The migration of African Americans to other lands in search of freedom
during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was an expression of their
belief that they would never achieve a position of true equality in the United
States. The only solution to this problem, they felt, was to establish
separate, self-governing societies or nations. Though migrants found their way
to Canada, Haiti, the West Indies, and Mexico, Africa was, most often, the
refuge of choice. Emigration and colonization were controversial within the
African-American community, and some of the consequences of these migrations
were negative for the receiving populations.
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