South Carolina Blacks Migration to Arkansas

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Collection:: Land of (Unequal) Opportunity: Documenting the Civil Rights Struggle in Arkansas
Title:: South Carolina Blacks Migration to Arkansas
Creator:: New York Times
Publisher:: Fayetteville, Ark. : University of Arkansas Libraries
Date of Original:: 1882-01-05
Subject:: African Americans--Arkansas
Civil rights--Arkansas
Race discrimination--Arkansas
Segregation--Arkansas
Location:: United States, Arkansas, 34.75037, -92.50044
Medium:: articles
Type:: Text
Format:: application/pdf
Description:: Article in the New York Times regarding the exodus of blacks from South Carolina to Arkansas, where they poor economic and political conditions.
Migration -- Blacks -- African-Americans -- Exodus
THE SOUTH CAROLINA EXODUS: FIVE THOUSAND NEGROES SAID TO HAVE LEFT THEIR HOMES FOR ARKANSAS- EMIGRATION OF WHITES THREATENED Correspondence of the Charlestong (S.C.) News. TRENTON, S.C., Dec. 31. - There is no dis- guising the fact that a most alarming condition of things exists in Edgefield County in consequence of the exodus of negroes to Arkansas, which be- gan more than a week since and has continued almost without intermission up to the present time. It is estimated that already about one-fifth of the entire negro population of the county, or more than 5,000 persons, has gone and the fever is still spreading. There has been nothing like it since the days of Pharaoh, and the situa- tion may well occasion the deepest anxiety for the future. In the Ridge section of the county, extending from the Lexington boundary to this place along the line of the harlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad, and east of this road to the Aiken County line, embracing a stretch of territory 24 miles long and 4 to 5 miles wide, it is estimated that at least fourth-fifths of the negroes have joined the exodus. The townships most affected by the movement are Shaw, Ward, Norris, and portions of Mobley and Pickens. Some of the most extensive plantations in this section, on which large numbers of negroes were formerly employed, are now with- out one colored laborer, and the outlook is gloomy enough to cause wide-spread dismay. The reports heretofore published in the newspapers have not exaggerated a single feature of this unparalleled movement; entire settlements have been depopu- lated, and the public roads leading to Augusta have resounded day and night for the past week with the shuffling tread of a picturesque and motley caravan. To add to the complications of the situation a number of white people talk of leaving the county on account of the passage of the Stock law and the lack of labor. There is also a heavy movement of colored people to Beaufort, Colleton, Charleston, and Hampton Counties. Tow or three wagon- trains, carrying several hundred people, have passed through this section during the past few weeks seaward bound. It is a significant fact that the preachers have been urging this movement on the ground that in the counties named the colored people would be able to enjoy their political rights and assist in carrying the next election. Agents are also at work inducing labor- ers to go to South-west Georgia to engage in farm- ing and in the lumber business at large wages; and along the line of the Columbia and the Greenville Road emigrants are being secured for Kansas. The New York Times
Metadata URL:: http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/ref/collection/Civilrights/id/389
IIIF manifest:: https://digitalcollections.uark.edu/iiif/2/Civilrights:389/manifest.json
Additional Rights Information:: Please contact Special Collections for information on copyright.
Original Collection:: New York Times, January 5, 1882
Contributing Institution:: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Libraries
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