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VOLUME
The Arkansas Historical Association
Ll,
NUMBER
2
SUMMER 1992
Founded in 1941
The Arkansas Historical Quarterly
OFFICERS
Contents
President
THE IMP ACT OF THE C I VIL WAR IN ARKA':'SAS:
JOHN WILLIAM CRA Y ES
Arkadelphia
Vice President
THE MI SSISSIP PI RIVER PLANTATTON COUNTIES
Secretary.Treasurer
FRANCES MITCH ELL ROSS
Little Rock
105
Carl H. Moneyhon
THE BLACK EXPER I ENCE IN THE FIRST DECADE OF
RECONSTRUCT ION IN POPE COUNTY, ARKANSAS
JEANNIE M . WHA YNE
Fayt:tteville
Gene
w.
BlYJetl
119
Randy Finley
135
I N WAR'S W AKE: HEALTH CARE AND ARKANSAS
FREEDMEN , 1863-1868
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Morris S. Arno ld
Fon Smith (J 995)
Russell Bearden
Pin e Bluff (1994)
Mich ael Dabrishus
Fayelleville (J 993)
janice B. Edd leman
Eldon Fairle),
Osceola (J 995)
Ben F. johnson , III
EI Dorado ( 1993) Hac kett (J 994)
Ronnie A. Nichols
Hele na (1995)
Portland ( 1995)
Wend)' Richter
Bismarck (1994)
Mar)' Davies SCOtt
Little Rock ( 1993)
Kenneth M. Startup
Walnut Ridge (J 994)
lill ie Rock (1995)
C. Fred Willia ms
Lillie Rock (1993)
jo Ann Pugh THE " BACK-To-AFRICA" MOVEME NT IN ARKAN SAS
Adell Pallon, Jr.
164
BOOK REVIEWS .......... ... . 178 BOOK NOTES ...... 190
NEWS AND NOTrCES . 194
Edwina Wa lls
Ellioll Wesl
Faye"eville (1993)
\h)
Arkansas Histo rica l Association, 1992
ISSN 0004· 1823
"BAC K-T O -AFRICA·· MO VEMENT
The "Back-to-Africa" Movement
in Arkansas
By ADELL PAT T ON , JR.
TH E "BAC K T O AFRI CA" movement in Arka nsas bega n in 1877
and lasted sporadically into th e twentie th centur y. The period o f
mos t inte nse activity occurred between 1877 and 189 0, and al­
though the effo rts of Arkansas blac ks to e mig rate to Africa were
recog nized at that time in both Ar ka nsas a nd New Yo rk City, the
ep isode remai ns neglected in the historical literatu re on the
"exodus.'" Recen t scholarship suggests th at the co ncept of d ias­
pora, which is applicable to the Arka nsas case , co nsists of th ree
ele me nts: (l) the in voluntary a nd volunta ry emigra tion fro m AfAdell Pa tto n, Jr. , is associate pro ressor o f Afri ca n histo r y at Howard Uni ve r­
sity, Was hin gto n, D. C. He prese nted a versio n of thi s pa pe r at the annu al mee t­
in g or th e Ark a nsas Historica l Assoc ia t.i on in Co nw ay, Ark ansas, o n March 30,
1984.
IFo r th e 1879 exodu s to Kansas, see Nell Irvin Pain te r, Exodusters: Black
M igralion to Ko.n~as After Reconstruction (New Yo rk , 1977 ); for th e early role of
th e Ame rica n Colo ni za tio n Society in Liberia. see P. J. Sta uue nra us, T he African
Colonizalion Mouement, 18 16-1 865 (New Yo rk , 196 1); on th e social and quanti ta ­
tive deve lopments of this movement, see Tom W. Shic k, Beh.old The Promised
La71d: A HiJlury of Afro~A7Jlmum Settler Sodety in Nineleenlh·Cenlury Libma (BGl ILi­
more, Md ., 1977); and on the co lonization ro le of Arkansas blac ks after 1890,
see Ed win S. Redkey, B lack Exodus: Black Nationalist and Bflck-to-A!ncafY[ ovtmellJJ,
/ 890- / 91 0 (New Have n, Co nn ., J969).
for a list o f Arkansas immigrants 10 Libe ria, see Pe ler J. Murdza , J r., l mmi­
gra.nts 10 Liberia, /865 10 190 4: A" Alphabelical Lisling (Newa rk , De l. , 1975) ; fo r
the "bac k-to-A frica" dilemma mixed Wilh fra ud , see J a mes Loga n Mo rga n, " Dr.
