FLYIN’ WEST BACKSTAGE GUIDE 13 The great 1879 exodus of African-Americans was largely influenced by the outcome of 1878 elections in the state of Louisiana, in which the Democratic Party made major gains by winning several congressional seats and the governorship. Freed blacks, largely Republican supporters, were coerced, threatened, assaulted, and even murdered to keep them away from the ballot box. When the final tallies were in and the Democrats claimed almost total victory, many black Louisianans knew that the time had come for them to abandon their state and join those already in Kansas. Black social leaders and ministers often sang the praises of the exodus, comparing it to Moses and the Israelites' escape from Egypt. Of course, some black leaders spoke out against the exodus as well, stating that those leaving for Kansas were jeopardizing the future of those who chose to stay behind and that democracy should be given more time to work. Among the most notable of those that tried to dissuade blacks from fleeing the South was Frederick Douglass. Terrified of losing cheap labor, Southern whites opposed the exodus as well. Many went to extreme measures to try to keep blacks from emigrating, including arrest and imprisonment on false charges and acts of violence. The exodus began to subside by the early summer of 1879. In 1870, Kansas had hosted a black population of approximately 16,250. Ten years later, in 1880, approximately 43,110 African-Americans called Kansas home. Though few found Kansas to be the Promised Land for which they hoped, they did find it a place that enabled them to live freely and with much less racial interference than in the South. (edited from NPS.gov) Exodus Leader Benjamin “Pap” Singleton Exodusters waiting for a steamboat to carry them westward in the late 1870s