Union Trust Company Building (Springfield, Massachusetts)

Transcription

Andrea Bassing Matney: Welcome. My name is Andrea Bassing Matney. I’m with the customer services division here with the National Archives. Welcome to the Know Your Records program. We have weekly programs here, usually on Tuesdays once a week. And it usually gets repeated on Thursdays. We’ve flipped it around a little bit because we’re having a workshop this week; tomorrow and Thursday. So hopefully we’ll see you for that, too. So we have workshops, we have lectures, we have symposiums, and we also have the Annual Genealogy Fair. That’s coming up on April 22nd and 23rd. You’ll see flyers out and about the building. Hopefully you can come and attend that. So today we have Damani Davis. I’m so pleased to hear his lecture, I hear it’s fantastic. We left some handouts for you. And if you have to leave early, I have to ask please fill out the evaluation form that was in your handout packet before you go. Those are actually tied into our budget, and it’s very helpful to get that feedback. Today is Exodus to Kansas. And pardon me for reading. “The 1880 Senate investigation of the beginnings of the African American migration from the South. Damani Davis examines Federal records relating to the “Kansas Exodus” (the Exoduster Movement), which was the first instance of voluntary, mass migration among African Americans. This mass exodus was significant enough to generate considerable attention throughout the nation and resulted in a major Senate investigation. Damani Davis is an archivist of the National Archives research support branch, customer services division, here in Washington, D.C. He has lectured at local, regional, and national conferences on African American history and genealogy. Damani Davis is a graduate of Coppin State College in Baltimore and received his M.A. in history at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Today’s program is approximately one hour long, and we hope that you enjoy it. Thank you so much. Damani Davis: Thanks. Good morning, everyone. “Exodus to Kansas: the 1880 Senate Investigation of the Beginnings of the African American Migration from the South”. I’m going to begin with a quote from that particular investigation: “In the spring of 1879, thousands of colored people, unable longer to endure the intolerable hardships, injustice, and suffering inflicted upon them by a class of Democrats in the South, had, in utter despair, fled panic-stricken from their homes and sought protection among strangers in a strange land. Homeless, penniless, and in rags, these poor people were thronging the wharves of Saint Louis, crowding the steamers on the Mississippi River, and in pitiable destitution throwing themselves upon the charity of Kansas. Thousands more were congregating along the banks of the Mississippi River, hailing the passing steamers, and imploring them for a passage to the land of freedom, where the rights of citizens are respected and honest toil rewarded by honest compensation. The newspapers were filled with accounts of their destitution, and the very air was burdened with the cry of distress from a class of American citizens flying from persecutions which they could no longer endure.” Now that particular quotation comes from the minority report of that Senate investigation meeting. The two Republicans at that time who were involved – and I’ll go into a deeper analysis of the Senate investigation. But before I go into that, I wanted to put the Kansas Exodus in this historical context, as far as how it relates to the overall history of African American migration. Within African American history, migration has been central to the black experience. You know, much of 20th century history was filled with demographic and cultural change that came with it. And with this quote I basically say that any adequate understanding of African American history and culture must consider how migration has transformed the shape of the larger American society, African Americans as a people, and African American families in particular. When we look at mass migration in the history of African Americans, social scientists who study migration categorize it into two categories: forced migration and voluntary migration. Forced migration in the history of African Americans, of course, involved the Atlantic slave trade, the internal domestic slave trade – which in the context of American history actually involved more people than the Atlantic slave trade, meaning that in United States history more African Americans were sent from the Upper South – Maryland, Virginia, the Chesapeake region – to the newer expanding states in the Deep South such as Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana – that number exceeds the number of Africans that were initially brought to the United States. The latest estimate I saw was about 1.2 million African Americans that were sent from the Chesapeake region to the expanding cotton states of the Deep South. That involved the breakup of families and so forth. A lot of that history was involved with forced migration. Now with voluntary migration we have the Kansas Exodus that I’m going to go into today, the Great Migration which began around the World War I era, and the Post-World War II migration which entailed the largest amount of individuals who migrated from the historical South to other regions of the United States. This map shows the African American distribution in 1890. And around 1900, approximately 89% of African Americans still resided in the South. Here’s just a breakdown of regional distribution. By 1970 53% of African Americans were still in the South, whereas at the beginning of that century 90% were concentrated in the South. The Kansas Exodus is significant in that it is the first general migration of black Americans after the Civil War. The bulk of this presentation comes from 46th Congress, Second Session, Report Number 693 that you can find in the serial set. “Report and Testimony of the Select Committee of the United States Senate to investigate the causes of the Removal of the Negroes from the Southern States to the Northern States.” That involves three parts contained in two