Part 1 : Reasons for the African American Homesteader Movement
Primary Document 1a
http://old-photos.blogspot.com/2008/10/this-photograph-was-taken-near-jackson.html
Primary Document 1b
http://theomahaproject.org/module_display.php?mod_id=89&review=yes
Primary Document 2
Excerpts from testimony of Benjamin (Pap) Singleton before the Senate Investigating the Negro
Exodus from the Southern States (April 17, 1880)
Web Version: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/seven/w67singl.htm
Question. Where were you born, Mr. Singleton?
Answer. I was born in the State of Tennessee, sir.
Q. Where do you now live?
A. In Kansas.
Q. What is your colony called?
A. Singleton colony is the name of it, sir.
Q. How long has it been since you have formed that colony?
A. I have two colonies in Kansas -- one in Cherokee County, and one in Lyon, Morris County.
Q. You have brought out 7,432 people from the South to Kansas?
A. Yes, sir; brought and sent.
Q. That is, they came out to Kansas under your influence?
A. Yes, sir; I was the cause of it.
Q. What was the cause of your going out, and in the first place how did you happen to go there, or to
send these people there?
A. Well, my people, for the want of land -- we needed land for our children -- and their disadvantages -that caused my heart to grieve and sorrow; pity for my race, sir, that was coming down, instead of going
up -- that caused me to go to work for them. I sent out there perhaps in '66 -- perhaps so; or in '65, any
way -- my memory don't recollect which; and they brought back tolerable favorable reports; then I
jacked up three or four hundred, and went into Southern Kansas, and found it was a good country, and I
though Southern Kansas was congenial to our nature, sir; and I formed a colony there, and bought about
a thousand acres of ground -- the colony did -- my people.
Q. Have they any property now?
A. Yes; I have carried some people in there that when they got there they didn't have fifty cents left, and
now they have got in my colony -- Singleton colony -- a house, nice cabins, their milch cows, and pigs,
and sheep, perhaps a span of horses, and trees before their yeards, and some three or four or ten acres
broken up, and all of them has got little houses that I carried there. They didn't go under no relief
assistance; they went on their own resources; and when they went in there first the country was not
overrun with them; you see they could get good wages; the country was not overstocked with people;
they went to work, and I never helped them as soon as I put them on the land.
Q. Well, they have been coming continually, and adding from time to time to your colony these few
years past, have they?
A. Yes, sir; I have spent, perhaps, nearly six hundred dollars flooding the country with circulars.
Q. You have sent the circulars yourself, have you?
A. Yes, sir; all over these United States.
Q. Did you send them into other Southern States besides Tennessee?
A. O, yes, sir.
Q. Well, tell us all about it (why African Americans wanted to leave the South)
A. These men would tell all their grievances to me in Tennessee -- the sorrows of their heart. You know I
was an undertaker there in Nashville, and worked in the shop. Well, actually, I would have to go and
bury their fathers and mothers. You see we have the same heart and feelings as any other race and
nation. (The land is free, and it is nobody's business, if there is land enough, where the people go. I put
that in my people's heads.) Well, that man would die, and I would bury him; and the next morning
maybe a woman would go to that man (meaning the landlord), and she would have six or seven
children, and he would say to her, "Well, your husband owed me before he died" and they would say
that to every last one of them, "You owe me." Suppose he would? Then he would say, "You must go to
some other place; I cannot take care of you." Now, you see, that is something I would take notice of.
that woman had to go out, and these little children was left running through the streets, and the next
place you would find them in a disorderly house, and their children in the State's prison.
I then went out to Kansas, and advised them all to go to Kansas; and, sir they are going to leave the
Southern country. The Southern country is out of joint. The blood of a white man runs through my veins.
That is congenial, you know, to my nature. that is my choice. Right emphatically, I tell you today, I woke
up the millions right through me! The great God of glory has worked in me. I have had open air
interviews with the living spirit of God for my people; and we are going to leave the South. We are going
to leave it if there ain't an alteration and signs of change. I am going to advise the people who left that
country (Kansas) to go back.
Q. Now you say that during these years you have been getting up this colony you have spent, yourself,
some six hundred dollars in circulars, and in sending them out; where did you send them, Mr. Singleton?
A. Into Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas,
Tennessee, and all those countries.
Q. To whom did you send them; how were they circulated?
A. Every man that would come into my country, and I could get a chance, I would put one in his hand,
and the boys that started from my country on the boats, and the porters in the cars. That is the way I
circulated them.
Q. Did you send any out by mail?
A. I think I sent some perhaps to North Carolina by mail -- I think I did. I sent them out by people, you
see.
