There is a difference between 'independence' and 'freedom'.
Freedom is a tremendously vague word unless it is made clear what you are seeking freedom from, or alternatively, what you a seeking to do, (which rarely occurs when discussing Black people and Freedom.)
Independence is the ability to stand on one's own. While it has varying degrees, it is the opposite of dependence. It is self-determination, self governance and autonomy. We've heard of Harriet Tubman, but we've never heard of Benjamin Pap Singleton. Maybe this is why; Benjamin Singleton sought 'independence' for black people.
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton (1809–1900) was an
American activist and businessman best known for his role in establishing African
American settlements in Kansas.
In 1846 Singleton managed to escape from slavery
to freedom. Singleton made his way north along the Underground Railroad to Windsor,
Ontario, and remained there a year before relocating to Detroit, Michigan. In
Detroit he lived collecting discarded items and used what resources he could to
help other escaped slaves find their way to freedom in Canada. Singleton
remained in Detroit until after the Civil War had been underway. During this
time, he worked as a carpenter.
After the Union Army occupied Middle
Tennessee in 1862, Singleton returned and took up residence in Nashville, Tennessee, and worked as a
cabinetmaker and coffin maker.[1] The
experiences of freedmen subject to racial violence and political problems led
Singleton to conclude that blacks would have no chance for equality in the
South. Disgusted by political leaders who failed to deliver on promises of
equality for freedmen, in 1869 Singleton joined forces with Columbus M.
Johnson, a black minister in Sumner County, and began looking for ways
to establish black economic independence. They began by organizing an
effort to buy up farmland for black people in the Nashville area. They founded
the Edgefield Real Estate Association. However, this plan ran into
obstacles because white landowners, who were willing to bargain, refused
to sell at fair prices.
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Benjamin "Pap" Singleton (third from left). |
Convinced that freedmen
must leave the South to achieve true economic
independence, in 1875 Singleton began to explore the idea of planting black communities
in the American West. His real estate organization was
renamed the Edgefield Real Estate and Homestead Association. In 1876 Singleton
and Johnson traveled to Kansas to scout land in Cherokee County in the southeastern
corner of the state. Heartened by what he saw, Singleton returned to Nashville
and began recruiting settlers for a proposed settlement community for black
people.

Upon their return to Nashville, Singleton and Johnson
created leaflets and handouts proclaiming the quality of life in Kansas and the
purported benefits of predominately living with members of one’s own race.
Singleton used the Edgefield Real Estate Association to drum up interest in
migration to Kansas, holding revival-style information and promotion meetings
for his agricultural colonies on July 31 and August 1, 1877 in Nashville.
Singleton then led his first company of colonists to Baxter Springs in Cherokee
County, Kansas, in 1877, and the following year conveyed an even larger group
from Nashville to Dunlop County, Kansas. It should be noted, however, that
Singleton’s new communities were not the first post-Reconstruction African
American settlements in Kansas. Migrants from Kentucky settled Nicodemus,
Kansas, just a few months before families arrived in Baxter Springs.
Pioneering settlers at Nicodemus, Baxter Springs, and Dunlop
were just the first wave of African American migrants to flee the
post-Reconstruction South. A more desperate and economically disadvantaged
group, collectively known as “Exodusters,” followed the relatively wealthy
Singleton settlers into Kansas.
Unlike Singleton’s carefully planned and executed
migrations, the Exodusters were a more spontaneous migratory movement of former
slaves seeking both a better life and an escape from the resurgent anti-black
terror in the former Confederacy. Singleton had mixed feelings about the
Exodusters. He undoubtedly felt sympathy for their poverty and empathy for
their desire to leave the South, but they posed a threat to his communities’
success. Singleton envisioned his communities as places of racial solidarity,
strength and peace, but even so, the farm colonies operated on thin margins and
would not be able to accommodate large numbers of additional, unplanned
immigrants.