Lightfoot, 1892 ,'· T h£ Siream of H i.II<rry J6 (Ap ril 1878): 3-1 3; see also Myrtle
Clarine Volge r, "Negroes of Area Joined Back to Africa Move ment," Indepen~
dena CounLy Chronicle 16 Ua nu ar y 19 75): 46-57. 1 th an k To m Dillard for loca tin g
(he "dile mma" SOurces fo r me.
T HI:. A RK ANSAS HI.STO R.l CA L QUAR T ERLY
V OL .
Lt . No. 2,
SUM MER 1992
165
rIca; (2) assim ilation into a nd id entification with the new cu ltu re
a nd e nviro nme nt ; and (3) a psychological yea rning for and phys­
ical "return" to the " homela nd " of Africa' T he latte r clea rl y indi­
cated margi nality: individuals or groups, living in the twilight
zo ne of two cultures, possessed nostalgia fo r the old and a d e­
velopin g affection for th e ne w. Su ch individuals were on the
fringe or periph ery of two mod es of existe nce, and for som e the
"back to Africa" scheme p rovided a mech anism for resolvin g the
statu s diJ e m rn a'
In spired by a complex of motives, a group of white Amer­
ica ns, incl uding prominent indi vidu als in all sectio ns of the co un­
try, lau nched the American Colo nizatio n Society (A.G.S.) in 18 16
to assist free d blac ks in the U nited States in emigrati ng to Africa.'
Bl ac k Ame ri ca n response to the orga nization . through out its lo ng
histo ry, ra nged from bitte r o pposition to enthu sia stic etld orse­
me nt. As a result of efforts by the A.C.S., the Re public of Libe ria,
o n the coas t of West Africa, cam e into ex iste nce in 1847 and
received offi cial recognitio n f rom the U nited States seventeen
years later:' Although the Civil War radically altered the legal
sta tus o f th e vast majority of black America ns, the Liberia Exodus
move me nt co ntinued to attract conside rable su pport am ong the
newly freed slaves. Postwar ad voca tes of back-to-Africa schemes
a rgu ed that blacks in the rural South h ad become a surplu s po p­
ul atio n because cotton prod uctio n in partic ul ar and agriculture
in gen er al no longer required so large a num ber of labore rs.
Whil e whi te southern planters stru ggled to main tain and con trol
their labo r force of freed bl ac ks, Li be ri a p rom ised to satisfy the
yea rnin g o f freed persons to ow n la nd-a prosp ect that stood in
:.I.loseph E. H arris, ed., Global Dimensicms of th~ Afncan Dirupom (Washington,
D .C., J982), 3-1 4, 46-53, 69-84.
' Eve rett C. Hu g hes, "Social C hange a nd Sta tus Protesl: A n Essay on the
Margina l Ma n," Pltylon 10 (194 9): 58, 63·64: ro t' a criti q ue o f th e marg in al ma n
co nce pt, see David 1. Golovensky, "T he Ma rg ina l M an Co nce pt : An Analysis
and C ritiqu e," Social Farces 30 (M a rch 1952): 333-~39.
15ee Shick, B ehold the Promised L and.
~C h a rl es H . Wesley, "The Struggle fo r th e Recogni tio n of Haiti and Liheria
as Inde pende nt Re publics," J ournal ofN egro H isto,y II (Octo ber J 917 ): 369-383.