large volumes. There is much genealogical value in this Senate investigation. With any investigation we have recorded testimony which includes interviews, letters and affidavits from African American witnesses. And within those affidavits and letters are much personal and biographical information that can potentially be used by a descendant of individuals who were involved in this migration. The historical context lies in the fact that this testimony provides abundant information that gives insight into the lives, struggles, experiences, ideals, values, and aspirations of African Americans living in the Post-Reconstruction period. So any family historian who wants to flesh out and have a broader context of what their ancestor might have experienced during this period – within the investigation you can see a lot of their concerns expressed within the testimony. Now an example of how genealogical data can be found throughout the investigation, here’s an example of the testimony of John O’Kelly. John O’Kelly was actually a resident of North Carolina. And towards the tail end of the migration from the Gulf States to Kansas, a newer migration began from North Carolina to Indiana. And so that migration was also included in the investigation. But here we have his testimony given during his questioning. The senator asked, “Where is your residence?” He responds, “Raleigh, North Carolina.” “What is your professional business?” “I am doing a delivery business.” “Do you own any property or real estate?” “Yes sir, I own some outside of the corporation of the town and I’ve got a house and home.” “You were formerly a slave?” “Yes sir, I used to belong to General Cox.” “How much property, at a round guess, are you worth now?” “I don’t know, sir, but I would not tonight take less than five thousand for what I’ve got.” “Have you made all of that as a free man?” “Yes sir, I had nothing at the time of the surrender.” From that testimony a potential descendant can get all of that information in regards to John O’Kelly. Another example that’s contained within this investigation: this is from the testimony of Julius A. Bonitz. Now Julius was actually a white resident of North Carolina and was called to the investigation. And within the investigation you’re going to see a lot of the testimony falling on two different sides of the political extremes. Some were trying to minimize what was occurring in the South at that time, and others were focused on highlighting what was occurring with the hopes that Federal troops could return to the South. So from Julius Bonitz’s perspective – what he’s arguing here is that in his area of North Carolina there are actually African Americans who are prospering – that there are various experiences that are occurring at this time. Here he says, “I know a colored man living near Mt. Olive, twelve miles from Goldsboro, North Carolina, who is the owner of 316 acres of land. His name is Calvin Simmons. He has within the last year or two finished paying for the plantation. He bought it some years ago at the rate of ten dollars an acre. He paid for it himself and his boys, with what they raised from it. In my own town there is a man named William Bernard who owns a fine house and lot. Not long ago I offered him one thousand dollars for his place, but he refused it on the grounds that he did not need the money. It’s well located, a valuable piece, and increasing in value every year.” To confirm the testimony that was given by Julius Bonitz, I checked out census records. And sure enough, I found Calvin Simmons in the census. In this 1900 census, it does state whether the individual is the owner or not of the property. In this particular census it has Calvin Simmons listed as a renter. It doesn’t mention that he owned his property. But a potential descendant would check other documents to confirm whether the testimony is in fact true or if the census might be mistaken. Now William Bernard, the other individual who was mentioned, his census record does confirm that he was the owner of his property in North Carolina. Now going into the beginnings of the Kansas Exodus. In the Senate investigation there was much testimony given that described a major convention movement occurring amongst African Americans during that time. Here I have a list of some of the conventions that were held during the 1870’s. And this doesn’t cover all of the conventions. These were the ones that were mentioned in the Senate investigation. There were two in Alabama – one in 1872, another in 1874 – a colored convention in Arkansas in 1877, a convention in Louisiana in 1879, Nashville, Tennessee in 1879, and Houston, Texas in 1879. And at each of these conventions, the idea of migration as a tactical response to what was occurring – with the end of Reconstruction and the removal of Federal troops and so forth – the idea of migration came up in each of those conventions. So that kind of goes against the idea that the migration was spontaneous. When you look at some of the descriptions of the migration, it’s kind of categorized as something that happened spur-of-the-moment, there was no planning, the migrants were basically manipulated by outsiders, and so forth. But with these conventions we see that the idea of migration was something that was actually discussed. The question was where could African Americans go? That was the fundamental question that was debated at these conventions. With these conventions, I included some of the statements and resolutions that were made at these conventions. So we can get an idea of the debate and what was occurring at that time. At the 1872 Alabama convention, the participants expressed a desire to try to accumulate homes and property as fast as possible. Throughout the testimony, you see this desire of African Americans to gain property. And what you see here is still that hope that was reflected earlier with the whole idea of “forty acres and a mule.” During this time the ideal that many black southerners are holding on to is that they can gain their own property and become self-sufficient, independent, and autonomous. That’s an ideal that’s expressed throughout the testimony. Their ideal kind of fell in line with