Journey to a Promised Land

by Allison Lassieur

  “Are you sure about this, Singleton?” Papa was skeptical.

  “If you don’t believe me, read this.” Singleton handed Mama a newspaper clipping from the Lawrence, Kansas, newspaper.

  “A post office, store, and a hotel!” Mama looked up at Papa excitedly.

  “Well then,” Papa said, smiling, “Nicodemus it is.”

  Hattie jumped up and threw her arms around Papa. “I wonder what the school will look like! Are there many children in town?” The questions tumbled out so fast that both Papa and Singleton chuckled.

  “We’ll need to arrange your trip to Kansas and make sure you have provisions,” Singleton said.

  Over the next few days, Hattie and her family rested and prepared for the final leg of their long journey. One morning, several women appeared at the church with donated clothing and supplies. Singleton came by one afternoon and handed Papa four train tickets.

  “You’ll take the train to Topeka,” he said. “When you get there, one of my agents will help you purchase a wagon, horses, and other supplies. From there, you’ll go to Nicodemus.”

  Hattie had never been on a train before, and the thought made her giddy with excitement.

  A week later, everything was ready and it was time to go. Singleton drove them to the train station, which was just as crowded as the wharf had been.

  “Thank you,” Papa said to Singleton, shaking his hand warmly.

  “A better life is waiting there for you,” Singleton replied, winking at Hattie. “I guarantee it.”

  They boarded the train and found their places. Hattie couldn’t contain her excitement; she bounced on the seat until Mama had to tell her to stop. She leaned out the window as the train pulled away from the station. Steam and smoke poured from the engine. She watched St. Louis fade into the distance, and it was like all their troubles and hardships faded away with it. She sat back and smiled, clutching her two precious books in her arms.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dear Josephine,

  I’m writing to you from a real Kansas prairie! It’s like an ocean of green. It stretches all the way to the horizon. At night there are so many stars that I can almost read by their light.

  We left Topeka a week ago. The train ride from St. Louis to Topeka was long and boring. But I was grateful for the train. I am tired of riding in wagons! When we arrived, a nice lady met us at the station just like Mr. Singleton promised. She helped us find lodging and gave Papa enough money to buy a wagon and a team of horses. We needed the team to pull the plow on our new farm!

  While we were in Topeka, we met other families who are going to Nicodemus. One of them was Mr. Ferguson and his family from Tennessee! We were right pleased to see them. I wasn’t happy to find out it was another long wagon trip from Topeka to Nicodemus. Once we get to Nicodemus, I swear I’m never going to ride in a wagon again!

  We’ve been on the prairie now for five days. Last night we had a bit of a fright. After supper a group of riders appeared. At first we thought they were up to no good. But they were soldiers. Not only that, but they were black soldiers! Papa said they’re called buffalo soldiers. Mama fixed them supper and they were grateful for the food. One of them fashioned a toy horse for Abraham from a stick of wood. He was happy, but I was happier that he wasn’t cryin’ no more.

  Only a few more days in this wagon and we’ll be in Nicodemus. I’m so excited I can’t stand it.

  Your devoted friend,

  Hattie

  Finally, the last day on the road dawned. Today, Hattie and her family would arrive in Nicodemus. Mile after mile, they got closer. Excitement ran so high that Hattie couldn’t stand to ride in the wagon for another minute. She skipped beside the wagon and kept a lookout for the town.

  In late morning, one of the men who’d ridden ahead came galloping back. “Just another mile or two!” he whooped. Everyone cheered.

  “Papa, can I please run ahead?” Hattie begged. Papa smiled and nodded. Hattie took off across the prairie, her head barely visible above the waves of green grass. She ran up and down gentle, rolling hills to the highest one, and stopped, breathing hard.

  Nicodemus.

  She stood there until the rest of the group had caught up. Mama jumped from the wagon and ran as best she could to her, laughing with happiness. She looked out and stopped dead. The laughter died in the air. Her smile disappeared, replaced by the same look of shock that Hattie felt.

