The geography of hope: Black exodus from the South after Reconstruction

Grade 6 Up-This beautifully produced book relates the experiences of former slaves who headed to the Western frontier during and after the Civil War, and of the three men who led them, Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, Henry Adams, and Edwin McCabe. Approximately 20,000 "Exodusters" traveled from the Southern states to the Kansas and Oklahoma territories during this period. Disappointed when the Emancipation Proclamation and Reconstruction failed to create an environment in which they could live in true freedom, these African Americans hoped to attain property, prosperity, and respect in the new lands. Their little-known story-exciting, dramatic, and ultimately tragic-is a page-turner, thanks to Haskins's clear and lively writing. The author also includes primary-source material such as excerpts from newspaper articles, Senate reports, handbills, and song lyrics. Outstanding typography and black-and-white photographs and reproductions complement the text. Report writers will be grateful for the chronology, bibliography, source notes, and index.
Starr E. Smith, Marymount University Library, Arlington, VA
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