citizens, would oppress them, discriminate, and even use means of violence.

2. Sharecroppers3. Jim Crow Laws4. Klu Klux Klan5. The White League6. Poor/Poverty

Sharecroppers

Sharecroppers

• The sharecropper purchased seed, tools, fertilizer, food, and clothing on credit. When the harvest came, the sharecropper would harvest the whole crop and sell it to the merchant who had given him the credit. Purchases and the landowner's share were deducted and the cropper kept the difference—or added to his debt.

• Many sharecroppers (both black and white) were economically confined to poor conditions and poverty.

• African Americans were wanting to claim their own land, but white landowners were not willing to give up land-sharecropping en-slaved them again

Sharecroppers

• Plantation owners often charged very expensive prices against the sharecropper's next season

• They also gave half or less of the crop to the sharecropper, and the sale price in some cases was set by the landowner.

• The cost of production and price of sale were both largely controlled by the land owner, with the sharecropper having little, if any, chance for profit.

• These factors made sharecroppers dependent on the plantation owners in a way that mirrored some of the aspects of slavery, and in the late 1800s maintained a stable, low-cost work force that replaced slave labor.

Jim Crow Laws• State and local laws in the United States between 1876

and 1965 that allowed segregation

• “Separate but equal” meant facilities were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, creating a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.

• Examples of Jim Crow laws are:– Segregation of public schools, places, transportation,

restrooms, restaurants, drinking fountains for whites and blacks.

– Poll Tax– Grandfather Clause– Literacy Test

Klu Klux Klan

• Founded in 1865, right after the Civil War by veterans of the Confederate Army

• A secret group that focused its anger against Republicans and sought to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder, against black and white Republicans

The White League

• Was a white military like group that was started in 1874

• Wanted to run Republicans out of office and intimidate freedmen from voting

• They operated openly, asked for coverage from newspapers, and the men's identities were generally known.

Benjamin “Pap” Singleton was the ambitious and energetic leader of the Exodusters?

•Born a slave in 1809 in Tennessee

•Escaped slavery after 37 years

•He would lead his people to the promised land which was Kansas

•Land promoter

•Advised his people to have money

•The Exodus movement was at its height between 1879-1881

•Died in 1892 and known as the “Father of the Exodus”

Why did African Americans exodus (come) to Kansas?

• Plenty of land• Bountiful crops• Better life• Cheap • Homestead Act• Symbolism of John

Brown/Bleeding Kansas – Kansas Free-State Fame

• Wanted to Vote• Peaceful

What happened to the Exodusters?• Many towns sprang up in Kansas, like Nicodemus. But

also like Nicodemus these towns, though well developed, began to stop attracting settlers because there wasn't a railroad nearby. The Exodusters needed a railroad to continue their success, so they moved to other places with a more convenient location. These once crammed towns became ghost towns of the west. 

The Exodusters' Legacy

•  They paved the way for many future African Americans who were afraid of leaving their slavery driven lives. They showed how people of different decent could live the life they had always dreamt of and could do it successfully.