ARKANSAS HISTORI CAL QUARTERLY
"BACK-TO-AFR ICA" MOVEMENT
sharp contrast to such possibilities in the post-Reco nstru ction
South. '
In 1878, Martin R. De laney, then residing in So uth Carolina ,
characterized the bac k- to-Africa movement in tha t sta te . "Our
Exodus moveme nt," he expla ined, "is the uprising of poor but
indu strious and religio us people, who desire to cultivate the land
ill Liberia, a nd do good to the natives , promoting peace and
Christian civilization. '" While the desire to acquire land in Liberia
provided impetus for the moveme nt, th e urge among blacks gen­
erally to own land in the South remained strong indeed. Efforts
toward this end were manifestations of the self-help philosophy
embraced by bl acks in the post-Civi l War era '
In terms of regional d istribution, the Arkansas exodus move­
ment was strongest in mostly all-black co unties within the alluvial
Mississippi Delta. T h e research of Willard B. Gate wood, Jr., indi­
cates that while blacks th roug hout Arkansas were experiencing
varying degre es of discrimin ation by the e nd of the century,
blacks in the eastern co un ties of th e Mississ ippi Delta faced the
greatest obstacl es." It is no wond er then, that a co unt y squarely
in the Delta served as th e birthplace of the Arkansas exodus
moveme nt. Thus , the first convention of the Liberian Exodus
Arkansas Colony (L.E.A.C) was held at the T hird Baptist Church
in Helena , Phillip s County, on November 23, 1877 . Those attend­
ing the meetin g Came from Phillips, Lee, St. Francis and Cross
counties, and together they formed a constitution and drew up a
charter.
The L. E.A.C leaders faced opposition from, among others, a
black preacher in H elena, Reverend J T. J e llii"er, who blasted
them from his pulpit, saying, "certain leade rs of this movement,
namely: H. M. Turn er, R. H. Cain, B. F. Porter, and A. L. Stan­
ford, should have a rope put on the ir necks, led to th e wood s and
made promise to leave the country, or th e rope tig htened until
they did."" But the proponents respond ed to such criticism by
affirming their determin ation and attacking their o pponent:
"Long live the leaders of the Liberian Exodus . Long li ve the Af­
rican Colonization Society
. as Christ bad e us pra y for our
enemies , Long live J T. J enifer to re pe nt of his wickedness." "
The y proceeded with their plans and , in keep in g with their newl y
drafted constitution , a ppointed commissioners who were to travel
to Liberia for the purpose of procuring suitable land for the
L.E.A .C. Upon returning to the United States, th ese commission­
ers were to a rra nge for the transportation of the colonists "back
to Africa ." T he delegates selected C H . Hi cks of Lee Co unty and
Anthony L. Sta nford , the presid ent of the convention , to be their
commissioners. I!!
Almost nothing surfaces in the h istorical record on C H.
Hicks, and even though A. L. Stanford served in the Arkansas
state legi slature in the 1870s, he too remains an obscure figure.
Ho wever, from examining the records of the American Coloniza­
tion Society and certain secondary works, a picture of this remark­
able man emerges. Born in Greenwich , Cumberland County, New
Jersey, onJuly 4, 1830, he joined the African Methodist Episcopal
Church and late r became an ordain ed minister, receiving the
166
hA circular distributed by the South Caro lin a Counc il of the: Liberia Exodu s
addressed the question of lanel own ership : "The large landed proprietors hold
[heir lands and refuse to sell , as a matter of self protection aga inst the com peti­
tion of the numerOuS po pula tion of agricultural laborers," Circular , in co ming
Corre:spondence, July 17, 1878, American Coloniza tion Socie ty Papers, Manu­
script Division, Librar y of Congress, Was hington, D.C.; he re inafter cited as
A.C.S. Papers.
In regard LO the perce ntage of whi te-ow ned la nd , see U nited States Commis­
sion on Civil Rights , The Dedine 0/ Black Fa.rming in A-men·ca: A Report 0/ the United
Sta.les Commission on Civil. RighlJ (Was hin gton, D.C., 1982), 17; th e stud y repons:
"One-lcn th of all la nd ow ne rs comro ll cd fr om o ne- half to two-thirds of all the
lanel in most southe rn co unties. More tha n 70 pe rce m o f th e blacks in the cotton
states we re empl oyed in agriculture. In 1880 blacks ow ned less tha n 8 perce nt
o f all f'1I"ms.·'
' Inco ming CO ITes ponde nce, july 17, 1878, A.C.S. Pa pers..
aO n th e eco no mic situatio n of blac ks, see j o na than M. Wi ener, "Class Stru c­
lUre lind Economic Develo pme nt in the So uth , 1865-1 955," Atnern:an Historual
R eview 84 (Octo be r 1979),970-1 006; a nd Pete Da ni el , The Shadow of Slavery :
Peonage in Ihe Soulh, 1901 -1969 (U rba na, III. , 1972).
