When Reconstruction ended in 1877, southern whites used violence, economic exploitation, discriminatory laws called Black Codes, and political disenfranchisement to subjugate African Americans and undo their gains during Reconstruction. Kansas and other destinations on the Great Plains represented a chance to start a new life. Kansas had fought to be a free state and, with the Homestead Act of 1862, the region offered lots of land at low cost. As a result, between the late 1870s and early 1880s, more than 20,000 African Americans left the South for Kansas, the Oklahoma Territory, and elsewhere on the Great Plains in a migration known as the “Great Exodus.”

The Westward Spirit
Homesteading: Dreams and Realities
Making a Living in Gold and Cattle
The Loss of American Indian Life and Culture
The Impact of Expansion on Chinese Immigrants and Hispanic Citizens

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain the evolution of American views about westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century
Analyze the ways in which the federal government facilitated Americans’ westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century