the characteristics of a yeoman farmer. That was their ideal at this time, to become yeoman farmers where they would have their own land, raise their own crops, and be self-sufficient. So a lot of the conflict at this time is going to occur when this desire for land ownership meets this new sharecropping system that is going to be instituted in the South. Many of the African Americans are going to resist the idea of becoming sharecroppers. So in this early period, they’re still resisting it and going through this whole conflict. Here in the 1872 convention, within this last paragraph, it says, “Work honestly and hard for the consummation of those objects. Do everything in your power to secure these,” meaning land ownership, the rights of citizenship, and so forth, “and if those efforts fail, it is time to desert Alabama and seek a land – a state – where these rights are accorded.” In the 1874 convention, we have some of the same sentiments expressed. In this last paragraph we have here, “Our race has now met in convention to consider solemnly the question of their future destiny in this state and in this country. We have no reason to expect from our political opponents, now dominant in the state, the exercise of justice, mercy, or wise policy. The solemn question with us is, ‘Shall we be compelled to repeat the history of the Israelites and go into exile from the land of our nativity and our home? To seek new homes and fields of enterprise beyond the reign and rule of Pharaoh?” Using a lot of allusions to the Bible and so forth, which was also prevalent in a lot of the rhetoric during this time. 1879 Colored Men’s Convention in Nashville: a major complaint at that convention goes again to the new sharecropping system that is being instituted. There are complaints of farmers and sharecroppers being cheated out of their wages or their crops and so forth. They did not have the opportunity to get the results of their labor as they thought they should have. Falling into debt at the beginning of each year, they thought it necessary now to make some change. And they thought they might find some change in immigration, meaning migration. Benjamin "Pap" Singleton was one of the major figures of the Kansas migration. In his testimony, when asked for his motive in seeking to establish black colonies in Kansas he said, “My people for the want of land, we needed land for our children. Their disadvantages cause my heart to grieve in sorrow. Pity for my race, sir, that was coming down instead of going up. That caused me to go to work for them. This was gotten up by colored men in purity and confidence. Not a political negro was in it. Oh no, it was the muscle of the arm, the men that work that we wanted.” And within Benjamin “Pap” Singleton’s testimony, what we see here is he’s making a clear attempt to separate his movement from any type of outside influence. Because that was an accusation that was being made by some of the politicians. They argued that these people clearly were being manipulated by politicians and so forth. But Benjamin Singleton is saying that no, this is really a grassroots movement. And he’s trying to facilitate a desire that was expressed amongst his people. Here is some more of Benjamin Singleton’s testimony. He said that with this migration, part of its attempt was to learn the South a lesson. One of the senators asked them to suppose that the white people were to treat them well – speaking of African Americans in the South, Benjamin Singleton’s community – suppose they were treated well and given their rights as American citizens and given what they earned. Would not that stop the exodus? He answered, “Allow me to say to you that confidence has perished and faded away. They have been lied to every year. We don’t want to leave the South. And just as soon as we have confidence in the South, I’m going to be an instrument in the hands of God to persuade every man to go back, because that is the best country. That is genial to our nature. We love that country, and it is the best country in the world for us. But we are going to learn the South a lesson.” “You believe, then, that there is no way to stop the exodus other than by stopping the abuse of these people, by treating them fairly, and that it will take some time to get their confidence even then?” “They will go back. I have heard some say they will never go back, but they will go back.” Another major figure in the migration to Kansas was Henry Adams. Henry Adams was an army veteran. And in his state of Louisiana, he and other black veterans formed an organization that was originally called the Colored Men’s Protective Union, which consisted of approximately five hundred members. And what they initially attempted to do was investigate the living conditions of black field workers in various southern states. Henry Adams claims that they enrolled over 98,000 names of black field workers who were interested in leaving the South. Most of the names collected were from Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, with a minority of names from Mississippi, Alabama, and a few other states. Henry Adams within his testimony stated that he was an army veteran, so I checked our records here to confirm that. And what I have here is Henry Adams’s military service record confirming that he indeed had served in the regular army. And I have here Henry Adams’s Freedmen’s Bank record that gives his physical description, his residence at that time, which was Shreveport, Louisiana. It also provides the name of his mother, his parents, and his siblings and gives his place of birth, Jasper County, Georgia, and his occupation as a wood chopper. I included that record to show how potentially a descendant of these individuals can find records here at the National Archives that can provide a great deal of information. The Freedmen’s Bank record itself – the idea of looking for that was given to me by the testimony itself because a major complaint of some of the migrants, especially in Louisiana, was based on the money that they lost when the Freedmen’s Bank fell. That was a major complaint. Some were asking to be reimbursed for the money that they lost. Henry Adams organization