Course Overview: Courses 1 and 2 will use local examples from across the country to examine the communities established by migrating Black families that helped to shape many present-day neighborhoods and cities. Expansionist US policies enacted during the American Civil War such as the Railroad and Homestead Acts of 1862 coincided following the war, with the paths of Black migration from east and south to the west during the long Reconstruction (1865-1900). The experiences of the 1879 Exodusters to Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio, draw particular attention to the need to escape the increasingly violent and repressive conditions of Jim Crow south if these men, women and children are to realize a fullness of emancipation and citizenship.

Public historian and ACWM education manager, Ana Edwards, takes you on a journey through this remarkable social and political history of human geography in 19th century U.S.A.

June 15 – “We got to go” — In the immediate aftermath of the end of slavery, Black families left their former places of enslavement to leave behind the repressive racism of the South in territories to the west, and start anew.

June 22 – “This is Home”— To stay in the places that you knew, to work with the relationships that you understood, and to pursue freedom by building communities where you are–these were also the dreams of Freed men and women.

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