One hundred years ago
A negro 'exodus,' as it is called, has commenced in the Southern States. In Louisiana and Mississippi particularly, the negro labourers declare that they cannot get land, except at rents which they cannot pay; that they are deprived by terrorism of their votes; that they are 'bulldozed,' —that is, severely flogged for any exhibition of independence, and that they hear they will be treated 'like white men' in Kansas. They are streaming out, therefore, to that State, to the dismay of the planters, who foresee a lack of labour, and call on the Militia to check the emigration by force. This, of course, cannot be done, and it is believed that within a year a hundred thousand negroes will be in Kansas, where the first arrivals have been very coldly received, the Kansas men wishing for white farmers, not for negro servants. The negroes are too poor to get land, and swarm into the villages, where they starve. It is doubtful if the movement will reach alarming proportions, but it is of itself evidence of severe oppression, negroes detesting emigration, and of a discontent which may have serious political results. De Tocqueville prophesied that after emancipation the negroes would be extirpated or expelled, and Mr Adams, we believe, held that they would gradually isolate themselves in the Gulf States.
Spectator, 26 April 1879
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