compiled a list of what they called outrages in Louisiana that occurred from 1866-1876. And this gives more insight into some of the violence that occurred during the period in which the South was being redeemed by the Democrats. Here’s just an example of some of the incidents. This list actually documents over six hundred incidents that were recorded. Example: “Frank Hayes, colored, was badly beaten and all of his crops taken from him about six or eight miles northeast of Fort Hudson on Frank Louvre’s plantation. Mr. Frank Louvre was captain of the crowd of all white men who done it. 1876. William Henry, hung dead by a large crowd of white men about four miles east of St. Martinsville because he refused to let them take his crop. This was done December, 1875. William Monroe, colored, was shot and badly wounded for voting a Republican ticket. He was shot by armed white men in the year 1874. Samuel L. Smith, badly whipped and bloodied by Captain Scott because he went to church without his consent. Then they made him run away and leave his crop on July 4th, 1875.” All of that type of testimony was given by Henry Adams’s organization to provide evidence or information to show why they desired to leave their particular state. George T. Ruby was actually an African American northerner who moved south after the Civil War in order to help with some of the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau. He was a Freedmen’s Bureau agent and later became a state senator in Texas. And upon a redemption of Texas, he moved to Louisiana and began to work as an educator. But when the level of violence began to really rise in Louisiana, he joined Henry Adams’s movement to try to assist it. And I included some of his statements regarding the atmosphere during that period in Louisiana. Here he says, “The only remedy left to colored citizens in many parishes of our state today is to immigrate. There are sections of Louisiana where the conditions of things are such that the very best thing that could be done for all concerned would be for the colored people to leave and go away entirely.” And here he goes more into it, “It is apparent that we do not enjoy those certain inalienable rights which the constitution has given us. We have been American citizens in deed and in word, and have performed the role assigned to us with loyalty, and we now ask the government to see to it that we have given to us what the constitution awards. We have been liberated only to become worse than slave. Law inequity in the South, but not for the black man. Hence this attempt to better our condition by migration is the only solace left us. We have counted the cost of this movement. We know that it is improvident for some of us. But why hesitate between two evils? We will accept the lesser of the two, and trust God for deliverance from further evil. If we remain here, we will have to undergo the same merciless treatment endured by us on the eve of every election as well as being defrauded of all that we have earned from the sweat of our brows. Liberty to the negro in the South is a mockery.” I’m not going to read this whole thing, but this is a letter that the Colored Men’s Convention in Louisiana sent to President Hayes at that time. And hopefully in your handouts it’s clear enough for you to read, but basically in this letter they’re explaining again some of the violence and grievances at that time. The letter to Rutherford B. Hayes included three resolutions asking that the rights being guaranteed to them be restored and that they have protection; asking that Congress restore back to them the savings that were lost to them by the failure of the Freedmen’s Bank; and again asking for political protection – “That we as a race will abstain from voting on all national questions and in elections for national officers unless we have full protection, and our own officers to guard our interests and rights.” Now for any who are interested in a more detailed investigation of what was occurring in the South at that time, I just included an earlier investigation which was the “Use of the Army in Certain of the Southern States”. During 1876. And that investigation, which was around the time of the Compromise of 1877 – as part of Rutherford B. Hayes gaining the presidency, it was agreed that Federal troops would be removed out of the South – around the time that that occurred, the House of Representatives asked that all correspondence between the former president and military commanders in the South be transmitted to the House of Representatives. And within that particular investigation, there is a detailed list of the reasons that the army was being kept in certain stations such as Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. And it goes through a lot of the violence that was occurring. Horace B. Wall was the president of the Immigrant Aid Society here in Washington, D.C. Horace B. Wall was actually a highly-educated African American who served as an officer with the Union army during the Civil War. And after the Civil War, he worked in the Freedmen’s Bureau as a transportation agent. Later, during the Kansas Exodus, he formed the Immigrant Aid Society which tended to assist those who were trying to migrate to Kansas. Now he was also called to give testimony at the investigation. Again, just using him as an example I got his Freedmen’s Bank record, which provides his physical description, names of members of his family, place of birth, and so forth. And at the time that he made his Freedmen’s Bank deposit, he was still in the employment of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Also from the records, finding that he was a transportation agent in the Freedmen’s Bureau, I found some of his particular records. Here in the Washington, D.C. area where so many of the freedmen were coming from the outlying areas of Virginia and Maryland into D.C. one of the activities of the Freedmen’s Bureau at this time was to try to find employment for this population and then provide transportation to them north, especially to areas such as Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Ohio. So that’s something that he did prior to the Kansas Exodus. So when the