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Historical Context:
Historical Context:
The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act
Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law on May 20, 1862. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided that any adult citizen (or person intending to become a citizen) could file an application with the government. If accepted, the person would receive 160 acres of government land.
The homesteader had to live on the land for five years, build a home, and grow crops. After five years, the homesteader could own the land by submitting proof of living there and making improvements to the land. The Homestead Act led to the distribution of 80 million acres of public land by 1900.
The physical conditions on the frontier presented a huge challenge for the homesteaders. Crops were threatened or destroyed by wind, winter, or insects. The Great plains presented a challenge when building a home because there were few trees. Limited fuel and water mad daily life difficult. The dry plains made it difficult to raise crops. As a result, many homesteaders did not stay on the land long enough to receive the deed.
The Homestead Act was attractive to many people from within or outside of the country. The goal was to get immigrants and poor urban Americans out into the countryside to expand the country. However, most settlers were farmers and their families because they had knowledge for how to start a farm. Exodusters or African Americans who wanted to get out of the Jim Crow south took advantage of the act.
The second goal was to connect the west to the north politically and economically. Southern states had regularly voted against the Homestead Act because they believed it would add new states filled with small farmers against who were against slavery. After the South seceded, the Homestead Act was able to be passed.
A photograph of settlers in front of their sod house. Without trees or stone to build with, homesteaders had to rely on the only available building material---prairie sod. Sod is the top layer of dirt that includes grass, roots, and dirt on the roots.
Daniel Freeman, photographed with his gun and hatchet was the first homesteader. He settled in Beatrice, Nebraska in 1863.
Owen Sound January 24th 1861Dear SirWould you be so kind as to give me some information respecting: (The Homestead bill) which Passed the house of Representatives.1 And whether you think it is likely to become a law. if so what will be the terms of settlement. I understand from one of our Canada Papers that it is to be a free grant of 160 Acres of the unappropriated public lands to any one becoming an Actual settler. if it is so would you Then be so kind as to send or cause to be sent a list of the lands that are to be disposed of as I fully intend with my family to remove some where in the United States or Territories and their to make our homeBut before I remove my Family I think it advisable to make a visit to the U. S myself to look out a place for settlementI should be Thankful for and Answer to this as soon as possible as I expect some persons of good standing and Industrious would come with me instead of stopping in Canada. And if your Government thought it right I will go to England in the early part of Summer after taking a tower through the States so that I can give a good Description of the Country. I am convinced that a great Number would come to this country after hearing of the privileges and Advantages offered them by some one the have confidence in had I given encouragement a great many would have come to Canady but I see but little to induce them to come to Canada.with regard to the Above proposition of going to England I can assure you I am not influenced by selfish motives any further than for the Good of the people and also the Country that send meAny further information you may require I will gladly answerI remain your Humble ServantJohn SluggettMy Address isJohn Sluggett Owen SoundCounty of GrayC. WYou will ever find in me a friend to truth and Liberty
A family of exodusters outside of their home.
Benjamin Singleton, the “Father of the Exodus”, created a settlement in Kansas for freed slaves.
Exodusters
Exodusters
After the Civil War, federal soldiers were placed in the South to help transition newly freed slaves. When those soldiers left in 1877, racial oppression began again in the South through groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Many African Americans looked to the West as a place of true freedom.
Benjamin “Pap” Singleton was a former slave who had escaped multiple times. His mission was to help improve the lives of fellow African Americans. This led him to begin a settlement in Morris County, Kansas. Singleton advertised his community across the south.
Those who did move west were called Exodusters. This term comes from the word “exodus” meaning a large migration of people usually from a place of oppression to a place of freedom. By 1879, 50,000 African Americans had moved from the South to Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois.
Other authors also have maintained that there was little prejudice among cowboys because ranch and trail crews stuck together. And, certainly, it was often the case that blacks and whites worked together in the western cattle industry. White cowboys would often defend their black co-workers from other whites who tried to start trouble.
Cowboys on the Frontier
Cowboys on the Frontier
Between approximately 8,000 to 9,000 black cowhands in the late 19th-century American west.
The conditions black cowboys experienced on western ranches and cattle drives were – from economic and social standpoints – much better than those of blacks in the South. Authors of the book The Negro Cowboys (Durham and Jones) wrote that "[d]uring the halcyon days of the cattle range, Negroes there frequently enjoyed greater opportunities for a dignified life than anywhere else in the United States.... The skilled and handy Negro probably had a more enjoyable, if a rougher, existence as a cowhand than he would have had as a sharecropper or laborer in the South." Certainly, however, racial discrimination occurred on the cattle frontier. Blacks could not stay in white hotels, eat in white restaurants, or patronize white prostitutes. Blacks were almost required to avoid trouble with whites because prejudice might lead to more violent confrontations than would be the case if race were not a factor. Moreover, blacks were rarely promoted to the exalted position of trail boss.
Nevertheless, wages for blacks and whites were generally equal, the two groups of cowhands shared bunkhouses, and they worked and ate side-by-side.
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