A presentation on the development of African-American communities after the Civil War in the United States presented to the Florida Humanities Council Teacher Workshop.

1. A Black Social World
Black Townships and Settlements in the United
Julian Chambliss
Professor of History
Coordinator of Africa and African American Studies
Rollins College

3. THE
ANTEBELLUM
BLACK
COMMUNITY
EXPERIENCE

4. New Philadelphia, Illinois was one of the most famous of the antebellum all-black towns.

6. • This excerpt of
an April, 1998
aerial photograph
from the U.S.
Geological
Survey, shows
the landscape on
which New
Philadelphia was
located.

7. January 16, 1865
General William T. Sherman

8. http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;idno=waro0099;node=w aro0099%3A2;view=image;seq=62;size=100;page=root;pri… 1/2

9. Port Royal
Island, S.C.
African
Americans
preparing
cotton for
the gin.

10. Othello: Dost thou mock me?
Iago: I mock you!
No, by Heaven: would you would bear your
fortunes like a man.

11. Approximately 6,000 African Americans leave
Louisiana and Mississippi in 1879-1880 period.

12. • In 1874 Benjamin Singleton and his associates formed the Edgefield Real Estate
and Homestead Association in Tennessee.
Benjamin Singleton, and S.A. McClure, leaders of the Exodus, leaving Nashville,
Tennessee.
(Library of Congress)

15. Aerial view of Nicodemus from the Northeast, 1953
http://www.nps.gov/features/nicodemus/buildings.htm

16. WHAT CAN THIS PRIMARY
SOURCE TELL ME?
Why was the item created?
What is it purpose?
Who was the intended audience for the item?
What factors suggest the audience?
What questions about the creator, content, or context are generated from
this item?
What issues of race, gender, and/or class are reflected in the item?
How does the item fit within a larger historical narrative?
What historical issues are reflected in the item?

19. OKLAHOMA:
A BLACK STATE
(?)

21. Edward P. McCabe
• Former State Auditor for
Kansas. In 1889 started
promoting Oklahoma as potential
haven for African-Americans.
Langston City, the settlement he
created has 200 residents by
1891.
• “the… paradise of Eden and the
garden of the Gods.”
• “Here the Negro can rest from
mob law, here he can be secure
from every ill of the southern
policies.”

23. Presbyterian Church was home to the
first school in the community.

24. The Colored Agricultural and Normal University (Later Langston University) started in 1897.

31. The Boley Power House, ca 1900

32. THE
POLITICS OF
OPPORTUNI
TY

33. 1916

34. 1916

35. FLORIDA: LAND OF DREAMS

37. This volume represents
Washington’s attempt to explain
how well African-American self-
help is succeeding in the United
States. Published 1904.
Working With The Hands_ Google Books

39. Eatonville
On August 15, 1887 27 registered voters, all black men, voted to
incorporate the town of Eatonville. This act created the first
incorporated African-American community in the nation.

41. View of the Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School campus, 19??

42. Booker T. Washington Hall

43. Sawmill of the Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School, Date Unknown

46. Friends' intelligencer, Volume 59

47. The Southern
Workman,
Volume 47

48. Historic Black Towns and
Settlement Alliance
• Hobson City, AL
• Tuskegee, AL
• Mound Bayou, MS
• Eatonville, Florida
• Grambling, LA

49. Open Source Resources
• Project Mosaic: Zora Neale Hurston
– http://social.rollins.edu/wpsites/mosaic-hurston/
• BlackPast.org
– http://www.blackpast.org/
• Chronicling America
– http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
• African American Odyssey (LOC)
– https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/index.html
• Central Florida Memory
– http://www.cfmemory.org/
• Digital Public Library of America
– https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/sets
• In Motion
– http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/index.cfm
• OER Commons
– https://www.oercommons.org/

50. Thank You!!
• Email: jchambliss@rollins.edu
• Twitter: @JulianChambliss
• Web: www.julianchambliss.com