The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
Benjamin Singleton, an aged colored man, now residing in Kansas,
swears that he began the work inducing his race to migrate to
that State as early as 1869, and that he has brought mainly from
Tennessee, and located in two colonies--one in Cherokee County,
and another in Lyons County, Kansas--a total of 7,432 colored
people. The old man spoke in the most touching manner of the
sufferings and wrongs of his people in the South, and in the most
glowing terms of their condition in their new homes; and when
asked as to who originated the movement, he proudly asserted, "I
am the father of the exodus." He said that during these years
since he began the movement he has paid from his own pocket over
$600 for circulars, which he has caused to be printed and
circulated all over the Southern States, advising all who can pay
their way to come to Kansas. In these circulars he advised the
colored people of the advantages of living in a free State, and
told them how well the emigrants whom he had taken there were
getting on. He says that the emigrants whom he has taken to
Kansas are happy and doing well. The old man insists with great
enthusiasm that he is the "Whole cause of the Kansas
immigration," and is very proud of his achievement.
Here, then, we have conclusive proof from the Negroes themselves
that they have been preparing for this movement for many years.
Organizations to this end have existed in many States, and the
agents of such organizations have traveled throughout the South.
One of these organizations alone kept one hundred and fifty men
in the field for years, traveling among their brethren and
secretly discussing this among other means of relief. As stated
by Adams and Perry, politicians were excluded, and the movement
was confined wholly to the working classes.
The movement has doubtless been somewhat stimulated by circulars
from railroad companies and State emigration societies which have
found their way into the South, but these have had comparatively
little effect. The following specimen of these emigration
documents, which was gotten up and circulated by Indiana
Democrats, printed at a Democratic printing office, and written
by a Democrat, in our judgment appeals more strongly to the
imagination and wants of the Negro than any we have been able to
find:
_In every county of the State there is an asylum where those who
are unable to work and have no means of support are cared for at
the public expense._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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