Q. And you attribute this movement to the information you gave in your circulars?
A. Yes, sir; I am the whole cause of the Kansas immigration!
Q. You are proud of your work?
A. Yes, sir; I am! (Uttered emphatically.)
Primary Document 3
http://www.inmotionaame.org/gallery/large.cfm?migration=6&topic=4&id=434380&type=image&meta
data=&page=
Document 4
http://theomahaproject.org/module_display.php?mod_id=89&review=yes
Part 2: Living Conditions on the Homestead
Primary Document 5
Excerpts from the Ava Speese Day Story Homesteading on the Plains
The Negro Homesteaders in the Sandhills were led there by my mother's father, Charles Meehan.
He grew up in Detroit and Round Eau, Ontario, Canada, where he met and married Hester Freeman,
born and raised in Canada. They heard of land available in Nebraska so went there, settling near
Overton, where my mother, Rosetta, was born. When they heard about the Kinkaid Act, grandfather
and several others investigated and filed claims northwest of Brownlee, along the North Loup River.
In the spring of 1907 he led the first emigrant train to Cherry County, accompanied by William
Crawford and George Brown. He drove one of his three wagons, his son Den drove another and my
mother, Rosetta, drove the third. She took care of her own team, greased the wagon wheels, and she
was just turned sixteen. Uncle Bill rode with George Brown. He was fourteen. Grandpa's homestead
was about twelve miles upriver from Brownlee on the north side of the river. Uncle Den was upriver
two miles. Across from him was the Emanuel home, and another mile up was Jim Hatter. Two miles
more was A.P. Curtis, and further up the Griffiths. Several miles on were Bert and Ida Morgan. William
Crawford homesteaded about a mile down river from Meehans, and George Brown a mile east. His son,
Maurice, who married Aunt Gertie, was farther east... Other negro families took Kinkaids farther down
from the river until there were forty or more. There were the Price family, the Praythers, Bill Fords, Josh
Emanuel, DeWitty. Jim Dewitty ran the store and post office, and after he left Uncle Dan Meehan was
postmaster, and changed the name from DeWitty to Audacious...
Dad and Mom lived near Westerville for a year and then moved to Torrington, Wyoming, moving
back to the Sandhills in November, 1915. At that time I was three years old. We lived with grandpa and
grandma Meehan the first winter till our house could be built.
I remember them cutting sod for it. They laid the sod like we do brick today, overlapping layers.
The door frames were made of 2x12's. This home was across the river from grandpa's on Uncle Ed's
homestead that we rented for a few years... I could watch our house go up, our sod house. What a
thrill on the occasions when we all rode the lumber wagon across to take a look up close. Before we
moved in we knew where each piece of furniture would sit. Our first sod house was one large room. It
was partitioned off in sections with curtains to make bedrooms. Later most everyone added a sod
kitchen, joining them by using a window as the door to the new room. We felt we had a whole new
house again... It was heaven, and we enjoyed it.
We had two big problems, the dirt and the flies. Summertimes we twisted newspapers and lit the
tip. Holding this carefully it was swept close to the ceiling, which was made of brownish or pinkish
building paper. The flame burned the wings off the flies and then they were swept up and burned. We
only did this when dad was home. If the paper ceiling had caught fire, but it didn't. Otherwise we all
waved clothes and drove they out. Then there were the sheets of grey fly paper you poured water on
and the poison seeped out. And large sheets of sticky fly paper that gathered flies. Grandpa Meehan
added a crowning touch to his soddy, he plastered the entire inside, no one had a home as easy to keep
clean as grandma...
The negro pioneers worked hard, besides raising plenty of corn, beans and what vegetables they
could, everyone raised cattle. It was too sandy for grain so the answer was cattle. If you did not have
enough land you rented range land. We had range cattle and about sixty head of brood mares... We
raised mules, and when they were broken to drive, brought a good price on the Omaha market.
One of my earliest memories is a trail herd... It was a sight to see them coming out of the hills on
down the river... They traveled on open range where this was possible. Sometimes the entire three
miles within our sight was a long line of cattle...
We attended one room frame schools. There was a coal bin attached on back and the older boys
kept the coal scuttle filled from the bin... The backlot held two outhouses. If teacher caught us
throwing spitballs we had to stand in a corner, or she spanked our hand with a ruler. It was a pretty bad
offense of yours if you got spanked, teacher sent a note home with you and you got another spanking...
The negro teachers we had in Nebraska were Irene Brewer... Fern Walker... Esther Shores...and
Uncle Bill Meehan. They were all good teachers but of course Uncle Bill was our favorite... Our school
was Riverview, District 113... The School Superintendent preached two things to us, that teachers were
underpaid, and that Knowledge is Power...
During summer there would always be a big picnic at 'Daddy Hannahs' place. This would usually
be in August on the first Sunday. There would be speeches and eats and rodeo... Social life was very
much a part of the community. There were dances, I mean parties held at homes. A great number of
these forty families were excellent musicians so who was to provide music was no problem... Our family
was fortunate, we had a cottage organ. You pumped the pedals to force air through the reeds. Dad
used to play Sunday evenings and we all sang... We had fun around the organ, wore out two of them
and a piano...