  There were no trim houses or buildings. No farms. Nicodemus sat in the middle of a brown patch of prairie that looked as if someone had scraped the grass clean away. A few sad-looking clapboard structures huddled together, the only sign that anyone was here at all.

  The happy mood died. Slowly, the group made their way into town.

  “What is all that smoke coming up from the ground?” Hattie asked.

  Mama shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know, baby.”

  “Them’s houses,” Mr. Ferguson said softly. “Dugouts.”

  Mama looked at him like he’d grown another head. “Do you mean to tell me that the people live in the dirt? Under the ground?”

  Mr. Ferguson didn’t reply. He gave Papa the saddest, sorriest look Hattie ever saw.

  Mama collapsed into Papa’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Oh dear Lord, what have we done?” she screamed. Hattie began to sob too.

  Papa tried to put his arms around Mama, but she pushed him away. She sank into the grass, her sobs coming in great gasps.

  They all stood silently watching Mama, their own tears of grief and disappointment flowing. After a few moments, Papa gently took Mama by the arm and hauled her to her feet.

  “Now you see here, Mary,” he began, stern but not unkind. He scooped a handful of dirt and put it in front of her face. “Do you know what this is?”

  Mama gave him a puzzled look, her face streaked with dirt and tears.

  “It is free ground. You are standing on free ground. Free! For the first time in our lives, we’re truly free. This ain’t a time to be sad. We brung our young’uns here to be free. We didn’t have that when we was their age, but we can give them that here.”

  Mama stared at him. Then slowly, she nodded. He threw the dirt down and slowly raised her up.

  “Let’s go find the mayor of this town,” Papa said.

  Mama sniffed and wiped her face with the hem of her dress. As they went into town, black people seemed to appear out of nowhere. They surrounded the Exodusters.

  “Welcome to Nicodemus, friend.”

  “We’re so glad you made it.”

  “We’re here to help you, don’t you worry.”

  A woman with a wide smile took Mama’s arm. “I’m Jenny Fletcher. My husband, Zachary, is the secretary of the Nicodemus Town Company.” She saw the despair on Mama’s face and smiled sympathetically.

  “I know it’s a shock at first,” she said as she led them away. “But believe you me, this is one good town! You’ll be glad you came.”

  She took them to a house, which was little more than a big hole dug out of the side of a small hill. The roof was made of blocks of sod, with the chimney pipe sticking up out of the dirt. When they stepped inside, Hattie got a shock. It looked like any other well-kept cabin, with rugs on the dirt floor and a pretty lace cloth on the table. A wooden bed stood in one corner, made up with clean sheets and a homemade quilt. A small iron stove sat on the other side.

  “This here will be yours,” Mrs. Fletcher said. “It ain’t much, but it’s dry and it stays cool on hot prairie days.”

  She bustled around, helping Papa bring in their bags from the wagon, and chattering the whole time. “We’ve all got lumber coming to build proper houses, you can order some when you’re ready. You’re the new blacksmith, right?”

  Papa looked a little confused, but nodded. Mrs. Fletcher beamed.

&n
bsp; “So glad to hear it! Zachary is about to start building the new livery stable, and you’ll be sorely needed when it’s done.”

  “Where’s the hotel? And the school?” Hattie asked hesitantly. “The newspaper said you had those here.”

  “And we do! The hotel is that building on Main Street. The school is in my house! Every day, eight o’clock sharp.” Hattie tried to keep the disappointment off her face, but it didn’t work. Mrs. Fletcher smiled kindly.

  “A schoolhouse is on our list to build too,” she said. “Nicodemus ain’t been here long.” Mrs. Fletcher smiled. “Come to my place for supper. We’ll talk more then. Again, welcome to Nicodemus!” She turned with a flourish and was gone.

  The dugout was dark and smelled of earth and grass. Papa lit the kerosene lamp on the table. Mama was silent, looking around the room.

