NAME DATE Geography and History Activity
CLASS netw rks
The Reconstruction Era
Lesson 4 The Post-Reconstruction Era
Understanding Movement: The Exodusters
Like the Israelites in the biblical book of Exodus, they were
going on a great journey to escape oppression and start a
new life in a promised land. They were African Americans
fleeing the South and heading for Kansas. They called
themselves Exodusters.
Today, historians and geographers also call them migrants
because they were part of a migration, or large movement
of people from one place to another. The migration of the
Exodusters was the first major movement North by formerly
enslaved people.
Whenever people migrate, geographers look for the reasons
for the movement. Some refer to a “push-pull” model. In
other words, they look for the reasons people were “pushed
out of” the region they left and the reasons they were “pulled
to” the place they moved.
This push-pull model is easy to apply to the Exodusters. As
African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South, they were
cruelly persecuted in countless ways. They were exploited
economically, regularly humiliated, and faced violence,
including lynching.
Exodusters journeyed from all over the South. They migrated
to St. Louis, and then to Kansas City, and then into Kansas.
The journey was long and sometimes dangerous, but, buoyed
by faith, as many as 50,000 people made it.
Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies.
But why were they pulled to Kansas? Kansas held a special
place in the hearts of African Americans because it was where
the fiery abolitionist John Brown had fought to ensure that the
state remained free. Moreover, rumors circulated that there
was free land in Kansas for all who had the faith to make the
journey.
NAME DATE CLASS Geography and History Activity Cont.
netw rks
The Reconstruction Era
For many Exodusters, Kansas was a disappointment. There
was no free land. They often did not have the knowledge or
equipment to farm the Plains. Many returned to the South,
but others could never face that life again. One Exoduster
told of the moment he reached Kansas:
“When I landed on the soil, I looked on the ground
and I [said] this is free ground. Then I looked on the
heavens, and I [said] them is free and beautiful
heavens. Then I looked within my heart, and I [said]
to myself I wonder why I never was free before? I
asked my wife does she know the grounds we stand
on. She said, ‘No!’ I said it is free ground and she
cried like a child for joy.”
Kansas City
Kansas
New
Mexico
Terr.
Indian
Terr.
Ill.
M iss o u ri R
.
St. Louis
Mo.
Ark.
Ind.
Ohio
R.
Iowa
Oh
io
Penn.
W.
Va.
Ky.
Miss.
Va.
S.C.
Ga.
N
Ala.
Fla.
0
E
W
La
Texas
Md. Del.
N.C.
Tenn.
.
Col.
Neb.
M i s s i s si p p i R
Wyo. Terr.
S
400 miles
Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies.
0
400 km
Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection
NAME DATE Geography and History Activity Cont.
CLASS netw rks
The Reconstruction Era
Directions Answer the following questions.
Understanding the Concept
1. Defining What is a migration?
2. Specifying How does the “push-pull” model of migration
apply to the Exodusters?
3. Measuring About how far was a typical Exoduster’s
journey to Kansas?
Applying the Concept
4. Inferring What can you infer from your answer to
question 3?
Copyright by The McGraw-Hill Companies.