The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919

Q. About what time did you lose all hope and confidence that your condition could be tolerable in the Southern States?—A. Well we never lost all hopes in the world till 1877.

Q. Why did you lose all hope in that year?—A. Well, we found ourselves in such condition that we looked around and we seed that there was no way on earth, it seemed, that we could better our condition there, and we discussed that thoroughly in our organization in May. We said that the whole South—every State in the South—had got into the hands of the very men that held us slaves—from one thing to another—and we thought that the men that held us slaves was holding the reins of government over our heads in every respect almost, even the constable up to the governor. We felt we had almost as well be slaves under these men. In regard to the whole matter that was discussed it came up in every council. Then we said there was no hope for us and we had better go.

Q. You say, then, that in 1877 you lost all hope of being able to remain in the South, and you began to think of moving somewhere else?—A. Yes; we said we was going if we had to run away and go into the woods.

Q. About how many did this committee consist of before you organized your council? Give us the number as near as you can tell.—A. As many as five hundred in all.

Q. The committee, do you mean? A. Yes; the committee has been that large.

Q. What was the largest number reached by your colonization council, in your best judgment?—A. Well, it is not exactly five hundred men belonging to the council that we have in our council, but they all agreed to go with us and enroll their names with us from time to time, so that they have now got at this time ninety-eight thousand names enrolled.

Q. Then through that council, as sort of subscribers to its purpose and acts and for carrying out its objects, there were ninety-eight thousand names?—A. Yes; ninety-eight thousand names enrolled.

Q. In what parts of the country were these ninety-eight thousand people scattered?—A. Well some in Louisiana—the majority of them in Louisiana—and some in Texas, and some in Arkansas. We joins Arkansas.

Q. Were there any in Mississippi?—A. Yes, sir; a few in Mississippi.

Q. And a few in Alabama?—A. Yes, sir; a few in Alabama, too.

Q. Did the organization extend at all into other States farther away?—A. O, yes, sir.

Q. Have you members in all the Southern States?—A. Not in every one, but in a great many of the others.

Q. Are these members of that colonization council in communication as to the condition of your race, and as to the best thing to be done to alleviate their troubles?—A. O, yes.

Q. What do you know about inducements being held out from politicians of the North, or from politicians anywhere else, to induce these people to leave their section of country and go into the Northern or Western States?—A. There is nobody has written letters of that kind, individually—not no white persons, I know, not to me, to induce anybody to come.

Q. Well, to any of the other members of your council?—A. No, I don't think to any of the members. If they have, they haven't said nothing to me about it.

It appears also from the evidence of Samuel L. Perry, of North Carolina, a colored man, who accompanied most of the emigrants from that State to Indiana, and who had more to do with the exodus from that quarter than any other man, that the movement had its origin as far back as 1872, as the following questions and answers will show:

Q. You have heard a good deal of this testimony with reference to this exodus from North Carolina. Now begin at the beginning and tell us all you know about it.—A. Well, the beginning, I suppose, was in this way: The first idea or the first thing was, we used to have little meetings to talk over these matters. In 1872 we first received some circulars or pamphlets from O. F. Davis, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Q. In 1872?—A. Yes, sir; in 1872—giving a description of government lands and railroads that could be got cheap; and we held little meetings then; that is, we would meet and talk about it Sunday evenings—that is, the laboring class of our people—the only ones I knew anything about; I had not much to do with the big professional Negroes, the rich men. I did not associate with them much, but I got among the workingmen, and they would take these pamphlets and read them over.

Mr. Perry says that the feeling in favor of migrating subsided somewhat, but sprung up again in 1876. From that time down to 1879 there were frequent consultations upon the subject, much dissatisfaction expressed respecting their condition, and a desire to emigrate to some part of the West. He says about "that time I was a subscriber to the New York Herald, and from an article in that paper the report was that the people were going to Kansas, and we thought we could go to Kansas, too; that we could get a colony to go West. That was last spring. We came back and formed ourselves into a colony of some hundred men." They did not, however, begin their westward movements until the fall of 1879, when it being ascertained by the railroad companies that a considerable number of people were proposing to migrate from North Carolina to the West, several railroad companies, notably the Baltimore and Ohio, offered to certain active and influential colored men $1 per head for all the passengers they could procure for the respective competing lines.

By reference to this evidence, part 3, page 136, it will be seen that the emigration movement in Alabama originated as far back as the year 1871, when an organization of colored people, called the State Labor Union, delegated Hon. George F. Marlow to visit Kansas, and other parts of the West, for the purpose of examining that country and reporting back to a future convention his views as to the expediency of removing thereto. A convention of colored people was held again in 1872, at which Mr. Marlow made the following glowing report of the condition of things in Kansas and the inducements that State offered to the colored people. He said:

In August, 1871, being delegated by your president for the purpose, I visited the State of Kansas, and here give the results of my observations, briefly stated.

It is a new State, and as such possesses many advantages over the old.

It is much more productive than most other States.

What is raised yields more profit than elsewhere, as it is raised at less expense.

The weather and roads enable you to do more work here than elsewhere.

The climate is mild and pleasant.

Winters short and require little food for stock.

Fine grazing country; stock can be grazed all winter.

The population is enterprising, towns and villages spring up rapidly and great profits arise from all investments.

Climate dry, and land free from swamps.

The money paid to doctors in less healthy regions can here be used to build up a house.

People quiet and orderly, schools and churches to be found in every neighborhood, and ample provision for free schools is made by the State.

Money, plenty, and what you raise commands a good price.

Fruits of all kinds easily grown and sold at large profits.

Railroads are being built in every direction.

The country is well watered.

Salt and coal are plentiful.