In 1880 Singleton was requested to appear before the United States Senate in Washington, D.C.,
to testify on the causes of the Great Exodus to Kansas. Singleton rebuffed the
efforts of southern Senators to discredit the Exodus Movement. He testified to
his own success in setting up independent black colonies and noted the terrible
conditions which caused freedmen to leave the South. An excerpt of his
testimony before the Senate Select Committee Investigating the "Negro
Exodus from the Southern States" can be found here: https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/exodusters-african-american-migration-to-the-great-plains/sources/1673 and, https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/seven/w67singl.htm
Q. When did you change your home from Tennessee to
Kansas?
A. I have been going there for the last six or seven years, sir.
A. I have been going there for the last six or seven years, sir.
Q. Going between Tennessee and Kansas, at different
times?
A. Yes, sir; several times.
A. Yes, sir; several times.
Q. Well, tell us about it?
A. I have been fetching out people; I believe I fetched out 7,432 people.
A. I have been fetching out people; I believe I fetched out 7,432 people.
Q. You have brought out 7,432 people from the South to
Kansas?
A. Yes, sir; brought and sent.
A. Yes, sir; brought and sent.
Q. That is, they came out to Kansas under your influence?
A. Yes, sir; I was the cause of it.
A. Yes, sir; I was the cause of it.
Q. How long have you been doing that -- ever since 1869?
A. Yes, sir; ever since 1869.
A. Yes, sir; ever since 1869.
~
Q. Tell us how these people are getting on in Kansas?
A. I am glad to tell you, sir….These men would tell all their grievances to me in Tennessee -- the sorrows of their heart. You know I was an undertaker there in Nashville, and worked in the shop. Well, actually, I would have to go and bury their fathers and mothers. You see we have the same heart and feelings as any other race and nation. (The land is free, and it is nobody's business, if there is land enough, where the people go. I put that in my people's heads...)
A. I am glad to tell you, sir….These men would tell all their grievances to me in Tennessee -- the sorrows of their heart. You know I was an undertaker there in Nashville, and worked in the shop. Well, actually, I would have to go and bury their fathers and mothers. You see we have the same heart and feelings as any other race and nation. (The land is free, and it is nobody's business, if there is land enough, where the people go. I put that in my people's heads...)
With his communities established, Singleton moved into Topeka,
Kansas,. In 1881, Benjamin Singleton was 72 years old, and most people
referred to him affectionately as "old Pap." He was still a
formidable figure and used his reputation to bring together blacks into an
organization called the Colored United Links (CUL). The goal of the
CUL was to combine the financial resources of all black people to build
black-owned businesses, factories, and trade schools. The CUL formed in 1881
and held several conventions. The organization was successful enough locally
that Republican Party officials in
Kansas became interested in its potential political strength. After 1881, CUL
membership faltered, however, and the organization soon fell apart. After
the CUL, Singleton became convinced that blacks would never be allowed to succeed
in the United States. Singleton first promoted Joseph Ware’s plan to send
African Americans to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. When that plan
stalled, Singleton set up his own Trans-Atlantic Society, founded the
United Transatlantic Society (UTS) with the goal of having black people
relocate from the United States to Africa. The UTS lasted until 1887. In poor
health, Singleton retired from his life of activism. He raised his voice one
final time in 1889 to call for a portion of the newly opening Oklahoma Territory to be reserved as an
all-black state.
Benjamin “Pap” Singleton lived out his final days in
Kansas City, enjoying a lingering reputation as the “Father of the Black
Exodus.”
Q. You take all that responsibility on yourself?
A. I do, and I can prove it; and I think I have done a good deal of good, and I feel relieved!
A. I do, and I can prove it; and I think I have done a good deal of good, and I feel relieved!
Q. You are proud of your work?
A. Yes, sir; I am! (Uttered emphatically.)
A. Yes, sir; I am! (Uttered emphatically.)
"Land is the basis of all independence. Land is
the basis of freedom, justice, and equality." ~Malcolm X
1 comment:
What a fascinating man, life and story. Ben Singleton's journey is worthy of cinematographic consideration.
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