"WiU lI rd B. Ga tewood, jr. " Arka nsas Negroes in the 1890's: Doc umems, "
Arka." ,as H islon"cal Quo.Tlerly 33 (Winter 1974): 297-298.
167
IO"The First Convention of th e Liberia Exodus Ar kansas Colony," in Anmwl
Report a/the New York Sta.te Colon.iza.tion. Society, 1886 (Co lon ization Pamphlet no.
6),2.
lllbi4., 3.
I~Ibid.,
4.
168
ARKA NSAS H I STORICAL QUARTERLY
" B ACK-TO-AFRI CA" MOVEMENT
Doctorate of Divinity. '" He entered the Eclectic Medical Colleg-e
of Philadelphia, Pennsy lvani a, in 1868 and received his medical
diplom a two years later. Leavin g Philadelphia, he began the prac­
tice of medicine in Mississippi in 1871." In the latter part of 1872
he crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas and embarked on
a career as a doctor, a minister, a state sena tor a nd ultimatel y th e
leader of the Arkansas exodus to Africa.
His skills as a do ctor, cou pled with his traini ng an d experience
as a minister, probably served him well in the Arkansas environ­
ment." Ecl ectic medicin e em ployed the use of botanical products,
somethin g Arkansans, both black and white, wer e accustomed to.
But how and where Sta nford practiced remains unknown. The
histori cal record is strangely silent on this en igmatic man until
1877 when he was first elected to the Arkansas Sena te. Stanford
represe n ted the Fourteenth District, which was comprised of Phil­
lips and Lee counties, in the Twenty-First and Twenty-Second
Genera l Assemblies. "
AnLho ny L St.a nfo rd . Cow"/esy of the Arkansas Histury Commission , LittLe Rock.
I ~ Pr o fesso r C harles Bowlus (U niversity of Arkan sas at Lillie Rock) prov ided
very useful o bituary info rmatio n o n the Reverend A, 1... Sta nford (correspon ­
d e nce o f Decembe r 2, 1983) in the Ar/wmlLS M ansion 0(" August 1883 (a
nineteent h-century bJack publicatio n).
'"The Amer ican College of Med icine in Pe nnsylva ni a a nd the Eclectic College
o f Philade lphia were chartered in 1860 after a split fr o m the Eclectic Medical
College of Pennsylvania. In 1865 the former college changed its name to th e
Philadelphia University of Medi cine and Surgery; th e rising o ppositiun (0 edt:c­
lie m edi cine from regular physi cians appears to have bee n b ehind the ch a nge
in na me. See Harold J Abrahams, Extinct Medical Schools of Nmeleel1th -Cenlury
Philadelphia. (Philad elphia, 1966), 245.
1"T he re is some reason LO be suspicio us o r (h e a u the nti city of Sranro rd's
degree. T he conege Stanro rd g raduated fro m was clo!-'ed in 1880 a fte r it was
exposed as a "diploma m ill. " Harold H . Abra h am s has subjected the college to
close scruti ny, and it appears that its dean h ad po litica l ambitio ns a nd freely
distributed medical diplomas amo ng black voters as patronagt: for the ir suppo rt .
After sut~j ec ting the records to m e ticulous rt:search , Abra hams lists the matricu­
la tes and graduates or the co ll ege at the end or his ch apte r entitled, "The Eclectic
Med ical CoJlege of Philadelphi a University of Medi cin e a nd Surgery." Stanrord
ooes lI ot ap pear a mo ng th e mat riculates in 1868·1 869 nor does he appear
am o n g th e grauuar.es in 1870. Abraha ms, howev er , is continuing to compil e his
Jist o r ma triculates and g raduates. Ab rah am s, Extinct M edua.L S clwob. 389 -4 17,
426 .
"IFay Hempstead, A Piclo rird Hi{tory of ArkamQ.$: From Ea.rliesl T imes to the Year
1890 (Sl. Louis, Mo. , ( 890), 1222-23.
