BLACK IN TIME: A Moment In OUR History - Kansas Migration

Benjamin "Pap" Singleton

The The Headline Of A New York Times Article Dated October 18, 1964, Read, "Negro Community Shrinks In West." The Story Referred To Nicodemus, Kansas, The Last Remaining Exoduster Community Exodusters Was The Name Black Americans Who Migrated West In The Late 1800s Called Themselves.

The Westward Expansion Of Railway Lines And The Homestead Act Of 1862, Inspired A Number Of Black Americans To Move Out To The Prairies Of The Central Plains. Many Of These Settlers Built Their Homes From Dirt Blocks And The Region Soon Became Known As The Sodhouse Frontier. Thousands Of Southern Blacks Migrated West Following The Abrupt End Of Reconstruction. They Fled The South To Escape Increasing Discrimination And To Enjoy The Full Freedoms Offered By The Sodhouse Community.

A Large Number Of Blacks Were Led West, Mainly To Kansas, By Benjamin "Pap" Singleton. A Modern "Moses" Figure. Singleton Was An Activist, Businessman And Former Slave From Tennessee, He Escaped To Freedom In 1846 And Became A Well-Known Abolitionist, Community Leader And Spokesman For Black American Civil Rights.

Freedom On The Plains Came At A Price. Life For Black Settlers Was Harsh And Few Remained On The Frontier Farms. Many Moved To Towns And Cities, And Some Even Went Back South. The Most Famous Of The Groups That Weathered The Hardships Was The Nicodemus Farm Community.Established On June 8, 1877, Nicodemus Had its Own School And Post Office, And By 1878, Had A Population Of 600 - 700 People.

"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." - Hubert Gaddy, Jr.

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