Pap Singleton and the Migration West

Tens of thousands of African Americans migrated to the west during the 1870s. Students will explore what motivated men and women to leave behind the familiar surrounds of the South to head west into unsettled territory and the risks they took in settling new territory.

Weblink address (URL):

Home Page- source

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives:

In the course of the lesson, students will:

identify African American involvement in the migration west
analyze documents and images
draw inferences about the motivations of African American Exodusters
draw inferences about the risks that African American migrators faced
write an essay that demonstrates knowledge of motivations and risks of African American migrators
Explain the impact of the efforts of Pap Singleton

Essential and guiding questions:

What motivated African American men and women to movewest?
What risks did they face?
How did the experiences of African Americans migrators differ from those who stayed in the South?

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level:

Understanding

Helpful Hints

Materials Needed:

Copies of, or computer access to, the following primary sources:
- “Making a Desert and Calling It Peace” The Atlanta Daily Sun (Atlanta, Georgia), Wednesday, February 07, 1872; Issue 534.
- "GEORGIA has a ten dollar poll tax; yet the newspapers, cannot account for the steady exodus of colored laborers from that State." Georgia Weekly Telegraph and Georgia Journal & Messenger [Macon, Georgia] 10 Feb. 1874: n.p. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. Web. 23 July 2015.
- Chapter 130, Acts of Tennessee, 1875
- “The Negro Hegira” Memphis Daily Appeal, April 30, 1879 (Found in column6)
Access to TSLA’s online exhibit “This Honorable Body” African-American Legislators in 19th Century Tennessee featuring the article, Jim Crow and the Disfranchisement of Southern Blacks