Daily Kennebec journal., 1882-01-09
Exodus of Blacks from South Car
Olina-

Olina-
The emancipation proclamation placed
in the power of the negroes of the South
the privilege of removing from one local
ity to another without being pursued by
bloodhounds and returned to slavery.
The whites have cheated them at the
ballot box, defrauded them in trading,
deprived them Of their civil rights in
many ways, but the right of the negro
to change his residence from one State
or one section TO another Is still lefi
to him, and facts prove that he can
employ it with great effect. There
are 600. 600 colored people in South Car
olina, and only 100000 white people
In the government of the State the white
minority have everything their own way
and ignore the claims of the black major.
ity to any voice in public affairs, or any
legislation except such as will keep them
as nearly as possible in the condition ol
serfs. The blacks despairing of any i'm
provement in their circumstances in that
State have at length commenced an exc
dus from its borders which the ruling
class observe with considerable consterna.
ton.
The Charleston News and Courier de.
votes three columns and half to a report
Of the exodus from Edgefield county-oI
bloody fame-tO Arkansas.
The work bears on its face every evi.
dence of a painstaking inquiry to ascer'
tain the causes and extent Of the move
ment, which. it says, sis not sudden
freak Of fancy, but the result Of careful
and deliberate preparation" They be.
gan to organize early last fall. There
was no secrecy about what was going on
indeed. they talked about it so openly
that the white people thought it woult
end In talk. Three agents of their owl
race, sent out to locate new hume, cam,
back and reported that they had found tn,
desired spot in Arkansas, ,one hundred ant
fifty miles from Little Rock. An advanc,
guard of one hundred and fifty-'.a thrifty
looking set. comprising some of tn,
best laborers in the conuty''-set out De
cember 90. Two days later the big It'd,
began to roll. For three days and night.
the black emigrants, whole famlie.
and parts of families, lined the high
ways, en- route for the railroad
filling the air with the rich melody o
their voices, as they would join in singing
some old-fashioned corn-feld song, or il
the rude choruses of their religious
chants" They were orderly, commit
ting no depredations of any kind" They
had sold what they could of what the.
could not carry, and burned the rest. ex
cept the growing crops. which they lef
without compensation. When the cor
respondent wrote. December 81, he es
timated that five thousand of them hao
gone; more were to follow at once. ant
more as soon and as fast as they coult
gather enough for the journey.
They are not deferred BY the hardship.
through which thirty thousand of thei
race from Louisiana and Mississippi passed
in 1879 before they found comfortable set
tlement in the harder climate of Kansas
One nf the Edgeield men said in reply t.
the correspondents warning. Boss. iis
rs leave die wild de whoopin' cough as t.
die wild de measles. If we stay here we.
gwine to die. and we'd just as good perisl
by de roadside. on de way to Rockansas
as to die in Souf Carolina" 1t is a des
perate case. The negro farmer has triet
to stand up under the high rents. store
keepers profits averaging 40 percent. ant
running up to 10 per cent. oppressiv,
laws and race prejudice. and in the strug
gle he has gone to the wall. The "supe
rior race" was too much for him. I'm
armed labor is not match for robber-cap
ital armed with the whole political power
of State.
The News and Courier correspondent
predicts Fearful tumbling in real es
tate" Twenty thousand acres will Ii,
idle next year; the crossroads stores an'
the railroads will suffer. the common
schools will be further crippled, and ihi
not only in Edgefeld county. but prob
ably in Aiken and Barnwell. where ther,
are the signs of uneasiness which forecas
the exodus.
This time the hegira is not charged t
Northern republican intrigue. 1t is to,
well-known what is ut the bottom oft.
Dispatches from Washington say tina
a pension office will be established in thi
city with ex-Gov. Connor as pensiel