Historical Romance of the American Negro

by Charles Henry Fowler

"TOPEKA, KANSAS, April 9th.

"During the last few days I have in obedience to your request been taking notice of the exodus as it may be studied here at the headquarters for relief among the refugees in Kansas. This is the third visit your correspondent has made to the 'promised land' of the dusky hosts, who fleeing from persecution and wrongs, have swarmed within its borders to the number of 25,000. In a letter written here in December last the number then within the State was estimated about 15,000, and since that date at least 12,000 more have come. In the 'barracks' to-day I found what seemed to be the same one hundred who crowded about the stove that cold December day; but they were not the same of course, but their places have been filled many times since with other hundreds, who have found their first welcome to Kansas in the rest, food and warmth, which the charity of the North has provided here. So efficient have the plan of relief and the machinery of distribution been made, that of the thousands who have passed through here, none have remained as a burden of expense to the Association more than four or five days before places were found where their own labor could furnish them support. 'If that pure statesman of Indiana, (Mr. Voorhees) whose great heart was so filled with solicitude for the welfare of his colored brethren, that he asked Congress to appropriate thousands of dollars to ascertain why they moved from one State to another will come here,—he will be rewarded with such a flood of light on the question as could never penetrate the recesses of his committee-room in Washington. He need hardly propound an inquiry; he had, indeed, best not let his great presence be known,—for in the presence of 'Democracy' the negro has learned to keep silence. But in search of the truth, let him go to the file of over 3,000 letters in the Governor's office from negroes in the South, and read in them the homely but truthful tales of suffering, oppression and wrongs. Let him note how real is their complaint, but how modest the boon they ask; for, in different words,—sometimes in quaint and often in awkward phrases, the questions are always the same,—'Can we be free? Can we have work? And can we have our rights in Kansas?' Let him go next to the 'barracks,' and watch the tired, ragged, hungry, scared-looking negroes as they come by the dozens on every train. If he is not prompted by shame, then from caution necessary to the success of his errand, let him here conceal the fact that he is a 'Democrat;' for these half-famished and terrified negroes have been fleeing from Democrats in the South, and in their ignorance they may not be able to comprehend the nice distinction between a northern and a southern Democrat. If he will be content simply to listen as they talk among themselves, he will soon learn much that the laborious cross-examination of witnesses has failed to teach him. He may take note of the fact that fleeing from robbery, oppression and murder, they come only with the plea for work and justice while they work. He may see reason to criticise what has generally been deemed by Southern Democrats, at least, unreasonable folly in a negro which prompts husband and wife to go only where they can go together; but he will find nothing to cause him to doubt the sincerity and good faith with which the negro grapples with the problem of his new life here. If he would learn more of this strength of resolution, and the patience which they have brought to search for a home in a free land, let him inquire concerning the lives of those refugees in Kansas. It may seem of significance, and worthy of approving note to him, that as laborers they have been faithful and industrious; that in no single case have they come back asking aid of the relief association, nor become burdens in any way upon corporate or public charities; that as citizens they are sober and law-abiding to such a degree that he would hardly be able to discover a single case of crime among them; and, finally, that in those instances where they were able to purchase a little land and stock, they have made as good progress towards the acquirement of homes and property, as have the average, poor, white, immigrant to the State. He will first learn then, from the refugees themselves, something of the desperate nature of the causes that drove them from the South; and secondly, from their lives here, with what thrift, patience and determination they have met the difficulties which they have encountered in their efforts to gain a foothold, and as men among men in the land of equal rights.

"From the Hon. William Reynolds, president of the Auxiliary Relief Association, at Parsons, I learn that the negroes who have come into the southern part of the State, mostly from Texas, are all either settled on small tracts of land, or employed as laborers at from $8 to $10 per month, and are all doing well. Mr. Reynolds' testimony to this effect was positive and unqualified. To assist these refugees in Southern Kansas,—over 3,000 in all,—only $575 has been expended.

