Blacks in the West: African Americans were on the forefront of early exploration and settlement of the West.
 

Well before the last Federal occupation troops left the South at the end of Reconstruction in 1877, oppression had already deeply eroded the few social and economic gains blacks acheived after the Civil War. Organizations like the Klu Klux Klan terrorized or killed African Americans who resisted the constraints of racisim.

Poverty, customs and laws prevented the newly freed slaves from buying land after the Civil War, Many returned to work for their old masters as sharecroppers, but dishonest treatement by many landlords and lack of education kept African Americans in economic slavery.

prairie grass (line drawing) Where is Nicodemus? Return to menu of stories Visit Nicodemus National Historical Park Learn more about Black History in your National Parks Learn about Black History Month events in your National Parks Visit ParkNet
Black and white drawing of the "Exodusters," Southern Black Sharecroppers leaving the South for the promise of a better life in the West Text box: The storm of Civil War left many African Americans in the old South without homes or land. Sharecropping was the main occupation. Soon, those who were able left in hopes of finding something more in the West.