Kansas Exodus began, he resumed that activity that he had experience with as a Freedmen’s Bureau agent. Now throughout the testimony, only men were called as witnesses. So if you just take the testimony at face value, you would assume only men were involved in the Kansas Exodus. But within the testimony we have this from John Henry Birch, who was another educated African American in Louisiana who was called to give testimony. Speaking on the influence of women in the Louisiana movement, he said, “The women have had more to do with it than all the politics and men in the country. They have been very active since 1868 in all the political movements. They form a large number in all of the political assemblages, and they have evidenced a deep interest in all that pertains to politics. There is in New Orleans today a committee formed in 1878 that was called the Committee of 500 Women, of which Mrs. Mary J. Garnett is president. Her name now is Mary J. Nelson; she married this year.” Now in Louisiana, what this suggests is that at the same time that Henry Adams had his organization – the Colored Men’s Protective Union, which later became the Colonization Council – simultaneous with that you have women who had their own organization in Louisiana that was also involved in working in coordination with the men. Now we’re going to go into some of the records that focus specifically on the Kansas Exodus. Here I just have a map that shows the path that was taken by many of the migrants. Now in that first quote that I gave at the beginning, that description does pertain to some of the migrants, but not all of them. You have two major groups of migrants at this time. In states such as Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and so forth, they began a movement a little bit earlier to Kansas which kind of resembles the general movement west of all Americans at that time. Like the tradition of the pioneers that we had where individuals would move west to get land. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton’s movement falls in that category. With them, they had long-term planning, they organized it, they located land in Kansas that they felt would be a good location. They saved money and moved across from Tennessee, Kentucky, and so forth, to St. Louis and then travelled on across to Kansas to form colonies. What’s going to occur in the Gulf States with the redemption of states such as Louisiana and Mississippi, the level of violence at that time was so extreme that the second category is just going to leave almost with just the clothes on their backs. A lot of them are almost going to fall into the category of war refugees, where they’re fleeing a concerted and systematic type of violence against them; a terrorism which was used to intimidate and force African Americans out of the political system at that time. So especially with Louisiana’s redemption that was occurring; when they hear this idea of Kansas as a place where African Americans can get land and form colonies, many of them are just going to flee, board steamships up to St. Louis, and then travel across Missouri and on to Kansas to get land. So with them, they kind of fall into the description of that quote that was given at the beginning. Here’s another photo of Benjamin “Pap” Singleton and some of the migrants who were going to his colonies on a steamship. Some of the black towns and settlements that were formed in Kansas are listed here. The only one that I know of that still exists today is Nicodemus, Graham County, Kansas. Some of the other ones eventually died, some became incorporated into larger nearby communities such as Topeka and other towns – became neighborhoods in larger jurisdictions, and so forth. These towns were formed throughout Kansas, and then later many individuals are going to move on to Oklahoma and other parts of the west. But Oklahoma especially was going to be the site of the largest number of black towns and settlements in the west during that period. But Kansas is the initial state that many of these migrants are going to. And many ask me, “Why Kansas?” During the 1870’s the idea of Kansas became idealized as the home of John Brown and certain Free State sentiments prior to the Civil War. So the idea of Kansas as a place that will be welcoming is really going to come to the forefront during this time. Here I just have some of the records of individuals. This particular individual was one of the colonists at Benjamin Singleton’s colony at Dunlap, Kansas. I found this individual in the census record and used him as an example of how other records can be found once a name and so forth is found. I located Henry Stewart in our track books for Morris County, Kansas. And within our track books we are given a legal description of the land. With the legal description, you can then go find the land case files, which can provide you with more information on the settlement. After getting the land case files from the Topeka Land Office, the certificate showed that Stewart had purchased a lot at that particular colony. Here’s an early town site plan for Nicodemus, Kansas that I included and a print map of Nicodemus, Kansas from 1906. Zachary T. Fletcher and Jenny Smith Fletcher were migrants from Kentucky, initially, who settled in the Nicodemus colony. I found their pictures in the Library of Congress’s collection. I got their pictures as settlers of Nicodemus. And since I had their pictures, I just adopted them as my imaginary ancestors and used them as a case study of how records can be found here at the National Archives. And I did that just because I had their pictures. Using this Fletcher family I first went to our census records and found them in the 1880 Census for Nicodemus, Kansas. And here we have the family. I know you can’t see it clearly, but it has Zachary T. Fletcher as the postmaster for Nicodemus, Kansas along with his wife Francis and their two children Thomas and Josephine. After going to the census records, I went into the track books for Graham County, Kansas and found Fletcher’s legal description of his land. And from there I was able to locate his land case files. And here is his original homestead affidavit for