"From Judge R. W. Dawson (who was the secretary of the association under the old management, and during the early months of the movement one year ago, when 6,000 refugees were distributed throughout the State and provided with homes at a cost of $5,000) I learned much of interest concerning the welfare and progress of this advance guard of the great exodus. Judge Dawson, although not now connected with the relief work, feels, of course, a great interest in the welfare of those to whose assistance he contributed much, and loses no opportunity for observation of their condition while traveling over the State. He says he knows of no case where one has come back to the Association for aid; and that as laborers and citizens their conduct has been such as to win the approval of all classes. Four colonies have been established. State lands were bought by the Association, and given to the colonies with the understanding that to secure their title they must make the second and third payments on the land purchased on the one-third cash and two-thirds time payment plan. Two of the newest of these colonies are still receiving aid from the Association, but the others are self-sustaining, and will be able, it is thought, to make small purchase payments on the land as they become due.

"If our inquiring statesman is interested in observing in what spirit these refugees receive the aid which has made existence possible during the cold weather months, he may be profited by spending a few days about the city of Topeka. There are in Topeka alone over 3,000 refugees, and nearly all of them (paupers when they come) have found means in some way to make a living. In many cases it is a precarious subsistence that is gained, and in not a few cases among late arrivals he would find evidence of want and destitution; but compared with this, he cannot but be struck with the small number of applicants to the Relief Association for aid. Only 213 rations were issued outside the barracks last week to the 3,000 refugees who came here only a few months since without money, and frequently without clothing, to undertake what seemed, under the circumstances, the desperate purpose of making a living.

"The dangers and difficulties which beset the refugees' departure from a land, where even the right to emigrate is denied him, are great. He may learn, that is, Mr. Voorhees, however, from copies of letters over 1,000 in the Governor's office, that Governor St. John has never, in reply to their appeals, failed to warn them of the difficulties that would beset their way here, and has never extended them promise of other assistance than that implied in the equal rights which are guaranteed to every citizen of Kansas. Further than this, however surprising it may be to Mr. Voorhees' theory of the causes of the exodus, it is nevertheless a fact that this very Association, which is charged with encouraging the exodus, has sent the Rev. W. O. Lynch, a colored man, to the South to warn the colored people that they must not come here expecting to be fed, or to find homes ready, and to do all in his power to dissuade them from coming at all. Still, they come, and why they come the country had determined long in advance of Mr. Voorhees' report.

"While we have Mr. Voorhees here, we would like to have him glance at a State document to be found upon Governor St. John's table, which bears the great seal and signature of Governor O. M. Roberts, of the State of Texas. It is a requisition by the Governor of Texas upon the Governor of Kansas for the body of one Peter Womack, a colored man, who was indicted by the Grand Jury of Grimes county, at the last November term, for the felony of fraudulently disposing of ten bushels of corn. From further particulars we learn that this Peter Womack gave a mortgage early in the spring of 1879 upon his crop just planted, to cover a debt of twenty dollars due the firm of Wilson & Howell. When Womack came to gather his crop, he yields to the importunities of another white creditor ten bushels of corn to be applied upon the debt. About this time this Peter Womack becomes influential in inducing a number of his colored neighbors in Grimes county to emigrate to Kansas. Undeterred by threats, and despite the bulldozing methods employed to cause him to remain a 'citizen' of Texas, Womack, with others, sick of a condition of 'citizenship' which is nothing less than hopeless peonage, leaves stock and crop behind to seek a home in Kansas. His acts inciting the movement of those black serfs are not forgotten, however, by the white chivalry of Grimes county. The evidence of this surrender on a debt of ten bushels of corn, mortgaged for another debt, is hunted up, presented to the Grand Jury of Grimes county, he is promptly indicted for a felony, and the great State of Texas rises in her majesty and demands a surrender of his body! The demand is in accordance with law, undoubtedly—Texas law—but if Texas would occasionally punish one of the white murderers who do not think it necessary to leave her borders, this pursuit of a Negro for selling ten bushels of corn from a mortgaged crop would seem a more imposing exhibition of the power of the commonwealth to enforce its laws."

The above extracts from the Chicago Inter-Ocean of the 15th of April, 1880, were clearly written by a humane and Christian gentleman, whose sole aim was to tell the truth.

WM. LLOYD GARRISON.