Historical Romance of the American Negro

And Louisiana was not the only State where the thugs attempted to suppress voting by violence amongst the colored men. It was the self-same policy everywhere throughout the South, and as a rule colored men kept away from the polls, in fear of their lives.

Now, my dear reader, I have placed before you the reasons that led our oppressed people to rise up in the early spring of 1879, and search out for themselves new homes, where they could dwell in safety, and where they would not be robbed, oppressed and burned out, and even murdered on account of their political opinions. Colored men could never be expected to vote the Democratic ticket. Besides, were they not free? And had they not the right to vote as they pleased, even as others had? They never dreamed of terrorizing the whites because they would not vote the Republican ticket. It was a most remarkable thing that President Grant, the great war general, who had conquered the South, was unable to devise ways and means to protect the lives of colored men on election days. So far as I have ever heard there was not even a semblance of protection anywhere in those States where it was desired to carry the same for the Democratic nominees. Thus colored men were left unprotected in all their natural rights by the very Government itself that had passed the Constitutional Amendments. In fact they were left like sheep in the midst of wolves. They had been swindled and cheated in every way, as I have already shown. The Government now failed to protect their very lives, and therefore they began to turn their eyes to other regions where they could at least worship God, and sleep in their beds in safety. The shot-gun policy was now beginning to recoil on itself, for who can till the soil of the South like colored men?

The State of Kansas possessed many attractions for our oppressed and wronged people. All had often heard of the long struggle there between the border ruffians from the South, and the free soil men of the North, as to whether Kansas should be enslaved or free; and how at last it had been won by the Abolitionists as a free State. All had heard how the immortal John Brown (of glorious memory) had warred and fought in Kansas for the liberty of all people, and how in 1861 the struggle between slavery and liberty had been transferred from the soil of Kansas to the rebel lands of South Carolina. Thus Kansas had a name that charmed all hearts, and letters that were written at the time by those colored families already settled down there and flourishing, like the green bay-tree, among a good and just white population, gave glorious accounts of the new State in the West, and invited all others to come and settle down on its fertile lands who wished for peaceful homes.

One thing was clear – colored people could not afford to remain in the old rebel States of the South, where there was no safety for their lives, and where even the national government appeared unable to protect them. Indeed, something must be done soon.

Here are a few questions and answers that will speak for themselves:

"Now, Uncle Joe, what did you come for?"

"Oh, Lawd, Missus, I follows my two boys and the old woman; and then, 'pears like I wants a taste of votin' before I dies, an' the ole man done wants no swamps to wade in afore he votes, 'kase he must be Republican, ye see!"

"Well, Aunty, give us the sympathetic side of the story, or tell us what you think of leaving your old home."

"I done have no home, nohow, if they shoots my ole man an' the boys, an' gives me no money for de washing."

A bright woman of twenty-five years of age was asked her condition, when she answered,

"I hadn't much real trouble yet, like some of my neighbors who lost everything. We had a lot, an' a little house, an' some stock on the place. We sold all out, 'kase we didn't dare to stay when votin' time came again. Some neighbors better off than we had been all broken up by a pack of night-riders, all in white, who scared everybody to death, ran the men off the swamps before elections, ran the stock off, an' set fire to their places. A poor woman might as well be killed, and done with it."

Whoever read anything more pathetic than the above? Who can wonder any longer that a regular panic seized upon the people in certain sections on the South to go forth unto a land they knew not, where they could live in peace and safety among a better race of men? The number of persecuted pilgrims, those seeking a home in Kansas, is variously given at between forty and sixty thousand men, women and children. When the army of the Israelites left Egypt, they were well supplied, for they had been instructed to ask of the Egyptians anything they wanted; but these 40,000 or 60,000 people departed in most cases with absolutely nothing but the clothes they stood in, and they were often poorly clad, often hungry and exhausted, and in need of all things. Some, indeed, had teams of oxen that brought on all their earthly possessions, dragging their weary length along day after day, and week after week, and straining their longing eyes towards the fields of Kansas and liberty. Some of these pilgrims that came no further than from Texas were actually nine weeks on the road! Poor, dear creatures! How sweet to them must have been the hopes and anticipations of a peaceful home, when they were willing to make such tremendous sacrifices that they might cross over into the fair and fertile fields of Kansas! "Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood stood dressed in living green; so to the Jews old Canaan stood, while Jordan rolled between."

A great deal was written at that time, a great deal has been written since then, and a great deal will still be written about the sufferings of those poor, dear pilgrims; but the whole truth of what they really did suffer on the way, with all the hardships that confronted them in the days of their distress will never, never be told. Indeed, it cannot; it is impossible. One thing we all know – the colored race is preeminently a religious race. They will worship God. The germs of immortality are safe within the bosoms of all thinking men and women among them. They were always faithful to their God, even in the darkest days of slavery. Like Paul, they could say, "I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me." Indeed it is most marvelous what any of us may do, and can do, when we are put upon our muscle. The world has often been astonished at deeds performed by puny women, and even mere boys and girls. But such need hardly have been the case, for none can tell what they can do themselves until they are tried, and the grand resolutions of the soul arise like a hurricane to meet terrors and trials of the situation. There are always heroes and heroines in the world, ready when called for.