  In the quiet, Hattie heard the most unexpected sound. Laughter.

  It started with a chuckle, and then it grew until Mama’s laughter filled the dugout. Hattie couldn’t help but smile, her own laughter bubbling up like a fountain. Papa chuckled too. Abraham didn’t understand what was going on, so he jumped up and down, waving his wooden horse.

  It took a while, but finally, they laughed themselves out. Mama put her arms around Papa’s neck.

  “It ain’t what I expected,” she said, “but we all made it here, and we’re alive.”

  Papa wrapped Hattie and Abraham in one arm. He put his other hand gently on Mama’s belly.

  “And we’re free. That’s as good a start as any, don’t you think?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  One Year Later

  “Mama, I’m home!”

  Hattie tossed her books on the kitchen table as Mama stirred a pot on the stove. Delicious smells wafted across the dugout.

  “Where’s Papa?” she asked, bending down to pick up baby Isabel, who was lying in her cradle. “Dang, you’re getting heavy!” Isabel waved her chubby baby arms and gave Hattie a drool-y grin.

  “He’ll be home from the stable soon,” Mama replied, wiping her hands on her apron. “There’s a letter for you on the table.”

  Hattie instantly recognized Josephine’s loopy handwriting. She ripped open the envelope and read quickly.

  “They’re almost here!” Hattie cried, looking at the postmark. “She sent this from Kansas City. Oh, Mama, I cain’t wait to see her!”

  Mama smiled. “It’ll be good to see them again,” she replied. “Now go wash up for supper.”

  Papa and Abraham arrived from the stable, and they all cleaned up at the water pump out back. Abraham chattered about the horses and a litter of kittens that lived under the stable. Hattie told them about her perfect score on her history exam.

  There was an envelope beside Papa’s place when he sat down. It was from the bank.

  Hattie couldn’t stand the suspense. “What’s it say?”

  “Well, it looks like the bank’s approved us to buy a land grant.”

  Mama almost knocked over the stewpot with surprise. “So we’re really getting the farm? I cain’t believe it!”

  Hattie and Abraham squealed and danced around the room until Isabel started crying from the commotion. Papa scooped her up, grinning.

  “We’ll go to the land office tomorrow. I can hardly believe this day has finally come.”

  The next afternoon, the whole family, dressed in their Sunday best, walked to town. They stopped to greet friends and neighbors along the way. Most of them were Exodusters just like them. Some had been there since Nicodemus was founded. Others had arrived only a few weeks ago. Everyone fussed over Isabel and admired the tortoise shell comb in Mama’s hair.

  Hattie marveled at how much the town had changed in just one year. The two-story general store stood majestically over Main Street. Several other buildings and a church clustered nearby. Trim white cottages sat on the outskirts of town. Farther out, modest farmsteads dotted the prairie. Beyond that, miles of land. Some of that would soon be theirs!

  Inside the land office, Papa’s hand trembled as he filled out the claim forms. Hattie burst with pride as she watched her father’s lifelong dream come true. But when it came time to put his signature on the forms, he folded the pages and put them in his pocket.

  “What are you doing, Nat?” Mama asked.

  “You’ll see,” was all he’d say.

  Puzzled, they followed him home. Mama had made a cake to celebrate, but the room was quiet as everyone ate.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Papa began. His voice got low and strange in a way Hattie had never heard. “I’ve been thinking about my name. Our name. Jacobs.”

  He turned to Hattie. “Did you know that slaves used to take the last name of their owners?” She shook her head.

  “Jacobs was the name of the white man who owned my family when I was born,” he continued. “After the war, I didn’t really think about it much. Nor did it seem bothersome when I married your mama.”

  Papa gazed at Mama, who looked at him with love shining in her eyes. “But since we’ve been in Kansas, I’ve pondered it quite a bit. And I’ve decided that I’m tired of having a slave’s name. I want the name of a free man.”

  “You want to change our name?” Hattie exclaimed, horrified and excited at once. “What would we change it to?”

