An Inspiring Nugget from American History: Black Migration to Kansas

After Reconstruction drew to a close, Southern white citizens moved to retake the economic, political and social reins of the region. Intent to this end, no method was rejected. And none was more effective than the use of fear. Thus the Ku Klux Klan, The White Citizen Council and other groups that used fear to wrestle control of the South were thrust to leading positions in American's post-Civil war apartheid.

Without education, in a complex society, in a land foreign to him and with little experience of travel, the newly emancipated slave would have been hopeless. But seeds to help the newly emancipated regain his dignity had been broadcasted by Benjamin "Pap" Singleton.

Pap Singleton had been a slave in Kentucky. Like many slaves, white blood flowed in his veins. He learned the skills of a cabinet making in slavery and he also learned from his experience in slavery to detest his master's treatment of slaves. After many trials Singleton escaped to Canada.

After Emancipation, Singleton returned to Tennessee to help newly freed slaves gain economic and political power. A noble dream indeed! but Tennessee proved resistant of this dream. So Pap sought to realize the dream elsewhere.

Eventually Congress declared the lands of Kansas and Nebraska to be free. Using his personal resources, Singleton disseminated flyers by mail and personal travel to lure newly freed slaves to settle in one of eleven colonies he planted in the State of Kansas. So powerful was black immigration at this time, the United States Senate conducted hearings to uncover the source of the mass movement.

Singleton never lived in any of his colonies. But he earned the moniker "Black Moses". The blacks who responded to his call and left Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Carolinas were called the Exodusters. These brave people ventured from the lands of their comfort to build a life of dignity for themselves and their children. None of Singleton's colonies exist today. But they were the promised lands to many. For others they were way stations for their children to a better life.

There were many western colonies to which the Exoduster flew. Only one is in existence today, Nicodemus, Kansas.

Nicodemus is another testimony of a people who traveled an unknown world in search of a better life. Today, it is a tiny uncorporated town. Descendants of the original arrivals continue to honor the town's celebration of Emancipation. The celebration began in 1878; the year after the town was founded and it has never missed a year. Today it is called Homecoming. From all parts of the country, descendants of the original of Nicodemus pioneers return to refuel their spirit, to remember the struggle of their ancestors, to celebrate the town's victory over adversity, and to keep alive their heritage.

The Nicodemus colony was born in the minds of newly freed blacks when W. R. Hill, a white land developer, spoke to the black Georgetown Kentucky church and told them about government land available for homesteading. He told about of acres of land free for the claiming and he painted a picture of a settlement with soil ready to yield anything planted, a picture of wild animals available for food, a picture of herds of wild horses waiting to be caught, tamed and ready for work. Finally he painted them a picture of an established town with streets, a church and a general store.

W. R. Hill and the first settlers arrived in Nicodemus (July 30, 1877). There was no town. The pioneers wanted to hang Hill. He hid. Tempers abated and the Kansas winds destroyed the pioneer's first attempt at shelter. With winter approaching, the Nicodemus pioneers burrowed in the ground for protection against the harsh winter environment, the hot Kansas summer and the Kansas wind storms. The Dust Storms hit. Neighbors and the Osage Indians helped the Nicodemus pioneers through the early trials. The townspeople kept the faith and Nicodemus survived.

Nicodemus is now a part of the National Park Service It is perpetuated as a part of our heritage. It is the story that survival trumps cultural differences.

References

Daniel Chu & Bill Shaw, Going Home to Nicodemus, Silver Burdett Press, Morristown New Jersey.

Lisa Scheller, Returning to hallowed grounds, KU GIVING, Volume 41 Number 2.

Roy Garvin, Benjamin, or "Pap," Singleton and His Followers, The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan., 1948).