When we got in sight of Nicodemus the men shouted, "There is Nicodemus!" Being very sick, I hailed this news with gladness. I looked with all the eyes I had. I said, "Where is Nicodemus? I don't see it yet." My husband pointed out various smokes coming out of the ground and said, "That is Nicodemus." The families lived in dugouts...The scenery was not at all inviting, and I began to cry." Willina Hickman, 1878

The story of the westward expansion in the United States is a story
of human spirit. The people who dreamed of freedom made sacrifices
and carried heavy burdens as they pursued their happiness. African Americans carried even more as they rode westward. They faced laws that limited their rights, denied them justice and sometimes armed their neighbors against them. Like others, black pioneers longed for homes
of their own, peaceful places where they could raise their children
and pursue elusive dreams. But African Americans also sought places
where a person's worth was judged by his skill, not his skin.

During and after the Civil War, emancipated men and women moved to secure their freedom. As many northern blacks went south as soldiers, other black men and women traveled south to teach and help lead communal institutions. The 'Exoduster' movement (1877 to 1881) saw forty to seventy thousand African Americans leave the former slave states and head for Kansas. Blacks protesting the loss of political rights sought equality and opportunity in the west.

The west attracted many kinds of people, although they probably all shared two traits in common: A desire to improve their lives, and a certain self-reliance. While some became farmers, or 'sod busters', others became fur trappers, mountain men, guides, cowboys, outlaws, lawmen, gold miners, army scouts, cavalry troopers, wagon train masters, and ranchers.

Here are some of their stories.

George Washington Bush:The Spirit of Westward Expansion

Exodus to Freedom: Tales of the Exodusters

The Moses Speese Family: New Years, New Lives