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 34
Page 5
... wanted Liberia to absorb the free blacks of the South, antislavery forces largely turned against the society. William Lloyd Garrison led the charge, decrying African colonization as a plot to continue the slave system in America ...
... wanted Liberia to absorb the free blacks of the South, antislavery forces largely turned against the society. William Lloyd Garrison led the charge, decrying African colonization as a plot to continue the slave system in America ...
Page 21
... wanted to break ranks with Republican leaders and vote Democratic.19 Under such pressure, the county's Republican organization, led by black county sheriff H. B. Robinson, offered to divide local offices in a fusion arrangement, with ...
... wanted to break ranks with Republican leaders and vote Democratic.19 Under such pressure, the county's Republican organization, led by black county sheriff H. B. Robinson, offered to divide local offices in a fusion arrangement, with ...
Page 22
... wanted to know if emigrants could pay off their passage to the ACS over ten years after emigration or if the ACS would take their personal property in exchange.28 With the need for hard cash, those wanting to emigrate competed with each ...
... wanted to know if emigrants could pay off their passage to the ACS over ten years after emigration or if the ACS would take their personal property in exchange.28 With the need for hard cash, those wanting to emigrate competed with each ...
Page 25
... wanted to leave, Africa, not Kansas, seems to have captured the dreams of African Americans in eastern Arkansas. G. A. Walker, the pastor of Mt. Zion Church in Poplar Grove, spoke for many when he said: “I think that it would be a good ...
... wanted to leave, Africa, not Kansas, seems to have captured the dreams of African Americans in eastern Arkansas. G. A. Walker, the pastor of Mt. Zion Church in Poplar Grove, spoke for many when he said: “I think that it would be a good ...
Page 29
... wanted to discourage a black migration movement that would exacerbate an existing shortage of agricultural labor. As the refugees' stay dragged on, however, some New Yorkers began to raise similar questions. Many of the Arkansas ...
... wanted to discourage a black migration movement that would exacerbate an existing shortage of agricultural labor. As the refugees' stay dragged on, however, some New Yorkers began to raise similar questions. Many of the Arkansas ...
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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