 Beginning in the 1870s thousands of African Americans moved west to escape

discrimination and to find new opportunities.

Why did many What were some Who were the

black southerners achievements of Buffalo soldiers,
move west in the black cowhands in and for what were
1870s and 1880s? the Old West? they known?

AFRICAN AMERICANS MOVE WEST

 The Move West
“The whole South—every single state in the South—had got into
the hands of the very men that held us as slaves . . . We said
there was no hope for us and we better go.”

The Exodusters Reasons for Move

• 1879 more than 15,000
black southerners
headed to Kansas
• Led by a former slave
named Benjamin
“Pap” Singleton; mass
migration was known as
the Exodus of 1879
• Those who took part in
the exodus called
Exodusters
• Singleton believed
blacks in the South
would eventually gain
freedom and equality
• Was convinced it would
not occur during his
lifetime; determined to
find a place where he
could enjoy his life
• “Well, my people, for the
want of land—we
needed land for our
children…”
 Black Communities in the West
 African Americans created their own communities in Kansas
 Singleton responsible for two settlements before the exodus; people who moved to the Singleton
colonies had little money and few possessions
 First colony failed, after rich deposits of lead were discovered in the area and real estate prices
skyrocketed
 Second colony most people able to find work; community thrived
 Several more African American communities established with arrival of Exodusters; about 20 black
towns founded in the 1870s and 1880s
 Largest and most successful—Nicodemus, Kansas; founded in 1877 by six black and two white
settlers; had 500 people by 1880
 Crop failures and hostility from nearby towns took toll; by 1910 only 200 people in what was the
only all-black town in Kansas
Blacks in the Old West
• Historians estimate black cowboys represented 25%
of this country’s cowhands around the turn of the
century
• Most of the Old West’s black cowboys remain
nameless; they lived undocumented solitary lives
• Information about a few has survived

Nat Love
• One of best-known black cowboys of 1880s; born
a slave in Tennessee in 1854, ventured west in
1869
• Love taught himself to ride wild horses and shoot
with deadly accuracy; earned a reputation as the
champion rider in the West
Bill Pickett
• Inventor of the modern rodeo sport of steer
wrestling
• Born in southern Texas around 1870; most famous
for subduing bulls using a trick he learned by
watching herd dogs
• To stop an angry bull, Pickett would sink his teeth
into the animal’s tender upper lip

Black Women in the West

• Mary Fields ran stagecoach line through Montana
Territory; for more than eight years Fields
responsible for getting the mail through the Montana
wilderness
• Artist Leonora Russell was another noted black
westerner
In small groups, you will analyze several documents and record your information in the
provided graphic organizer. Your graphic organizer will explain:

What evidence is there When was the document

that this information is written? Who wrote it?
reliable? What was its purpose?

How can this document

Explain the author’s point
help you answer the focus
of view.
question?

Focus Question: For African Americans, what were the costs and benefits of their
“Exodus” to the West after the Civil War?
 Buffalo Soldiers
Fighting in the West
• Based in Kansas, Montana, and Utah, the buffalo soldiers
served mostly in the West
• Escorted stagecoaches and trains and hunted down cattle
rustlers; main job to protect settlers from hostile Native
Americans and bandits
• Name buffalo soldiers given to the troops by Native
Americans

Widely Respected
• Courageous in battle and had strict discipline; between
1870 and 1890, 19 members honored with the Medal of
Honor
• Soldiers were well behaved; drunken behavior seldom seen
in their ranks
• Few members of the buffalo soldiers ever deserted or
committed crimes
• Spanish-American War of 1898 started • War lasted just over twelve weeks
in Cuba, a Spanish colony with
• Five black soldiers received Medals
American business investments
of Honor for their service
• Major Cause: 1898 U.S. battleship
• Despite continuing prejudice and
Maine sunk in Havana Harbor; 22 black
discrimination, these soldiers won the
sailors among the 260 men who lost
admiration of many of their white
their lives; harsh response from the U.S
counterparts
• Assumed Spain responsible for the
• Said one, “I’ve changed my opinion
explosion; Congress quickly passed
of the colored folks, for of all the men
declaration of war
I saw fighting, there were none to
• Buffalo soldiers among the first army beat the Tenth Cavalry, and the
regiments sent to Cuba to fight colored infantry at Santiago, and I
don’t mind saying so.”

The Spanish-American War

READ THE HANDOUT ON BUFFALO SOLDIERS AND ANSWER
THE GUIDED QUESTIONS.

THEN PULL UP THE SONG “BUFFALO SOLDIERS” BY BOB

MARLEY AND LISTEN TO IT AND COMPLETE THE GUIDED
QUESTIONS.

BUFFALO SOLDIERS ACTIVITY