In this research project theme we will be
examining the patterns of movement of African American peoples
before, during and after the Exoduster period in the late
1870's.
This type of research is generally called historical
research. Historical research is the facinating study of
peoples and events of the past and the uncovering of the stories
that had their influence on how things are today. Historical
research does not have to be about the famous. The events
in the lives of common and unknown people are often the most
facinating.
The
data for examining this extrodinary movement of people lies in dusty records in hundreds of
historical museums across the United States. Many of the most useful records related
to this immigration are census records. Often the census records from that era are
handwritten and not commonly seen by most museum visitors. By clicking on this link
you can see a typical sheet from a census record from the late 1800's.
Sample: Census
record
Census records often contain
information such as names, date of birth, place of birth, occupation, race, sex, last
state of residence or the location from which immigrants moved. They also may
contain agricultural records with many facinating pieces of information about the
residence. For example records may include types of livestock owned or even details
such as the number of livestock killed by wolves. These records provide much
valuable data from which students can investigate a variety of historical research
questions. In this project a minimal collection of census data includes the
following:
State of Records, County of Records,
Census date, Name, Age, Sex, Race, Occupation, State of Birth, State Immigrated From
In this project students will need to
compare information from at least two census years. Those years are are the census
dates on either sides of the 1879 Exoduster immigration. This might be the federal
census conducted in 1870 and 1880 or a local agricultural census such as occurred in
Kansas. In Kansas agricultural census data was collected in 1875 and again in 1885.
By collecting census records before and after the Exoduster immigration students
can compare the movement of African Americans during this critical period of time.
You can find records like these by
asking your local historical museum. Consult the local telephone book, your local
library, historical societies or your state government. Sometimes state historical
societies or government agencies will have digitized the census data. Finding the
data on disk, or CD is possible but not likely. More likely than not it will be in
paper form or on microfilm or microfische. This will mean that it will take some
long hours of browsing through these records. A real service for your community
could be undertaken by students by typing these records into a database or spreadsheet.
Students and teachers can work out with the local authorities the methods for doing
this. Possible methods would be:
- Obtaining printed records, taking them
back to the school and typing the information into a data base such as Microsoft Access or
Works.
- Students placed as interns at the local
museum could type the information into a database on-site.
Once the records are thus entered they
can be more easily accessible by others interested in the research. They should also
be entered into the KanCRN web-based database. Click on the link to the left under
Creating the Context called Data Submission to access the
KanCRN database. This will allow your local data to be added to a text and a map
based interpretation of this great immigration of African Americans.
Using primary and secondary sources
such as those listed at the bottom of this page students should complete these tasks for
their own local area.
- Write a summary of each of the
sources primary and secondary sources on immigration to your
state.
- Make a list of the slave holding
states in the Union in 1860 and the non slave holding states
in 1860.
- Write a five paragraph essay that discusses the main causes for African-American
immigration from the South after the Civil War.
- Use the 1875 State Agricultural
Census to create a table that includes all the information
contained in that census for all African-American residents
in the local county or township.
- Use the 1885 State Agricultural Census to create a table that includes all the
information contained in that census for each African-American resident in the local
county or township.
