Promised Land

In September 1877, several hundred formerly enslaved people packed their belongings and left Kentucky by rail for Kansas. When the train could take them no farther, they disembarked and continued for two days on foot. The terrain was bleak and unfamiliar, but the odyssey was inspired by a dream: the chance to live as free citizens on their own land around the newly formed town of Nicodemus.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousands of African Americans made similar migrations to the Great Plains, fleeing the white violence that followed the Civil War in the South. Under the Homestead Act, they staked claims on farmland from New Mexico to the Dakotas. 

Many of these Black homesteaders settled in communities that grew to several hundred people in population. While most were farmers, some became educators, pastors, business owners, postmasters, restaurateurs and musicians. Others pursued careers in local and state politics.

“They represent, to me, what African Americans did with their freedom,” said Angela Bates (third from left above), whose great-great-great-grandparents were among the first homesteaders of Nicodemus. “They became landowners in an environment that was hostile, at a time when the nation was hostile toward them. They hunkered down and said, ‘If we could do this for our masters, we can do this for ourselves.’”

Jacob Baynham, “Promised Land,” National Parks Conservation Association, accessed November 6, 2021, https://www.npca.org/articles/2686-promised-land.