the land that he had settled upon. For homesteads, the settler basically just had to make improvements upon that land and upon proving that the necessary improvements were made, the settler would then be awarded the land by the government. In his affidavits he’s basically making his case that he has made improvements upon the land. Here he says, “I am now residing on the land that I desire to enter, and I have made a bona fide improvement in settlement thereon. That said settlement was commenced about February 10th of 1881. My improvements consist of a dugout, a stone house under erection, and fifty acres of breaking.” Here we have more information saying, “Zachary T. Fletcher, being first duly sworn, claims settlement on the 25th day of July 1882. I have been with my family on said land at various times, but have not made continuous residence on the account of being appointed and commissioned postmaster of Nicodemus, Graham County, Kansas. I also place there on my soldier’s homestead entry that I was a private of Captain John Cook, Company B, 8th Regiment of the United States Colored Artillery as shown by a copy of my discharge. I further swear that owing to my financial affairs, the severe drought causing an entire failure of my crops during the first two years of my fallowing and the poor health of my wife, I was unable to keep my family on said land. In consideration of my services as a soldier and postmaster of Nicodemus, Kansas and my cultivation and improvements on said land, I make this affidavit to the commissioner to complete my title to said land. To all whom these present shall come greeting. Whereas on the 14th day of April 1884, Zachary T. Fletcher was appointed postmaster at Nicodemus, Kansas.” Just giving proof or documentation that he was the postmaster of Nicodemus, Kansas. And at some point he lost his discharge documents, so he received a soldier’s certificate that proved that he had served in the military. And his soldier’s certificate says, “Know ye that this is to certify that Zachary Fletcher, private of Captain John Cook’s Company B, 8th Regiment, United States Colored Artillery Volunteers, who was enrolled on the 16th day of June, 1864 to serve three years during the war, was honorably discharged from the military service of the United States on the 10th day of February, 1866 at Victoria, Texas.” Now from the information gathered from his land records we see that he has served in the military, so logically we would search for his military records. And that’s what I have here. This is the outside covering of his military service records confirming that he had served in the 8th U.S. Colored Artillery. And these are just the first and the last cards of his service records giving the physical description and his muster out information. Now with Zachary Fletcher, going from the military service records I checked to see if he had a military pension file. And within his pension records Zachary Fletcher provided an autobiographical type of letter to try and prove who he was. Because again, when you consider pension records the veteran – or in the case that the veteran was dead, the widow – had to prove that he had indeed served in the military and was the person he was claiming to be. So here he’s basically giving as much information as he has on himself and his history to prove that he is indeed Zachary Fletcher and deserving of his military pension. Within the letter he says, “Your honor, my dear sir, I being raised a slave I have no record of my age. If there is any, I do not know anything of it. My first master was a bachelor, and he died when I was a baby. He willed all of his slaves to his sister Mary, who had married a man by the name of Anthony Rod. She died in a few years, and we were all divvied out with her children. We never all got together until after the war. In the years 1856-7 I was bound out to a man by the name of Isaac Davis as a race rider." I guess he raced horses as a race rider, that’s what I assume. "He died in 1863. I stayed with his family until June 1864, at which time I joined the army. Two days later, my mistress Mrs. Ellen Davis came into my camp and tried to get me out on the grounds that I would not be 19 years old until the 12th of August of the same year. But as I had on my uniform and had been sworn in, she could not get me out. Next I went to see my father just before he died in 1913. He told me that I was born August 12, 1845, the same year that Zachary Taylor fought the Mexican War, and that my master Robert Fletcher, being of the same political party, named me after him – Zachary Taylor Fletcher. The above is the best mostly that I can give you of my age, as all of my white people and all of my brothers and sisters of 10 are dead. Mother died when I was 9 years old, and my father died three years ago at the age of 93. We colored slaves knew nothing of the census. All of the above acts were in McCracken County, Kentucky, five miles west of Paducah, Kentucky.” So basically within his military pension records all of this information was provided. We’re given the names of his former owners, place of birth, family members, and the approximate date of when he was born – remember, many ex-slaves did not know their birthdates because those types of records just weren’t kept. All of that information was provided in this pension file and could be of good use to a potential descendant. In closing, I will say – speaking of the social and cultural ramifications of migration – “The movement of individuals and families from one place to another produces a wide variety of changes for the individuals and families involved in the sending and receiving communities, and in the larger areas of which the sending and receiving communities are a part of.” That’s actually a quote from Black Migration: A Social Demographic History. In particular, the investigation of the Kansas Exodus is important in that within that testimony, a lot of the later problems – the social conditions and the grievances experienced by African-Americans – were already being experienced. When you look at some of the documents such as the Department of Labor with their investigation of the beginning of the Great