171
ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"8ACK-TO-AFRICA " MOVEMENT
Curiously, Stanford's political success occurred after Recon­
struction had ended in Arkansas, and it coincided with his interest
ill the American Colonization Society's back-to-Africa move ­
ment. " In fact, Stanford appears to have used his position in the
Arkansas state senate to promote the back-to-Africa cause. He
criss-crossed va rious counti es in 1878, perhaps as a part of his
campaign for re-election, and handed out HOllse of Representa­
tives stationery to loca l black farmers. Senator Stanford probably
secured the stationery from black friends who were members of
the hou se. In any event, black farmers like Berry Coleman used
that stationary to make a pplication to the A.C.Sl'
The evidence suggests that Stanford entered the political
arena with his own peculiar agenda. He had committed himself
to the back-to-Africa cause before his election to the state senate;
and even before the first convention of the Arkansas Exodus
Colony in 1877, Stanford wrote from Helena to William Cop­
pinger, secretary-treasurer of the American Colo nization Society,
about the condition of blacks in the South and the logistics of the
movement. He reported in an elegant handwriting:
get 2/3 or even 1/2 of the value of wh at they possess, they
could not on ly pay their own passage but assist others who
are in mOre straitened circurnstancesY)
170
The colored people of the South are extremely poor. Poverty
is a word inad equ ate to describe the perilous condition of
these people. And it seems im possible for them to extricate
themselves. The white people of the South, many of them,
labor to keep money out of the hands of these poor people
in order to prevent their becoming able to leave the country.
Some of the colored people , a few, have land and stock but
it is to them almost valueless as they can get no money for
it. If there could be some plan adopted by which they could
l7Stanford's e leClion to th e senate after th e e nd o f Reconstructio n is no t as
curious as mi ght appear. As historian Tom Dillard asserLS, " . . . soo n after
Negroes ga ined the ballot, Arkansas Democra ts bega n actively seek ing black
converts. rn 1878 Phillips Co unty De mocra tic leader James C. Tap pan predicted
substantial Neg ro support for the De moc ratic Pa rty. During the 1879 session of
the legislature several while Democra ti c legisl ato rs supported (he proposed elec­
tio n of a black ho use chaplain , (he Rev. Jo hn T, Je ni fer of Little Rock." Tom
Dillard , "To the Back of the Ele pham: Racial Conflict in the Arkansas Republi­
can Party," Arkansas Historiw l Quarterly 33 (Spring 1974); 14.
1;o lncoming Corresponde nce , August 12, 1878, A.C.S. Papers.
On January 2, 1878, A. L. Stanford and C. R Hicks sailed
aboard the bark Monrovia from New York for Llbena. After tour­
ing Liberia for two months, they returned to the U nited States to
make reports to the A.C.S. Both Stanford alld Hicks endorsed
the society'S Liberia project. Hicks argued that Afnca was the
place for American blacks; it was their homeland and offered
them far more than they could hope to gain in America. He
found the citizens and immigrants in the African repub1ic to be
prosperou s and pleased with their surroundings, and he reported
that his own health had been stable th roughout theJouTlley, md,­
eating that general health conditions were good. He poillted out,
finally, that several families around Forrest City, MIll Brook,
Council Bend, and Wittsburg, Arkansas, h ad ex pressed mterest
in emigrating to Africa and th at he planned to emigrate himselPo
Sta nford complimented the A.C.S. for havtng estabhshed
what he described as the prosperous colony of LiberIa for the
dowlltrodden "Negro" race . Writing from Philadelphia on June
9, 1878, he foreswore previou s misgivings about em Igration and
professed himse lf to be a true convert to the Africall c~use. H~
now believed that Africa was the natural home of the Negro.
He cautiolled the A.C.S. , however, that a greater awakening in
the public mind was necessary beca us e those wishing to emigrate
would need ass istance. And he warned the A.C.S. about the need
to be particul ar in selecting emigrants:
Again [ do not think the colony so successfu lly planted in
Liberia ought to be burdened with great numbers, at pres­
ent, of the indolent, ignorant, and immoral class of AmerIcan
Negroes. I favor a gradua l emigration of the more enterprIs­
ing, h ard workin g, mo~al and intelligent class. If some means
could be adopted to aid this latter class as much as posslble[,]
I believe th at such a course would not on ly prove a blessmg
'\lIncoming Correspondence, November 1, 1877 , A.C.S. Papers.
wAmerican Colonizat.ion Society, SIxty-Third AmlUai Report, 1879, 12-1 3.