It is within the reach of every man, no matter how poor, to have a home in Kansas. The best lands are to be had at from $2 to $10 an acre, on time. The different railroads own large tracts of land, and offer liberal inducements to emigrants. You can get good land in some places for $1.25 an acre. The country is mostly open prairie, and level, with deep, rich soil, producing from forty to one hundred bushels of corn and wheat to the acre. The corn grows about eight or nine feet high, and I never saw better fruit anywhere than there.

The report was adopted.

The feeling of the colored people in that State in 1872 was well expressed by Hon. Robert H. Knox, of Montgomery, a prominent colored citizen, who, in addressing the convention, spoke as follows:

I have listened with great attention to the report of the commissioner appointed by authority of the State Labor Union to visit Kansas, and while I own the inducements held out to the laboring man in that far-off State are much greater than those enjoyed by our State, I yet would say let us rest here awhile longer; let us trust in God, the President, and Congress to give us what is most needed here, personal security to the laboring masses, the suppression of violence, disorder, and kukluxism, the protection which the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee, and to which as citizens and men we are entitled. Failing in these, it is time then, I repeat, to desert the State and seek homes elsewhere where there may be the fruition of hopes inaugurated when by the hand of Providence the shackles were stricken from the limbs of four million men, where there may be enjoyed in peace and happiness by your own fireside the earnings of your daily toil.

Benjamin Singleton, an aged colored man, now residing in Kansas, swears that he began the work inducing his race to migrate to that State as early as 1869, and that he has brought mainly from Tennessee, and located in two colonies—one in Cherokee County, and another in Lyons County, Kansas—a total of 7,432 colored people. The old man spoke in the most touching manner of the sufferings and wrongs of his people in the South, and in the most glowing terms of their condition in their new homes; and when asked as to who originated the movement, he proudly asserted, "I am the father of the exodus." He said that during these years since he began the movement he has paid from his own pocket over $600 for circulars, which he has caused to be printed and circulated all over the Southern States, advising all who can pay their way to come to Kansas. In these circulars he advised the colored people of the advantages of living in a free State, and told them how well the emigrants whom he had taken there were getting on. He says that the emigrants whom he has taken to Kansas are happy and doing well. The old man insists with great enthusiasm that he is the "Whole cause of the Kansas immigration," and is very proud of his achievement.

Here, then, we have conclusive proof from the Negroes themselves that they have been preparing for this movement for many years. Organizations to this end have existed in many States, and the agents of such organizations have traveled throughout the South. One of these organizations alone kept one hundred and fifty men in the field for years, traveling among their brethren and secretly discussing this among other means of relief. As stated by Adams and Perry, politicians were excluded, and the movement was confined wholly to the working classes.

The movement has doubtless been somewhat stimulated by circulars from railroad companies and State emigration societies which have found their way into the South, but these have had comparatively little effect. The following specimen of these emigration documents, which was gotten up and circulated by Indiana Democrats, printed at a Democratic printing office, and written by a Democrat, in our judgment appeals more strongly to the imagination and wants of the Negro than any we have been able to find:

In every county of the State there is an asylum where those who are unable to work and have no means of support are cared for at the public expense.

Laborers who work by the month or by the year make their own contract with the employer, and all disputes subsequently arising are settled by legal processes in the proper courts, everybody being equal before the law in Indiana. The price of farm labor has varied considerably in the last twenty years. About $16 per month may be assumed as about the average per month, and this is understood to include board and lodging at the farm-house. This amount is paid in current money at the end of each month, unless otherwise stipulated in the contract. Occasionally a tenement house is found on the larger farms, where a laborer lives with his family, and either rents a portion of the farm or cultivates it on special contract with the landlord. With us there is no class of laborers as such. The young man who today may be hired as a laborer at monthly wages, may in five years from now be himself a proprietor, owning the soil he cultivates and paying wages to laborers. The upward road is open to all, and its highest elevation is attainable by industry, economy, and perseverance.

Sixteen dollars per month, with board! Everybody equal before the law! No class of laborers as such! The hired man of today himself the owner of a farm in five years! No cheating of tenants, but everything paid in current money. And if all this will not attract the Negro he is told there is an "asylum in every county" to which he can go when unable to support himself. The document also promises to everybody "free schools" in "brick or stone school-houses," and says they have "2,000,000 greater school fund than any State in the Union." These Democratic documents have been circulated by the thousand, and doubtless many of them have found their way into the Negro cabins of North Carolina. It is not surprising that the Negro looks with longing eyes to that great and noble State.

Causes of the Exodus

There is surely some adequate cause for such a movement. The majority of the committee have utterly failed to find it, or, if found, to recognize it. When it was found that any of their own witnesses were ready to state causes which did not accord with their theory they were dismissed without examination, as in the cases of Ruby and Stafford, and a half dozen others who were brought from Kansas, but who on their arrival here were found to entertain views not agreeable to the majority.

We regret that a faithful and honest discussion of this subject compels a reference to the darkest, bloodiest, and most shameful chapter of our political history. Gladly would we avoid it, but candor compels us to say that the volume which shall faithfully record the crimes which, in the name of Democracy, have been committed against the citizenship, the lives, and the personal rights of these people, and which have finally driven them in utter despair from their homes, will stand forever without a parallel in the annals of Christian civilization. In discussing these sad and shameful events, we wish it distinctly understood that we do not arraign the whole people nor even the entire Democratic party of the States in which they have occurred. The colored and other witnesses all declare that the lawlessness from which they have suffered does not meet the approval of the better class of Democrats at the South. They are generally committed by the reckless, dissolute classes who unfortunately too often control and dominate the Democratic party and dictate its policy. We have no doubt there are many Democrats in the South who deeply regret this condition of things, and who would gladly welcome a change, but they are in a helpless, and we fear a hopeless, minority in many sections of that country.