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Image courtesy of HarpWeek, LLC

Harper's Weekly, May 1, 1880

The Negro Exodus

Before and after the Civil War, African Americans began leaving the South in large numbers. Many migrated to sparsely settled western states and territories, drawn by homestead associations and promoters who developed and marketed all-black towns as a symbol of black self-reliance. The majority migrated to western cities where, before World War I, the small size of black communities kept Jim Crow at bay.

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