Looking back it seems that getting our 80 [acres] was the beginning of the end for us in Nebraska.
There was one thing after another... In March 1925, we left the Sand Hills for Pierre, South Dakota...
This account is factual, and I did not realize it would be so long, but, a way of life is not short. No, a way
of life is not short.
Source: http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/Courses/313_AAW/313_manual_cp_05.htm
Primary Document 6a
Description of Extreme Weather on Prairie from Homestead Child’s perspective
"In 1873, I was on a farm near Sutton, Neb. We had a sod house. We had what was called the big room, lean to
kitchen and dug out bedroom. This was sort of like going down a half dug kitchen. There was a large family. 8
children and my father and mother. We had two beds in the big room. These, like all the rest of things, were
made of cottonwood lumber. We slept on straw ticks. We entertained our company in the big room.
"The storm came toward evening and got as dark as night. Chickens went to roost and I'll never forget how
dark it got. Snowed all night hard, a strong wind, much drifting and covered the windows. There was a mouse
hole in the dirt roof over one of the beds in the big room. The snow sifted through this hole and drifted from
bed to the roof.
"We had only a straw barn and Paw got out to see first about the one horse we had. He thought it would be
frozen but it wasn't and he brought it in the big room with most of the family. Pulled the beds to center of room
and made a stall there near the wall. The one cow and calf we put in the lean to kitchen. Chickens we put in the
dugout bedroom. It kept on snowing and the wind got stronger.
"It snowed for 3 days and 3 nights and dark nearly all time as snow was so thick. After the first day, if anyone
left the house, they tied a rope around them. It wasn't so cold, but the wind and such thick wet and heavy snow
that stuck to everything and chilled right through in a hurry. The great deep draws were just level. The wind
and noise was terrific all the time. Made one's ears hum and buzz all the time.
"We had a pulley well. Paw on the 2nd afternoon wanted a real drink of water. We all did. We were so sick of
snow water. The well was right close to the house. Paw took the wooden bucket with him. Got to the well and
was holding the bucket between his legs while he started to draw the water. The wind got the bucket. He came
in the house, his long flowing beard and clothes covered with snow.
"Maw said, 'Where's the bucket of water?'
"Paw said, 'God only knows, between heaven and earth somewhere.'
"Since those many years ago, I've thought and laughed many times over this. Paw mad and disgusted and
plenty sick of snow water. We kids, too, standing around thinking of that good well water only a few feet
away.
"When the snow went off we found the bucket a half mile from home. We had only snow water, buffalo meat,
bread and gravy. Buffalo gravy, I think and so many others too, have said so, is the most delicious of all, but of
meat I'll take beef or pork."
From American Memory Collection Library of Congress.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpa/16121005.html
Primary Document 6b
Description of Extreme Weather on Prairie from Homestead perspective
FORM C Text of Interview (Unedited)
NAME OF WORKER F. W. Kaul L. A. Rollins ADDRESS Hastings, Nebr.
DATE Nov. 1938 SUBJECT Folklore
NAME AND ADDRESS OF INFORMANT Mrs. John Grosvenor, Hastings, Nebraska
Easter Sunday Storm of [1873?]
From hardly any rain we soon had more than we needed. Our roof would not stand the heavy downpours
that sometimes contuned for days at a time, it would leak from one end to the other. We could keep our
beds comparatively dry by drawing them into the middle of the room directly under the peak of the roof.
Sometimes the water would drip on the stove while I was cooking, and I would have to keep tight lids on the
skillets to prevent the mud from falling into the food. With my dress pinned up, and rubgers on my feet, I
waded around until the clouds rolled by. Then we would clean house. Almost everything had to be moved
outdoors to dry in the sun. Life is too short to be spent under a sod roof.”
— From History of Custer County, Nebraska by W.L. Gaston and
A.R. Humphrey, 1919.
[Source: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?wpa:12:./temp/~ammem_nIP3::]
Document 7
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
Part 3: Living with Discrimination and Jim Crow Laws
Document 8
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/themap/map.html
Click on “Personal Stories”
Click on “Personal Narratives”
Click on first selection, “Wilhelmina Baldwin”
Document 9: Letter from African American citizens of Wellington Kansas to Kansas Governor George
Hodges
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/214818/page/1
Primary Document 10: Excerpt from Kansas Governor Hodges speech to Kansas State Legislature
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/214620
Document 11: PBS Website about Rise and Fall of Jim Crow Laws
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/themap/map.html
Part 4: George Washington Carver: An important Homestead Legacy
Document 12: George Washington Carver Homestead Memorial website
http://www.kansastravel.org/gwcarverbeeler.htm