Exodusters

By Nell Irvin Painter,

Book cover of Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction

Book description

The first major migration to the North of ex-slaves.

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Why read it?

1 author picked Exodusters as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I’m a native Kansan. I have a special appreciation for books about my beloved state. So, finding this superb work about African Americans moved me to tears. Painter writes about the great migration from the South after the Civil War. Kansas was literally regarded as “The Promised Land” due to the Homestead Act and the promise of free land. Painter is unflinching in her telling of the violence that occurred to prevent black people from leaving. The Exodus to Kansas was feverish and dangerous. She tells of heroics required to leave the South, due to black people's “fear of future…

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