Thursday, July 3, 2014

Exoduster Facts


 
Exodusters
Following the Civil War, the Reconstruction of the south proved to be unsuccessful for the Freedmen. A series of laws known as Black Codes were legislated against the Freedmen. Although technically not slavery which was against the Constitution, the laws forbade Blacks from getting education, self-improvement or owning property. The lure of free land in Kansas attracted interest in the South especially in those areas terrorized by a new organization calling itself the Ku Klux Klan.
Led by the Freedman, Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, nearly 40,000 Freedmen followed his call to come to Kansas. Like the Biblical story about Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, they were known as Exodusters and settled throughout the state.
To find out more about these families who moved west, the following sites might be useful.
 
 

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