Migration around the World War I period, a lot of the reasons behind that migration are going to be the same as the grievances expressed in the testimony of the Kansas Exodus; meaning that, from the period of this migration to the great migration which began in the 20th century in the teens, the same problems experienced by African-Americans in the South are going to continue and become codified and systematized as the Jim Crow system. The desire for education, freedom from violence, and the opportunity to have political participation is going to be expressed later during the World War I period. The only difference is that during the Kansas migration, the African-Americans are still holding on to that desire to own their own land. They still desired to self-sufficient, independent farmers. By the time of the Great Migration, the ideal of becoming farmers is going to be diminished somewhat. At that time the desire is going to be for better paying jobs, because the majority of African-Americans in the South were in the sharecropping system at that point. Instead of being sharecroppers, many are going to desire to find better employment during the period of the First World War. That’s going to open up in Northern cities when the migration from Europe is cut off because of the war. The need for labor is going to lead to recruiters going to the South, and it’s going to become a self-perpetuating migration. That continues throughout most of the 20th century after the Second World War, and it’s going to reverse itself after 1970. Increasing each decade from 1970, the numbers of African-Americans migrating from other regions to the South has actually increased each decade. And that’s increased even more in the 2000’s. In closing, in the Post-Reconstruction Era numerous African-Americans began to view migration as a legitimate option and tactical choice to gain those aspects of freedom, human rights, and civil rights that had been stripped from them in the South. It was a grassroots movement that was organized by field laborers despite opposition from many members of the educated black elite at that time. Even Frederick Douglas was opposed to the migration. He was holding on to the hope that the federal government would send troops back into the South and protect black southerners who were trying to engage in the political process. They sought economic independence through land ownership, education, political freedom, security from violence, and religious and social freedom; along with the chance to build and maintain a strong family life. This migration highlights their own unique pursuit of happiness in America. All of this is expressed in their testimony. Any questions? Audience Member: Is there an index to the committee report? Damani Davis: There’s an index of the names of witnesses within the serial set volume. All of the witnesses called are indexed for each part of the volume. There are three parts of the investigation, and for each part it has its own name index. It has a short description of the person. Audience Member: What about an index by state? Damani Davis: No. No index by state. Within the name index sometimes it does have the state of that person, but there’s no separate state index. Just the name index and a very brief description of the person. Yes? Audience Member: When you were looking at the Kansas black settlements, did you run across Fort Scott, Kansas? Damani Davis: I don’t recall it specifically, but there were many settlements that I didn’t include on that list that I had; just some of the ones that were mentioned within some of the documents that I was looking at. For the settlements, there are more than I had in the presentation itself. Those were just an example. And even for the conventions that I mentioned, there were more conventions held in the 1870’s than those that I showed. The black colony movement is going to occur throughout that period throughout Kansas and expand into Oklahoma, where even more of them are going to be established – and in other states in the west during that period. Audience Member: Is there any centralized record of where those black settlers in Kansas were? Damani Davis: No, none in the federal records. Audience Member: My family was in Missouri, and many of them moved to Kansas. About what year should I look for? Damani Davis: For places like Missouri, Tennessee – with Benjamin Pap Singleton – Kentucky … some of those colonists actually moved prior to the 1870’s. Some even bean towards the latter half of the 1860’s and continued on through the 70’s. It’s just that in the 1870’s the number of migrants is really going to increase substantially because of the situation in the South at that time. That’s going to motivate many who might not have desired to migrate before to now migrate as a reaction to what’s occurring in the South. But for those from Missouri, a lot of them were part of that group that really organized and had more long-term plans for their settlement in terms of going to Kansas, getting the land, and having some resources when they made the move. Audience Member: You mentioned that Kansas was the first site of the mass migration and that Oklahoma ended up with more black towns. My father was actually born in Bowling, Oklahoma, and then his family moved to Wichita. So it seems like it’s the opposite. Can you explain why they started going more to Oklahoma? Damani Davis: Now don’t quote me on this, but from the reading – and I’ll get to that again – I think during that period Oklahoma is going to have some type of incentives for getting land. And from that point a lot of the motivation is going to move towards Oklahoma just for the practical aspect of it. Whatever those incentives were – I can’t recall them specifically right now – but the opportunity to get land in Oklahoma is going to make that an attractive alternative. And by that time the situation in Kansas had reached a saturation point. There wasn’t as much land. By that time the romanticized ideal of Kansas had diminished somewhat, and Oklahoma is going to arise as a major alternative. Some other states, also, but mainly Oklahoma. But I guess a lot of the movement is going to be based on the individuals’ desires, and opportunities also. There will be instances of a person moving from one state to another based on opportunity that might have presented itself. Audience Member: Should I look at Oklahoma state documents to get an idea if they did provide some incentives? Damani Davis: Yes. And if I could get your e-mail address I will go back and look through my own notes and send you anything that I come across. Yes? Audience Member: What did you find most intriguing when you were doing your research? Was there anything in particular that stood out to you like a trend? Damani Davis: There was a lot that I found intriguing, from individuals to information that I just wasn’t aware of. For instance, I hadn’t come across the Convention Movement in any of my history classes. I knew about an earlier convention movement in the North during the 1700’s amongst free blacks, but I wasn’t aware of a convention movement in the South during the Reconstruction and Post-Reconstruction Period. And also I wasn’t aware of the idea of migration being so heavily debated amongst African-Americans in an organized way because from a lot of the secondary material of the Exoduster Movement – some of the earlier materials characterized it as just a spontaneous type of movement almost like cattle or something – a stampede where the people weren’t really thinking about what they were doing or there was political manipulation behind these poor people who didn’t know better. But through the testimony, individuals, and other forms of evidence such as the conventions, you see that it was something that was greatly debated and organized. And the individuals made the decisions regardless of what their so-called leaders felt about it. Because some of the biggest leaders at that point still thought or hoped that blacks could maintain political participation and power in the South. So from Frederick Douglas’s perspective, since blacks as a population were concentrated in the South, that would be the best place for them to maintain political and economic power. You know, just to remain there and hope that things would get better had some point. But many throughout the testimony of those who were involved in the migration – many of them weren’t formally educated individuals, but they were individuals who had gained a form of informal education such as Henry Adams. Many of them were veterans; they had served in the military. They had learned to read while they were in the military – self-taught individuals. Benjamin Singleton was actually a person who had escaped from slavery to Canada from Tennessee and later moved to Detroit. Then after the Civil War, once slavery was over, he moved back to his home town in Tennessee. And he was a respected person in that community in Tennessee amongst African-Americans because he was a skilled worker. He was a carpenter – he was a coffin-maker and an undertaker so he had various skills and various jobs. And he held general respect amongst people in the community. And it was through his job as an undertaker and coffin-maker that he was inspired to form this colony movement, because part of that occupation required that he get the bodies of individuals who died as the result of violence. After seeing that he came up with the idea that they should leave and go form colonies where they could gain land in peace and not become sharecroppers dependent on someone else. So that motivated him. But they fell into the class of individuals who were self-taught and they did not come from that organized, formally-educated community. And even George Ruby, who I quoted, in Louisiana – he was someone who was very educated, but throughout his testimony he said that he only came to assist a movement that was already occurring because he had drawn the same conclusions that they had drawn for themselves. And he felt that he could use his education and his ability to write to assist them and word the letters the way they wanted to send it to the president and so forth. But it wasn’t a movement that came from someone above and manipulated it from the top down – it wasn’t that type of movement. Yes? Audience Member: I just wondered, where was the increase in the number of discriminatory laws and the Ku Klux Klan at this time? Damani Davis: See, that’s going to come later. What we have now is that conflict where the troops have just recently been removed from the South because of the Compromise of 1877. There was a contested election in 1876, and the compromise that was decided was that would be allowed to get the White House if the federal troops were removed from the South. So that was the compromise that everyone could agree upon. So by the time of the Senate investigation, the political will is already gone as far as protecting African-Americans in the South. At this time the political will is just moving on from the Civil War and the division in the nation and trying to bring everyone together and move forward. And part of that required leaving the African-Americans to the will of their neighbors in the South. Now during this period the question amongst African-Americans is: How do we respond to this? What do we do about it? Do we wait and hope that troops are returned to the South? Do we submit to our new role as sharecroppers, which many characterized as just a new form of slavery where they were dependent and forced to give up on their dream of owning their own land and farms? Or do they leave the South and go somewhere where they will be allowed to pursue their own desires and their own form of citizenship? So all of this is happening. Kansas comes up as perhaps a place that they could go, and earlier there were even some who were entertaining the idea of going to Liberia. They had given up completely the idea that there was anywhere in the continental United States that would be hospitable to them. But when the idea of Kansas spread, that became the new focus. And later some are going to move to other areas in the west. But gradually the whole movement is going to cease because when it reaches the saturation point in these places – the motivation to go there is not going to be to the same extent when it doesn’t live up to everyone’s ideals.