Thousands of others, born in
the North, hurried south to help educate and rehabilitate their
brothers. However, this flow was short-lived. As the South moved
from slavery into segregation, hope slid into disillusionment
and cynicism. In 1878-79 there was a wave of migration from the
south into the West. "Pap" Singleton, an ex-slave from Tennessee,
had come to the conclusion that the ex-slaveholder and the ex-
slave could not live together in harmony, and he believed that
the best solution was to develop a separate society. As a result,
he formed the Tennessee Real Estate and Homestead Association,
but there was not enough land available in Tennessee for the
program. Finally, he decided that Kansas was the ideal location
in which to build a separate Negro society. Various transportation
companies saw this scheme as a way for them to make money, and
they encouraged this westward migration.Although the original
migrants to Kansas were welcomed, opposition grew as their
numbers increased. Before his death in1892, Singleton became
disillusioned with the possibilities of developing a separate
society anywhere in the United States, and he came to favor a
return to Africa.
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