The Great Exodus
Nicodemus Kansas, having a very important role in our American history is the only remaining western community established by African Americans after the Civil War. The little town of Nicodemus was planned by W.R Hill in 1877 and it was ravened by W.H. Smith , both of these men where black. Smith became the President of the town Company and Hill became treasurer. Nicodemus is named after a legendary figure who came over on a slave ship. The figure later purchased his freedom. The two founders opened this town up to slaves from the South and to the east. Simon P. Roundtree was the first settler of the town in June 18, 1877. Zack T. Fletcher and his wife the daughter of Reverend W.H. Smith, Jenny Smith Fletcher arrived in July, and was named the secretary of the Town Company. Roundtree, Fletchers, and Smith made claims to their property and built temporary homes in dugouts along the prairie.
The Town Company tried with success to promote the town, inviting �Colored People of the United States� to come and settle in the �Great Solomon Valley�. Benjamin �Pap� Singleton was a black carpenter from the city of Nashville, Tennessee. He also traveled around giving out circulars and was sometimes known as the �Moses of the Colored Exodus�, so the blacks who later decided to move to Nicodemus where later known as "Exodusters�. The slaves associated Kansas with the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist John Brown, and were particularly responsive to settle there. Flyers handed out to the African-Americans helped them establish self government. Railroad companies exaggerated the quality of the soil to help establish the railroad across the western plains to help populate it. In 1877, 308 railroad tickets to take them to Ellis, Kansas, Still 55 miles to go. The families walked the 55 miles to Nicodemus arriving in September of 1877. In one month the first child of Nicodemus was born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Williams.
Early settlers faced bad weather conditions. These determined Kansans survived the whole winter without having tools, seed, or money. Some sold buffalo bones, and others survived only because of the friendly Osage Indians, who provided food, firewood and staples. his plan did not work when he discovered there was not enough capital within the black community to achieve his goal. Changing his plan again.
Some stayed but some left from disappointment to go back to Kentucky or Tennessee. Those who were dedicated and stayed were lucky, in the spring of 1878 there was hope and opportunity as the new settlers began to farm the soil.
Headed by President Smith, there was a new local government in the spring of 1878 when more Exodusters came. Even though the living conditions were bad a woman named Willina, who did not like the site of Nicodemus, and her husband Reverend Daniel Hickman stayed, discovering the First Baptist Church in a dugout with a sod structure above it. In 1880 a stone sanctuary was built for the church. In 1975, a brick sanctuary was built. The church still stands in Nicodemus today.
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
Benjamin "pap" Singleton was a leader in the "Great Exodus" who brought thousands of Africans west from the formal reconstruction South. he also became a pioneer of black nationalism. He also launched one of the first back-to-Africa movements in the United States. Singleton was born in 1809 in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was sold as a slave several times, but always escaped. Finally, he fled to Canada , then settled in Detroit, Michigan, where he started a boarding house that helped many runaway slaves get to there freedom. After the Civil War, Singleton returned to Tennessee where he was convinced that his mission was to help his people improve their lives. To do this, in the 1860's he organized an effort to buy the farm land of Tennessee for the blacks that he helped. His plan failed when whites refused to sell at good prices.
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
Unmoved Singleton began to think about Kansas, where he and a partner named Columbus Johnson staked out a black Settlement in Cherokee County ,which later failed, and a second blockade in Morris County. Singleton told everyone about his settlements through posters that circulated widely across the South, and he joined up with Johnson to help hundreds of Black Tennesseans move to Kansas between 1877 and 1879. As you may know those blacks who followed Singleton's journey west became known as "Exodusters" and Singleton himself was known as the "Father of the Exodus". The migration that reached a high in 1879 was not only inspired by the father, but the end of Reconstruction in the South and the KKK. By the year of 1879, which is called the year of the "Great Exodus". Some 50,000 African Americans had moved to Kansas, Missouri, Indian, and Illinois. While thousands more had been turned back by whites controlling the rivers and roads. In 1880, Singleton was called to testify at Congressional hearing on the abrming migration of Blacks from the South. By 1881, Singleton was moving forward with his plan. He wanted to aid his people by organizing a party called the United Colored Links in a black section of Topeka, Kansas called "Tennessee Town" because so many of the natives of the state live there. Singleton wanted to create industries for the blacks like the whites did for the whites. His plan did not work when he discovered there was not enough capital within the black community to achieve his goal. Changing his plan again, Singleton founded an organization called the Chief League, in 1883. Chief League was to encourage blacks to emigrate to the Island of Cyprus. Very few listened , so he formed the Trans-Atlantic society to help black people to move back to them own home, Africa, in 1885. By 1887, this plan had come up short. After suffering poor health, Singleton retired from his self-appointed services, and died in St.Lewis in 1892. His vision of society in which African Americans owned the land, directed the industries and held the power power to live on. Finding a successful champion in Marcus Ganey, who finally realized many of Singleton's dreams.
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