Who Wants to Be a Pioneer?
Designed by Rob Dent and Paula White Spring 2000

African-Americans

Who Wants To Be a Pioneer: Wagon Train #1

Introduction | Sources | Guiding Questions | Home

Introduction

When the Confederate States surrendured to the Union in 1865, four million African-American slaves suddenly gained their freedom. This was the first time that most of these men and women had the freedom to travel and decide where they wanted to live and work.

Some freed slaves stayed in the South and worked on farms or saved money to buy their own farms. However, even though they were legally free, many African-Americans were not respected or treated as well as whites in the South. For this reason, many moved to the North in search of work. Beginning in 1877, others decided to move to the West, where there was still a lot of free land.

The African-Americans who moved west called themselves "Exodusters" because they felt they were on an "exodus" or a journey to freedom. Over 20,000 African-Americans moved to the West during the period after the Civil War, seeking to begin a new life where they hoped to be treated with fairness and respect.

Most of the Exodusters were farmers, and many of them lived in all-black towns in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Some, however, chose to move to larger cities to find work. Others went further west to work in the silver mines in Colorado, and some travelled with wagon trains all the way to the Pacific Coast.

Sources:

1. Archives from PBS "The West" Film Project -- Look at the following:

• Document 1: Testimony of Benjamin Singleton before Congress
• Image 7.1: Exodusters waiting for a steamboat to take them westward
• Image 7.1a: The Shore family of Custer County, NE
• Image 7.1b: The Shore family (#2)

2. Excerpts from the Library of Congress's "The African-American Mosaic":

• Westward Migration and Homesteading Sources
• Nicodemus, Kansas Sources

3. Biographical Sketches of African-American Pioneers -- from the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center Site

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Guiding Questions: African-Americans

General

• Look for evidence about:
• Why African-Americans moved to the West from the South in this period
• The lifestyles/prosperity of the Exodusters
• Comparison of life in the West versus the South
• Different lifestyles/quality of life in the west
• Far west migration versus Exoduster migration

Specific

From PBS "The West"

Benjamin Singleton's Testimony

• **Terms "colored" and "negro" are used&emdash;discuss these in their historical context with the students
• Why did Benjamin Singleton bring people to Kansas?
• Why did they want to leave the South? What advantages did Kansas have?
• How are the residents of Singleton colony doing now (at the time of the testimony)?
• How did the African-Americans learn about the Singleton colony and the chance to move to Kansas? (What is a "circular"?)
• Why do you think Congress was interested in the "Exoduster" migration?

Image 7.1, 7.1a, 7.1b

• When was the photo taken?
• How wealthy are these migrants? How can you tell? (clothes, items in picture, etc.)

  7.1: What might this tell you about the Exodusters? (i.e. did they leave the South with absolutely nothing, or did they have some means to set up a home and a farm once they got to Kansas?)

  • What ages are the migrants?

  7.1: How did these migrants get to the West?

  7.1a, 7.1b: Describe their home. Try to guess how this compares to their former house in the South.

  7.1b: What items can you make out in the background of this picture? (What do they tell you, if anything?)

  • What else can you learn from the photograph?

From "African-American Mosaic: Western Migration and Homesteading"

* The first two sources here are kind of difficult and may or may not be useful

Roberts Settlement Land Grant

Background: This is a land grant for an 1837 settlement of African-Americans in Indiana, which was at that time the frontier.

• What does this tell you about the origins of and ideas behind the Exoduster migration?

Roberts Family Tree

• What kind of source is this?
• Where were the Roberts originally from? What does this tell you about their background? Why might they have moved to Indiana?

Photo of Benjamin Singleton

• Who was Benjamin Singleton?
• What can you learn about him from this photo? (clothes, stance)
• How does this photo compare to the photos of the Exodusters? to photos of slaves or ex-slaves?

Picture of Exodusters Moving West

• How did these migrants get to the West?
• What was the journey like? (Give some specific evidence)

Advertisement for Kansas

• Who made this advertisement?
• Who was the audience?
• How does this "sell" migration to Kansas?
• What warning does this advertisement give? Why might this be on here?

From "Nicodemus, Kansas Sources"

Township Map 1

• Look for the river and the railroad track on this map. Why would these be important features in the location of a settlemen

Photos of Nicodemus residents

Most information will be taken from the descriptions beside these photos and the dress of the subjects.

Plan of Nicodemus, 1877-1890

• Nicodemus was a typical sized settlement in Kansas and Nebraska at this time. How big was it? (they can count the buildings)

Fletcher-Switzer House

• What is this house made of? How big is it? How does the house and surrounding property compare to the Shores' residence (from the PBS site)?

Aerial View of Nicodemus

• This is from 1953. Compare it to the township plan from 1877.

From "Biographical Sketches"

* Keep in mind: the photos are primary sources, the biographies are not.

* Background: the "Lash Law" was a law which prohibited free African-Americans from living in the Oregon Territory. Those who were caught would be whipped 20-39 times every six months until they left. It was in effect from June-December 1844

Richard and America Bogle

• How did Richard and America get to Oregon?
• What kinds of work did Richard do?
• How wealthy were the Bogles? How do you know? (evidence from photo, bio)

George Washington Bush (kind of long&emdash;you may want to skip over this one, depending on time & interest)

• What was Bush's background?
• Why did Bush go to the West?
• How long did it take from the time the party left Missouri until they finally settled down? Why did it take so long?
• What did Bush do once he settled down?

Moses Harris

• Why was Moses an "expert" in winter travel in the West?

Rose Jackson

• How did Rose get into the Oregon Territory? Why did she have to travel this way?
• What kind of work did Rose do in Oregon?

William Livingston

• How did he "work his way up" in Oregon?
• How wealthy did he eventually become?
• Was this opportunity available to him in Missouri? Why/why not?