But although the grand and high-soaring resolutions of heart and soul worked wonders – I had almost said miracles – among the pilgrims of this exodus; still, none of us are made of iron, and the strain proved too much for the bodies of some of those devoted people, for they died soon after reaching the Canaan of their hopes: they died in the consecrated soil of Kansas, and the angels of heaven came down and carried them home. A result like this was to be expected, and the only wonder is that more of them did not perish, even while they were on the way. The Lord knows those that are His; we shall meet them in heaven!

There was no time to be lost. News travels fast in the days of electric telegraph, and even of railroads and steamboats. The news of the tide of the exodus from the murderous sections of the Sunny South was swiftly wafted all over the land, and even crossed the broad Atlantic to mother England. Swift as the fleet winds, Christians and philanthropists were on their feet at once, and a relief association was organized. "They give twice who give quickly." A dear Quaker lady named Mrs. Comstock (whose name is written in the Book of Life) immediately put herself at the head of affairs, and aided by "The Kansas Freedman's Relief Association," she was just the right and proper person to manage the raising of money, clothing and relief in every shape and form. The name of Governor St. John, of Kansas, must be associated with this glorious work of swiftly relieving the pilgrims in the day of their distress. He will ever stand before the world as a Christian and a gentleman for his willing help at this time. We too often hear people speaking of "this bad world," but this world contains millions of friends – all ready for the day of trial!

The pilgrims from the South were not long in turning round after they reached the friendly and welcoming lands of Kansas. They felt safe now, and had no more to fear. They soon became self-sustaining, because they were willing, and had a mind to work. All their past sorrows were now happily forgotten; they took hold, and were most enthusiastic, industrious and frugal. The relief association at first gave them a supply of stoves, teams and seeds. In a little over a year about $40,000 were used, and 500,000 pounds of clothing, bedding, and so forth. "Old England" sent 50,000 pounds of goods, and $8,000 in money, which chiefly came from Mrs. Comstock's friends in "the tight little island" beyond the seas, who had known her there by her good works. Much of the remainder had come in small sums, and from the Christian women of America. The most noble and loyal Quakers furnished one-third. The State of Ohio gave more than any other State. The funds of the State of Kansas were not drawn upon.

The freedman at once set to work, and during the first year entered upon the cultivation of 20,000 acres of land, and they ploughed and fitted 3,000 acres for grain-growing. They also built 300 cabins and dugouts, and amassed $30,000 in money. We have heard of one Henry Carter, a colored man of Tennessee, who set out from Topeka in 1878, and made his way on foot for Dunlap, which was sixty-five miles away; he carried his own tools, whilst his plucky wife carried their bed clothes. In 1880 he had forty acres of land cleared, and had made the first payment for the same. He earned that money by working on sheep ranches, and making himself generally useful. He built for himself and wife a good stone cottage, sixteen feet by ten, and then owned a horse, a cow and other things besides. Not only did the white people assist the pilgrims, as good friends and neighbors, far and wide, over all the broad lands of Kansas, but colored families pulled and hauled together, lent and borrowed, and most willingly assisted one another in every conceivable way. "Good Samaritans" sprang up in all directions, thicker than the grass of the field. These blessed eyes of mine, dear reader, were privileged to look upon many letters at the time, giving lovely accounts of the way, the doings and sayings of the good folks of Kansas. With what warmth of feeling did they praise all their neighbors, colored and white alike, and pressed upon all "to come out!" There were, of course, many who arrived at first at Topeka, and other large towns, in a sadly destitute condition, needing clothing, food, medicine and all things. But they were at once assisted upon their feet – they turned round at once like swift winds, and all were soon most industriously at work. None were ever arrested for stealing, and very few were found drunk. All at once "made tracks," as we say, for the Church of God, and the bible and the school-house. The colored children were at once admitted into the public schools, as the color of the skin was too paltry a matter to be noticed by the great-minded people of the State of Kansas. Industrial schools were also set going for all those who needed such institutions. May God forever bless the State of Kansas for her unsurpassed humanity and hospitality to our oppressed people in the days of their distress! This is a most uncommonly prosperous and well-to-do State. The Lord has smiled upon them, and remembered all their loving ways.

