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Difficulty: MediumWestward Expansion: Economic and Social Development

Source: Circular distributed by the Singleton Colony, a Topeka-based organization promoting African American migration to Kansas, 1879.

"To the Colored People of the United States.

We, the undersigned, colored citizens of the State of Kansas, having settled here... find ourselves in a country of peace and plenty. We have land of our own, we have our own schools, and we vote without fear or hindrance. We ask you to come and join us. Land can be had cheap from the government under the Homestead Act, and from the railroad companies. By coming to the West, you can escape the oppression of the sharecropping system and build a prosperous future for your families."

Which of the following was a major economic and social factor that directly encouraged the migration described in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The availability of land allotments set aside for African American families under the Dawes Act
  2. B
    The federal government's formal repeal of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments
  3. The pursuit of agricultural independence to escape the debt cycle of southern sharecroppingAnswer
  4. D
    The opportunity to participate in industrial labor strikes organized by urban Populist reformers

Answer

The pursuit of agricultural independence to escape the debt cycle of southern sharecropping
The correct answer is correct because the Exoduster migration of the late 1870s was a response by thousands of African Americans seeking to escape the repressive social and economic conditions of the post-Reconstruction South. The sharecropping and crop-lien systems kept freedmen in a state of perpetual debt and economic dependency. Moving west to Kansas allowed them to utilize the Homestead Act to acquire land and build self-governing communities.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the source circular's origin, date, and stated motivations for migration.
The source is an 1879 circular from Kansas encouraging African Americans to migrate from the South to the West to secure land, education, political freedom, and escape oppression.
Establishing the historical context of the post-Reconstruction South (1877 onwards) helps identify the push factors driving African American migration.
2
Evaluate the economic push and pull factors referenced in the text.
The circular explicitly mentions escaping the 'oppression of the sharecropping system' (push) and acquiring cheap land under the Homestead Act (pull).
Connecting the text directly to historical agricultural structures helps identify the core motivation for the Exoduster movement.
3
Differentiate between the correct historical context of African American migration and other late nineteenth-century developments.
The migration corresponds to the Exodusters seeking farming land. The Dawes Act applied to Native Americans, the Reconstruction amendments remained in place but unenforced, and Populism was an agrarian political coalition rather than an urban industrial movement.
This step validates the correct choice by systematically eliminating distractors based on Gilded Age misconceptions.

Key Concept

Exoduster migration and the search for economic independence from Southern sharecropping
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Westward Expansion: Economic and Social Development

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