173
ARKA NSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"BACK-TO -AFRICA" MOVEMF:-;T
to Africa but would also be the means of inducing the form er
class to make themselves erficien t."
The Kuklus [Ku Klux Klan] has begun to talk to Negroes
out here and whip them about a week ago[;] they taken out
one C. J Thomas (Clerk of co. No, 16 Liberia Exodus Ark
Colony), After giving him two heavy blows over the head
with a pistol he got away. Dear Sir 1 hope you will do all you
can for me as I shall continue to seek an asylum from this
segnedation [segregation] ... may long live the Colonization
Society for this great favor to the anglo African,""
172
it was Stanford's intention to go back to Arkansas, comp lete
his final term in the general assembly, and then return to Africa .
On his way back to the state, he d eli vered lectures o n emigration
to Africa in principal cities, One such lecture, delivered in
Philadelphia on June 7, 1878, was entitled, "The Future of Africa
and her Present Needs."" Once back in Arkansas, Stanford ap­
pealed to the sympathy of Coppinger of the A.C.S. again 011 Jan­
uar), 16, 1879. Circumstances in the state, he wrote, were not
fav orable to emigration . Blacks in Arkansas who wanted to go to
Africa were suffering economicall y because of the drop in cotton
prices. Thu s they were less able than ever to fund their own
emigration. H e reported that only some twenty person s could
pay their fares to New York in the fall and additional fund s would
be need ed from the A.C.S. to transport the man y others who
wish ed to emigrate to Africa, Stanford co mplained that "in look­
ing over the large list of persons which the Coloni zation Societ),
in its benevolence has charitably settled in their fatherland I find
that Arkansas is not represe nted while colored people of alm ost
every other sta te [have] been benefited." Stanford pointed o ut
that Arkansas's inland position made it especially difficult for Ar­
kansas blacks, whom he considered a better class of potential im­
migrant, to parti cipate in the back-to-Africa movement. He
hoped that Arkansas blacks would receive as much help from the
A.C.S. as had blacks located near seaports."
At the same time that Stanford was appealing to the A,C.S.
for special assistance , B. K. McKeevers, a black man of North
Creek in Phillips County, wrote Coppinger about deteriorating
conditions in Arkansas, Ce rtain whi tes had become awa re of the
back-to-Africa drive and apparently hoped to put a stop to it.
McKeevers, who identified himself as a Presbyterian minister and
school teacher who hoped to go to Liberia , repo rted:
Having performed his duty as one of the two commissioners
for the L.E.A.C. and investigated conditions in Africa, and having
completed his term in the Arkansas Senate, Stanford went on the
lecture circuit to drum up finan cial support for emigration, He
wrote to Coppinger on May 18, 1879, from Savannah, Georgia,
concerning a question about which Stanford had strong feelings.
Some members of the A.C,S. were advocati ng migration to the
American West rather than to Africa, but Stanford opposed emig­
ration to any pla ce other than Liberia. He left Georgia for plan­
ned lectures in Charleston, Washington , D.C., and New York and
asked that his medical testimonials be sent along with Eucalyptu s
seeds from the Agricultural Department to be used in the treat­
ment of malaria. Stanford now wanted the A.C.S. to appoint him
as medical officer for the emigrants at the rate of seventy-five
dollars per month. After traveling thro ugh Arkansas, Tennessee,
Mississippi , Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina , and North
Carolina , "with lillie or no pecuniary benefits," Stanford was en
ro ute to New York City where he hoped to secure safe passage
to his "fatherland and to labor in hastening the glorious day,
when even Africa shall take her place among the civilizations of
the wo rld."2.' He promised to repay funds previousl y advanced to
him from fees received from th e Arkansas emigrants and others
for services rendered, But he was nearly pennil ess and requested
financial help for passage to Libe ria. Stanford 's financial status
was clearly little better than the other Arkansas emigra nts who
finally reached the North en route to Liberia in early 1880,
~ lln com ing Correspondence, June 9, l878 , A.C.S. Papers.
22A.C.S., Sixty-Third Annual Report, 12·13; incoming correspondence, January
16, 1879, A.C.S. Papers.
