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. |
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Page
... population percentage in Arkansas counties, 1890 Arkansas post offices from which letters were sent to the ACS, 1891 Liberia, 1895 Figures Number of letters from Arkansas to the ACS, 1888–1892 Number of Arkansas applicants to the ACS ...
... population percentage in Arkansas counties, 1890 Arkansas post offices from which letters were sent to the ACS, 1891 Liberia, 1895 Figures Number of letters from Arkansas to the ACS, 1888–1892 Number of Arkansas applicants to the ACS ...
Page 2
... population was smaller than that of any of its southern neighbors.3 And for each one of the approximately 600 who left Arkansas for Africa, hundreds more applied unsuccessfully to go. To understand the back-to-Africa movement in the ...
... population was smaller than that of any of its southern neighbors.3 And for each one of the approximately 600 who left Arkansas for Africa, hundreds more applied unsuccessfully to go. To understand the back-to-Africa movement in the ...
Page 3
... population clustering in southern towns. Some whites thought the very existence of a free black community undermined the slavery system and inspired slaves to revolt. In 1816, the Virginia legislature, dominated by slave owners, asked ...
... population clustering in southern towns. Some whites thought the very existence of a free black community undermined the slavery system and inspired slaves to revolt. In 1816, the Virginia legislature, dominated by slave owners, asked ...
Page 10
... populations.17 Thus, African Americans virtually lost voting rights in the areas where their numbers threatened white control. African Americans understood the meaning of the president's retreat from Reconstruction. In the same areas ...
... populations.17 Thus, African Americans virtually lost voting rights in the areas where their numbers threatened white control. African Americans understood the meaning of the president's retreat from Reconstruction. In the same areas ...
Page 12
... population, one can only wonder what slaves may have thought or said about Liberia in the years before freedom. After Reconstruction's end in 1877, most prominent black leaders continued to oppose African migration, but for ordinary ...
... population, one can only wonder what slaves may have thought or said about Liberia in the years before freedom. After Reconstruction's end in 1877, most prominent black leaders continued to oppose African migration, but for ordinary ...
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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