  “I don’t know. That’s why I’m talking to you now.”

  They spent a lively hour thinking of names for the family. Abraham, who had just learned the alphabet, proudly suggested everything from “Adams” to “Zeb.” They wrote down dozens of possibilities, but none seemed right. Hattie was about ready to run to the school and fetch Mrs. Fletcher’s dictionary when Mama spoke up.

  “My granny used to tell me a story,” she said softly, almost hesitantly. “A long time ago, her mama, my great-grandmother, lived in Africa. She was stolen from her family and brought here to be a slave.”

  Mama got a faraway look in her eyes, remembering. “The only thing Granny knew about her mama was that her African name was Tunnar. So maybe that could be a name for us.”

  Papa placed his hand over Mama’s. “I think that’s a fine name.”

  He looked at Hattie.

  She nodded, smiling. “I like it too.”

  He pulled the papers from his pocket and smoothed them on the table. With a steady hand, he signed his new name, Nathanial Tunnar.

  A feeling of happiness swept through Hattie like a fresh wind.

  “I feel like giving thanks.” She rose and led everyone outside. It had started raining, but no one cared. The family held hands as she spoke.

  “Today, this family threw off the last chains of slavery that bound us,” she began. She gazed at her family. They had all gone through so much to be here.

  “The Jacobs family is gone. This Kansas rain is falling from heaven on a truly free family, the Tunnar family.”

  “And it feels like sunshine.”

  Author’s Note

  This is a work of fiction, but the Great Exodus of 1879 was a real event, and the Exodusters were real people. Hattie and her family represent the thousands of former slaves and their families who left Tennessee, Kentucky, and Louisiana for the promise of free land and better lives.

  Although the Great Exodus was an important moment in African American history, there are surprisingly few books and sources about it. The best-known book on the Exoduster movement is Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction by Nell Irvin Painter. Other sources, such as the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Kansas Historical Society, and the National Park Service, have collections of documents and items relating to this movement. I’ve also relied on historical newspapers from the time, eyewitness accounts, and testimony by Benjamin Singleton to the US Congress in 1880, titled “Negro Exodus from the Southern States.”

  The Great Exodus, also known as the Kansa
s Exodus or the Colored Exodus, had its beginnings long before the spring of 1879. During the Civil War, tens of thousands of African Americans were enslaved in the South. When the Civil War ended, those slaves were set free, although it took months for word to reach some states. The Thirteenth Amendment, passed in December 1865, abolished slavery for all time.

  Many expected their lives to get better after the war. But these newly freed people faced racism and poverty so great, it couldn’t be overcome. White men still owned most farmland and rented out parcels to African Americans. They cheated these black tenant farmers. African Americans knew they were being treated unfairly. They began looking for ways to get out of the South.

  For some, Kansas seemed to be the answer. Kansas was a free state. In 1862, during the Civil War, Congress passed the Homestead Act. It allowed all US citizens the right to apply to the government for 160 acres of land. After the war was over, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. It gave citizenship to all former slaves. African Americans could now get free land!

  Some African American businessmen saw this as an opportunity to create their own communities in Kansas. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton was one of them. He was born into slavery in Tennessee in 1809. He escaped to the North, but returned to Nashville after the war. His dream was to create settlements where African Americans could homestead the land and live in peace. He traveled through the South, speaking at churches and in meetings. He passed out thousands of fliers encouraging families to move to Kansas. With his help, hundreds of African Americans from Tennessee followed him to Kansas between 1877 and 1879.

  In the spring of 1879, the idea to go to Kansas really caught fire in many southern African American communities. Tens of thousands of people packed up everything they owned and set off for Kansas. These emigrants were called Exodusters, after the exodus of Jews from Egypt in the Bible. They landed in St. Louis, Topeka, and other Kansas towns, with few supplies and no real idea of what to do next. There were so many people to take care of that local businessmen created organizations to help them get to settlements farther west in Kansas.