John M. Brown, Esq., was the general superintendent of the Freedman's Relief Association, and in February, 1880, he read a very interesting report before the Association, of which the following is an extract:

"The great exodus of colored people from the South began about the first of February, 1879. By the first of April, 1,300 refugees had gathered around Wyandotte, Kansas. Many of them were in a suffering condition. It was then that the Kansas Relief Association came into existence, for the purpose of helping the most needy among the refugees from the Southern States. Up to date, about 60,000 refugees have come to the State of Kansas to live. Nearly 40,000 of them were in a destitute condition when they arrived, and have been helped by our association. We have received to date $68,000 for the relief of the refugees. About 5,000 of those who have come to Kansas have gone to other States to live, leaving about 55,000 yet in Kansas. About 30,000 of that number have settled in the country, some of those on lands of their own or rented lands; others have hired out to the farmers, leaving about 25,000 in and around the different cities and towns of Kansas. There has been great suffering among those remaining in and near the cities and towns this winter. It has been so cold that they could not find employment; and if they did, they had to work for very low wages; because so many of them were looking for work that they were in each other's way.

"Most of those about the cities and towns are with large families, widows, and very old people. The farmers want only able-bodied men for their work, and it is very hard for men with large families to get homes among the farmers. Kansas is a new State, and most farmers have small houses, and they cannot take large families to live with them. So when the farmers call for help, they usually call for a man and his wife only, or for a single man or woman.

"Now in order that men with large families may become owners of land, and be able to support their families, the Kansas Freedman's Relief Association, if they can secure the means, will purchase cheap lands which can be bought at from $3 to $5 per acre, on long time, by making a small payment in cash. They will settle the refuges on these lands, letting each family have from 20 to 40 acres, and not settling more than sixteen families in any one neighborhood, so that they can easily obtain work from the farmers in that section or near by. I do not think it best to settle too many of them in any one place, because it will make it hard for them to find employment.

"If our Association can help them to build a small house, and have five acres of their land broken, the women and children can cultivate the five acres and make enough to support their families, while the men are out at work by the day to meet the payments on their land when they become due. In this way many families can be helped to homes of their own, where they can become self-sustaining, educate their children, and be useful citizens to the State of Kansas.

"Money spent in this way will be much more profitable to them than so much old clothing and provisions. They will no longer be objects of charity, or a burden to benevolent people."

CHAPTER XVII

Continuation of the Exodus to Kansas – Complete Success of That Grand Movement – Similar Governments Elsewhere – Resolution of the Hon. D. W. Voorhees in Congress – A Perfect Farce In Itself – The Story of the Exodus – Its End.

We are not to suppose, my dear reader, that the coming of so many colored people to Kansas was in the beginning cordially agreed to by every white citizen of that State. Indeed, the exodus of these poor pilgrims and refugees to their consecrated soil was at first met with the most determined and violent opposition by many. But the new immigrants were usually so active, sincere and clever in all their movements that they at once disarmed all opposition, and the white residents at once grounded the arms of their rebellion. With few exceptions, everybody was well pleased with the new-comers, and they were made thrice welcome to the soil of Kansas. Behold the hand of God in all this! St. Paul advises us to be hospitable and entertain strangers, "for some have thereby entertained angels unawares," he continues to say. Indeed, I know of no better way to draw down the abundant blessings of high heaven upon our heads than by relieving really worthy and deserving people in the day of their distress. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Himself pronounced a splendid eulogy upon those who relieved the hungry, thirsty, the sick and the prisoners, and He winds up his glorious sermon by saying, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my disciples, ye have done it unto Me; enter ye into the joy of your Lord!" If ever Christ's words were carried out to the very fullest extent, they were carried out by the welcome reception of our pilgrim host to the soil of Kansas. The Lord has a long memory for a kind act, and He has not been unmindful to shower His blessings on this flourishing State.

But after all, the season of agony, doubts and fears was but of short duration. By the year 1881, at the very latest, the regular tide of the refugees had discontinued to flow, the work of the "Kansas Freedmen's Relief Association" had entirely and successfully completed its work and disbanded itself, as the Union soldiers did when the Civil War was over. How glorious is all this now to sit down and think of! "As one door shuts, another opens." Very good, indeed. Let us thank God that the world is so big and roomy; and if we have plenty of enemies here, we have plenty of friends also. It was so in the old-time bible days, for in that blessed book we read how hosts of people, and even individuals, rose up, and departed in millions, in thousands and hundreds, and even in single cases, and went away from among "devils," that they might dwell in peace among better people. Thus history has simply repeated itself over and over again, and the exodus of colored people from the South is perhaps the most recent example of that oft-repeated affair. And it is safe to say, when we consider the natural badness of the human race, that other exoduses elsewhere will follow. It may not be in this country, but it will be somewhere.