:l~ Incoming Correspondence, January 16, 1879 , A.C.S. Papers,
2 ~Incomi n g
2
Correspondence, Februa ry 13, 1879, A.C .S . Pape r·s.
'Incoming Correspondence , Ma y 18, 1879, June 7, J879, A.C.S . Papers.
c
175
ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"BACK-TO-AFRICA" MOVEMENT
After settlin g their crops in late 1879, the Arkansas emigrants
ar r ive d in New York City some time during the first half of 1880
ill a destitu te condition. They became known as the "Arkansas
Re fugees" beLa use o f the appalling conditions under which they
w re forced to live. T hey had spent several months in Philadel­
p h ia , wh e re th e y received aid from the Pennsylvania auxiliary of
the A mel-ica n Colonization Society in the amount of $4,000, be­
fore going on to New York to await transportation for Liberia.
T he New York Evening News in April 1880 carried the following
headlines in two of its consecutive columns: "WRETCHED REF­
U CFF.s- EMrC RA NT S FOR LIBERIA ON THE VERGE OF
ST AR VATION " ; and "WRETCHED CONDITION OF THE
AR KAN S AS REFUGEES. THE DEATH TOLL INCREAS­
IN G."" T he emigrants occupied a squalid, overcrowded apart­
nl ent at N o. lIS Thirty-Seventh Street in Denham Court. Thirty­
four men, thirty-two women, and thirty children were in need of
food; SOOIl their ranks were swelled by additional numbers. Death
began to ta ke its toll; four were buried without prayer or
gra veside sel vices; and a church relief committee had to pay for
the ir funeral expenses. Suffering from inadequate nutrition, they
were left penniless and stranded in a neighborhood described as
obj ectionable: "Black and white meet together in orgies, and dis­
gust and disturb the neighborhood.""
Confin ed to a sick bed in the study of Shiloh Presbyterian
Church, th e Reverend Henry Highland Garnet, a prominent
militant black leader, spoke briefly about the condition of the
refugees to a newspaper reporter sometime in April 1880:
law of the state, they cannot leave an employer's service while
in arrears to him. To avoid this [aJ colony wa S formed to
settle in Liberia."
174
These people came here on their own accord. They left Ar­
kansas to avoid oppression. Except that they were not held
in bondage, their condition was worse than when slavery
exist ed. Color ed men there were hired by the year. They are
paid no mom'} until the twelve months expire, meanwhile
p urchasing the necessities of life from their employers, who
ch a rge three or four times more than the market rates. In
thb way the laborers are brought into debt, and under the
Probably in response to newspaper publicity, people of all
nationalities donated clothing, baskets, and other provisions. Bak­
ers left bread and buns at the door of the De nham Court apart­
ment. Meanwhile, the A.C.S. sent out circulars about the destitute
condition of the refugees and received contributions such as that
from R. L. Fellows of New Haven, Connecticut, who sent a check
for thirty dollars for the "Arkansas Refugees" in May 1880.'"
The stage was now set. "The Movem e nt cOnies from our own
hearts; God put it there," went the credo of the 105 emigrants
from Arkansas. Fifty-six came from Helena, and the rest came
from nearby towns and rural areas in surrounding counties. The
constitution of the L.E.A.C. professed the following sentiments:
"We feel it no less a duty than a pleasure and privilege to give
the Gospel and Civilization to our fatherland. Africa must be
redeemed, and that by persons of African descent; an d there are
none so well prepared as are the American Ne groes."'o T he words
"persons of African descent" indicated a certain perspective taken
by the L.E.A.C. concerning a question raised by persons as­
sociated with the colonization movement. The L.E.A.C. cl early
believed that all persons of African desce nt were eligible to emi­
grate-a belief that stood in contrast to the cultural natIonalIsm
of Reverend Edward Wilmot Blyden, an outst a nd mg Pan-Afncan
patriot and educator in Liberia in the nineteenth century who
advocated that only "pure Negroes" should em Igrate to Llbena.
Nevertheless, Blyden addressed the "Arkansas Re fu gees" on May
16, 1880, in Reverend Garnet's Presbyterian Church . In hIS clos­
ing remarks, Blyden said: "Let me congratulate you, brethren, on
your resolution to go to the land of your father s.... T he best of
all is, God is with you. When you land in thai co untry [LlbenaJ
you will be surprised at the new feelings which will take possession
~Rrhid.
