Image courtesy of HarpWeek, LLC

Harper's Weekly, May 17, 1879

After the Civil War, African Americans traveled more freely to the western states. Although the image of the covered wagon dominates popular ideas of western travel, most African Americans did not take to the road in that fashion. Those traveling from the South were more likely to walk, or to take the train or a steamboat to western territories. This drawing depicts families leaving from Vicksburg, Mississippi, on a steamboat.