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En Route to Kansas

While many newspapers described Southern African American migrants as desperate and destitute refugees, pictorial coverage emphasized the organization and orderliness of the migration, as exemplified in this engraving showing the arrival of Exodusters in St. Louis, Missouri, during 1879.

Source: “Missouri.—Remarkable Exodus of Negroes from Louisiana and Mississippi—Incidents of the arrival, support and departure of the refugees at St. Louis. 1. Procession of refugees from the steamboat landing to the colored churches” [one of four engravings], Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, April 19, 1879—American Social History Project.

Who Built America? An Open Educational Resource has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and funding from The Ford Foundation, Digital Scholar, and the City University of New York Central Office of Library Services. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this Open Educational Resource, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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