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This song sheet, which includes both the sheet music and lyrics, describes how black Southerners longed for safety and freedom but frequently lived in fear of the Ku Klux Klan and other white Southerners. According to the song, these black Southerners were heading to Kansas "whar de shot-gun rules no mo'e." The song was written by Frank J. Smith, "a native hoosier," and was published by R. R. Meredith and Sons in Chicago. It uses a black dialect that was common in nineteenth-century depictions of African Americans.
Creator: Smith, Frank J.
Date: 1880
The lyrics to this song speak about several reasons behind the Exodus, including the KKK, unfair voting procedures, and other atrocities committed by white Southerners. Since it includes the treble and bass clefs, students could even learn the melody and harmony parts. This source works with other documents dealing with the reasons for emigration.
KS:7th:3.5:Exodusters (2005)
Item Number: 210536
Call Number: 326.8 R92 H. N. Rust Scrapbook
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 210536
Collections - Library
Curriculum - 7th Grade Standards - Kansas History Standards - 1860s to 1870s (Benchmark 3) - Exodusters (Indicator 5) - Black perspectives on emigration
Curriculum - 7th Grade Standards - Kansas History Standards - 1860s to 1870s (Benchmark 3) - Exodusters (Indicator 5) - Jim Crow laws in the South
Curriculum - 7th Grade Standards - Kansas History Standards - 1860s to 1870s (Benchmark 3) - Exodusters (Indicator 5) - Reasons behind emigration
Curriculum - 7th Grade Standards - Kansas History Standards - 1860s to 1870s (Benchmark 3) - Exodusters (Indicator 5) - Symbol of Kansas as a free state
Date - 1880s - 1880
Government and Politics - Elections
Government and Politics - Reform and Protest - KKK
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Sheet music
People - African Americans - Discrimination
People - African Americans - Exodusters
Places - Other States - Indiana
Thematic Time Period - Immigration and Settlement, 1854 - 1890
Type of Material - Printed materials - Sheet music
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/210536