Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division. Image courtesy of HarpWeek, LLC.

Harper's Weekly, February 24, 1872

During slavery, free blacks had only nominal freedom and were restricted in their movement, education, and professions. They were also the victims of violence and could be enslaved if they could not pay their debts. Because of the insecurity of their status, some saw leaving the country as the best solution. After Emancipation, brutality against African Americans increased, and white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1866, used terror to keep the black population in slavery-like conditions. Once again, emigrating appeared to some to be the only answer.