Author: Henry Ford VI
Interviewer: Thomas Kidd
Fleeing the violent, racist oppression of the postbellum South, thousands of African-Americans sought to create a community where they could flourish and survive independent of the society that rejected them. Seeking the blessings of liberty inalienable to all Americans, these migrants, dubbed the “Exodusters,” were inspired by government advertisements and freedmen like “Pap” Singleton who propagated the sentiment that frontier territories, such as Kansas, offered the best hope for creating an independent black society. Reports and testimonies paint a vivid picture of the values, aspirations, and communities founded in the great American exodus.
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cowboys#/media/File:Black_Cowboys.jpg