~ OC lippin g ,
~7(:tipping,
incoming correspondence, April 1880, A.C.S. Papers. incoming correspondence, entry 00. 239, A.C.S. Papers. 29Ibid.
W'Constitution of the Liberia Exodus Ark. Colony," in Annual Report of the
New York Colonization Society, 1886, (Colonization Pamphlet no. 6), 1.
177
ARKANSAS HISTORI CA L QUARTERLY
"BACK·TO·AFRICA " MOVEMENT
of you .
T here is unspeakable grandeur, in what yo u now
ignoran tly call 'th e wilds of Africa' and the 'Dar k Continenl.'"
Blyd.,n {'urther encouraged them to assist and cooperate fully
with their in d igeno us bretheren; fo r they wo uld be received with
gratitud e."
Two expeditions de parted for Liberia, one on May 22 and the
other o n M3Y 29, on the barks LibeTia and M onrovia respectively.
Som e families of "Arkansas Refugees" we re delayed in New York
for lack of funds and would make an other attempt in the fall of
1880. One hundred and thirty-six emigran ts e mbar ked in May
1880, however , under the auspices of the America n Co lonization
Society. T he "Arkansas Refugees" constituted the largest number
of the voyagers: seventy-six were twelve yea rs of age and above;
forty-nine were between eleve n and two years of age; and eleven
were only two years old . Twenty-frve were of good standing in
nin e tee n Baptist and Me thodist churches. T here were twenty­
th ree farmers, two coopers, two teachers, two ministers, one
blacksmith and one brick mason "
On Jun e 24, 1880 , according to a cable from Madeira, the
"A rka nsas Refugees" arrived in Monrov ia after a voyage of thirty­
twO days. The journey from their Arkansas homes had been a
long and perilous one, but now Brewe rsville, located on the Sl.
Paul River, became their new home. Little mOre is known of their
experiences in BrewerviJle, but Stanford lived only a few yea rs
after reaching Africa. According to an o bitu ary "Judge" Stanford
had achieved a level of success and respect in his new home.
When he died in 1883, he was serving as Jud ge of the Court of
Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas and was eulogized as a man
of "excellent ability" and possessin g certain "rare qua lities.""
The Liberian Exodus Arkansas Colony of 1877-1 880 was no
isolated incident but part of an emigratio n impulse which was
lastin g and co ntinuous. After over seventy-eight years of opera­
tio n, the A.C .S. had enabled 16,424 emigrants to settle in Liberia.
T ogethe r with 5,722 recap tured Africans who were re patriated
to Liberia, a gra nd total of 22 , 146 em igrants were in volved in the
colo nization scheme by 1895, and the movement con tinued into
th e twe ntieth century." The Arkansas e pisode began in 1877,
abated in 1882, and regain ed some of its momel1tu m in the early
twe ntieth century . The low price o f cotto n a nd the hardships of
sharecro pping provided much of the in spiration for this first
back·to·Africa crusade. When Reverend A. L. Stanford led the
105 "Arkansas Refugees" to Liberia in 1880, Brewersville became
their new frontier settlement. They established homes and farms
and built schools and churches. The Arkansas refugees, tog ether
with other refugees from the United States, introd uced th e Amer·
ican mode ls of democracy, culture, and technology to Liberia,
helping to create the modern Republic of Liberia .'·' T hey had
freed themselves of the hardship of sharecroppi ng and realized
th eir dream s of land ownership, dreams that would have reo
mained virtu ally closed to them had they remai ned in th e Arkan­
sas Delta.
176
"African Repository 56 ( 188 0): 70-73; ror bl yden 's c ultural natio nalism, set::
Hollis R. Ly nch, Edward Wilmal B lyden: Pan.Neg,·a Palrial, 1832-1912 (New York.
1967).
" African ReposiUrrj 56 (1880) : 73, 85.
" Arkansas Mar/sion , August 1883 ,
MA merican Colo nization Soc.:ie ty , Seventy.Eighth Annual Report , 1895 , 5.
~·~See How ard Lamar and Leonard T ho mpson, eds. , The Frontier in H istory:
North AlIlm("a at/,d Southern. Africa Compared (New Haven , Co nn ., 1981).