Exodusters Nell Irvin Painter\'s Exodusters:

Exodusters

Nell Irvin Painter's Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction is about the first major migration of former slaves to the north. The book was initially published in 1976, and the introduction to the latest edition is written by the author to reestablish the relevance of the text. In the Introduction to Exodusters, Painter presents the subject matter in a sober way to remind readers of the hardships that first prompted the massive migration of blacks away from the south. The people Painter portrays were as much running from the trauma of the South and failed Reconstruction programs to anything.

Yet what the freedpeople found in Kansas was far from paradisiacal. The title of the book refers to the dust bowl that defines the Kansas landscape during the time, and the subsequent struggles freedpeople endured to eek out a living as second-class citizens. In spite of their no longer living in legally sanctioned servitude, the lives of freedpeople were constrained.

After the thoughtful Introduction, Exodusters is divided into three meaty parts. The first part is entitled "Reconstruction's Aftermath." The second part is devoted to "Henry Adams, Benjamin 'Pap' Singleton' and Postwar Realities." Part Three is "Emigration."

In "Reconstruction's Aftermath," Painter takes five chapters to describe how Reconstruction directly impacted the lives of former slaves. In Chapter One, Painter initiates discussion of the exodus. Black people "lost hope for their prospects in the South" and thus moved northwards. In Chapter Two, the author describes the myths about Reconstruction, Black life in the South, and Southern Race relations. Chapter Three deals with what Painter calls "Politics and the Color Line," noting that the Republican party platform championed the rights of working class people -- which defined most Southern blacks. In Chapter Four, Painter describes the shifts taking place in the American public education system, and describes the link between politics and education. Chapter Five details the economics of oppression, showing how the end of the slavery only meant the birth of sharecropping.

Part Two of Exodusters elucidates grassroots political activism and the beginnings of Black political organization and self-empowerment. The section starts off with Chapter Six, which describes one of the first significant Black organizers, "Henry Adams and Grass Roots Political Action." In Chapter Seven, "The Committee Becomes the Colonization Council," the author continues to explain how Adams' legacy led to a growing collective identity among the exodusters. Chapter Eight describes "Henry Adams in Exile," and the deterioration of justice throughout the American South. In Chapter Nine, Painter introduces Benjamin "Pap" Singleton and describes his contribution to Black empowerment and the migration of Blacks from the oppressive south toward Kansas. By Chapter Ten, "Solving the Race Problem," Nell Painter has developed the background of the mass migration as a necessary reaction to worsening conditions in the South proper. To motivate community cohesion among Blacks, new political organizations and parties like the United Colored Links were formed. At the same time, white Southerners feared an impending exodus because they continued to depend on sharecroppers as a form of cheap, nearly slave labor. The Links offered southern Blacks the philosophical and social means by which to create a community identity distinct from the oppressors.

Part Three of Exodusters consists of nine chapters and describes the heart of the matter of migration. "Liberia Fever," Chapter 11, Painter discusses the Liberia proposition in the greater context of the exodus. The sense that Blacks needed to start new and from a clean slate meant that many did look towards Africa as a symbol of genuine liberation. Unable to see a bright future in the South, many did view Liberia as a "perfected America, free from racial hatred," (p. 138). Painter admits that the Liberia project failed after the fever died down. Chapter 12 describes "Migration to Kansas Preceding the Exodus," describing early waves of people movement towards the rural plains. In Chapter 13, Painter describes the significance of the 1878 campaign in Louisiana and how it fomented the subsequent exodus. Politics in the south were become fiercely polarizing. Moreover, Painter describes the systematic means of ensuring black oppression by preventing access to the polls.