He believed that this was the only place where
his people could escape racial discrimination. Nevertheless,
Singleton took pride in his work, and he claimed, probably with
some exaggeration, to have been responsible for transporting some
82,000 Afro-Americans from the South into Kansas.
Another ex-slave, Henry Adams, called a New Orleans Colored
Convention in 1879 to examine the condition of the ex-slave
throughout the South. A committee was formed for this purpose. It
found the situation discouraging and recommended migration into
other regions. Another convention held in Nashville reached similar
conclusions, and it requested funds from Congress to assist in the
process. Funds were not forthcoming. When Congress did investigate
this vast migration, Southerners assured the committee that
their Negroes were really very happy, and they claimed that "the
migration was a myth."
In spite of this earlier migration, the 1900 census showed that
89.7 percent of the Afro-American community still resided in the
South. One-third of the Southern population was nonwhite. The
real exodus still lay ahead.
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