There is an old but true saying that "None are so blind as those who don't want to see," which leads me on to say that the Hon. D. W. Voorhees, United States Senator from Indiana, must either have been most dreadfully blind to the truth, or else he must have been in a very childish humor, when he introduced his famous resolution into the Senate at Washington for the investigation of "The causes of the migration of the colored people from the Southern to the Northern States." Now, since this world began, dear reader, when did any one of us ever hear of such a farce as this? To institute a national inquiry of the causes of the exodus of entire legions of men, women and children, when Mr. Voorhees and the whole population of the United States knew all about things before he ever asked the question? That inquiry cost the government thousands of dollars – flung away upon what every man, woman and child knew already! Verily, this was the greatest national farce ever heard of from the creation of the world down to the present time of writing!

While this inquiry was going on, money and clothing were sent to the State of Kansas by every train; and the refugees were rapidly scattered all over the different counties as fast as the relief association could secure homes for them.

The "Chicago Inter-Ocean" newspaper sent a special correspondent to Topeka, to report on the state of things in Kansas, in connection with the pilgrims from the Sunny South. This faithful man made the following report, which is so very interesting that I will copy it in full:

"TOPEKA, KANSAS, April 9th.

"During the last few days I have in obedience to your request been taking notice of the exodus as it may be studied here at the headquarters for relief among the refugees in Kansas. This is the third visit your correspondent has made to the 'promised land' of the dusky hosts, who fleeing from persecution and wrongs, have swarmed within its borders to the number of 25,000. In a letter written here in December last the number then within the State was estimated about 15,000, and since that date at least 12,000 more have come. In the 'barracks' to-day I found what seemed to be the same one hundred who crowded about the stove that cold December day; but they were not the same of course, but their places have been filled many times since with other hundreds, who have found their first welcome to Kansas in the rest, food and warmth, which the charity of the North has provided here. So efficient have the plan of relief and the machinery of distribution been made, that of the thousands who have passed through here, none have remained as a burden of expense to the Association more than four or five days before places were found where their own labor could furnish them support. 'If that pure statesman of Indiana, (Mr. Voorhees) whose great heart was so filled with solicitude for the welfare of his colored brethren, that he asked Congress to appropriate thousands of dollars to ascertain why they moved from one State to another will come here, – he will be rewarded with such a flood of light on the question as could never penetrate the recesses of his committee-room in Washington. He need hardly propound an inquiry; he had, indeed, best not let his great presence be known, – for in the presence of 'Democracy' the negro has learned to keep silence. But in search of the truth, let him go to the file of over 3,000 letters in the Governor's office from negroes in the South, and read in them the homely but truthful tales of suffering, oppression and wrongs. Let him note how real is their complaint, but how modest the boon they ask; for, in different words, – sometimes in quaint and often in awkward phrases, the questions are always the same, – 'Can we be free? Can we have work? And can we have our rights in Kansas?' Let him go next to the 'barracks,' and watch the tired, ragged, hungry, scared-looking negroes as they come by the dozens on every train. If he is not prompted by shame, then from caution necessary to the success of his errand, let him here conceal the fact that he is a 'Democrat;' for these half-famished and terrified negroes have been fleeing from Democrats in the South, and in their ignorance they may not be able to comprehend the nice distinction between a northern and a southern Democrat. If he will be content simply to listen as they talk among themselves, he will soon learn much that the laborious cross-examination of witnesses has failed to teach him. He may take note of the fact that fleeing from robbery, oppression and murder, they come only with the plea for work and justice while they work. He may see reason to criticise what has generally been deemed by Southern Democrats, at least, unreasonable folly in a negro which prompts husband and wife to go only where they can go together; but he will find nothing to cause him to doubt the sincerity and good faith with which the negro grapples with the problem of his new life here. If he would learn more of this strength of resolution, and the patience which they have brought to search for a home in a free land, let him inquire concerning the lives of those refugees in Kansas. It may seem of significance, and worthy of approving note to him, that as laborers they have been faithful and industrious; that in no single case have they come back asking aid of the relief association, nor become burdens in any way upon corporate or public charities; that as citizens they are sober and law-abiding to such a degree that he would hardly be able to discover a single case of crime among them; and, finally, that in those instances where they were able to purchase a little land and stock, they have made as good progress towards the acquirement of homes and property, as have the average, poor, white, immigrant to the State. He will first learn then, from the refugees themselves, something of the desperate nature of the causes that drove them from the South; and secondly, from their lives here, with what thrift, patience and determination they have met the difficulties which they have encountered in their efforts to gain a foothold, and as men among men in the land of equal rights.

"From the Hon. William Reynolds, president of the Auxiliary Relief Association, at Parsons, I learn that the negroes who have come into the southern part of the State, mostly from Texas, are all either settled on small tracts of land, or employed as laborers at from $8 to $10 per month, and are all doing well. Mr. Reynolds' testimony to this effect was positive and unqualified. To assist these refugees in Southern Kansas, – over 3,000 in all, – only $575 has been expended.