Journey of Hope: The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkansas in the Late 1800sUniv of North Carolina Press, 2005 M10 12 - 288 pages Liberia was founded by the American Colonization Society (ACS) in the 1820s as an African refuge for free blacks and liberated American slaves. While interest in African migration waned after the Civil War, it roared back in the late nineteenth century with the rise of Jim Crow segregation and disfranchisement throughout the South. The back-to-Africa movement held great new appeal to the South's most marginalized citizens, rural African Americans. Nowhere was this interest in Liberia emigration greater than in Arkansas. More emigrants to Liberia left from Arkansas than any other state in the 1880s and 1890s. In Journey of Hope, Kenneth C. Barnes explains why so many black Arkansas sharecroppers dreamed of Africa and how their dreams of Liberia differed from the reality. This rich narrative also examines the role of poor black farmers in the creation of a black nationalist identity and the importance of the symbolism of an ancestral continent. Based on letters to the ACS and interviews of descendants of the emigrants in war-torn Liberia, this study captures the life of black sharecroppers in the late 1800s and their dreams of escaping to Africa. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 49
Page 11
... claiming to speak for 69,000 African Americans in Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and eastern Texas who wished to move to Liberia. The aspiring emigrants even proposed to send a delegation to Liberia to investigate the conditions there ...
... claiming to speak for 69,000 African Americans in Louisiana, southern Arkansas, and eastern Texas who wished to move to Liberia. The aspiring emigrants even proposed to send a delegation to Liberia to investigate the conditions there ...
Page 14
... claiming to be the lawful governor.3 Elections that followed in 1874 brought Democrats into control of both the statehouse and legislature. But the Democratic takeover did not mean the end of black political power, as in some other ...
... claiming to be the lawful governor.3 Elections that followed in 1874 brought Democrats into control of both the statehouse and legislature. But the Democratic takeover did not mean the end of black political power, as in some other ...
Page 17
... claimed to have graduated from the Eclectic Medical College, a school closed down in 1880 for selling and giving away diplomas.7 In the early 1870s, Stanford worked at the AME Church headquarters in Philadelphia, managing the ...
... claimed to have graduated from the Eclectic Medical College, a school closed down in 1880 for selling and giving away diplomas.7 In the early 1870s, Stanford worked at the AME Church headquarters in Philadelphia, managing the ...
Page 19
... , near Little Rock, claimed that a hundred people were ready to go immediately, and 5,000 more would emigrate if the ACS would provide some assistance. The state's leading newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette, reported that 1,600 ...
... , near Little Rock, claimed that a hundred people were ready to go immediately, and 5,000 more would emigrate if the ACS would provide some assistance. The state's leading newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette, reported that 1,600 ...
Page 20
... claimed they had organized their military companies to protect against threats “made boldly by negroes against the whites” who live “in daily peril of their lives.” In an even less believable claim, Democrats said that their rifle clubs ...
... claimed they had organized their military companies to protect against threats “made boldly by negroes against the whites” who live “in daily peril of their lives.” In an even less believable claim, Democrats said that their rifle clubs ...
Contents
1 | |
13 | |
The 1880s | 33 |
Liberia Fever 18881891 | 49 |
The Crisis of 1892 | 75 |
Five Troublemakers | 91 |
Six Missions | 107 |
Seven The Meaning of Africa | 123 |
Eight The Last Voyages | 135 |
Nine In Liberia | 149 |
Conclusion | 177 |
Notes | 195 |
Bibliography | 245 |
Index | 259 |
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Common terms and phrases
ACS reel African African Americans agent American Annual appeared applicants Arkansas arrived asked August Baptist became Bishop black Americans brought called Christian Church citizens City civilization claimed club Colonization color Conway Coppinger correspondence County December Democrats discussion early election emigration Exodus farmers February Gazette Henry hope immigrants interest interview James January John July June kansas labor land late later leaders leave letters Liberia Little Rock lived lynchings March meeting migration missionary Missions Monrovia months moved movement Negro newspaper North November October Office organized party Phillips political population president Printing race received Recorder refugees reported Republican returned Ridgel September settlers ship Smith Society South southern Stanford tion took town traveled Turner United University Press Voice vote wanted Washington women wrote York
Popular passages
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