The Freed Slave Exodus to Kansas on the Wetlands and Wildlife Scenic Byway

Samuel Gracey's Grave in the Eden Valley Cemetery (KS) [1]

“Kansas with her freedom and broad prairies, with the memories of John Brown and his heroic struggle, seems naturally the State to seek.” -- George T. Ruby, New Orleans Weekly Louisianian, April 26, 1879 

The struggles of Kansas to enter the Union as a free state before the Civil War were bitter and bloody, erupting many times into violence carried out both by proslavery raiders and abolitionists such as John Brown. Yet even “Bleeding Kansas” was seen as a land of opportunity. Samuel Gracey, a slave on a Missouri plantation, risked beatings and death to escape slavery in 1860. In the middle of the night, he gathered his family and escaped across the Missouri River into Kansas. After the war, 20,000 newly emancipated slaves followed the example of escaped slaves like Gracey and migrated to Kansas during the Great Exodus of 1879. Many of these “Exodusters” settled in Barton and Stafford Counties in central Kansas, leaving their legacy along the Wetlands and Wildlife Scenic Byway.  

Oscar Micheaux (KS) [2]

Spend an afternoon learning about the Exodusters by visiting local museums and quiet country cemeteries along the byway. Samuel Gracey’s grave in the Eden Valley Cemetery is one of the stops on the Local Cemetery Tour, along with other Exoduster burial places. Some of the graves in the Hoisington Cemetery, for example, are marked with charmingly unique and handmade folk art headstones.  One noted descendant of the area’s Exodusters is Oscar Micheaux, America’s first African American filmmaker and a noted Harlem Renaissance personality. View his grave in the Great Bend Cemetery and learn about his life and achievements at an exhibit in the Barton County Arts Council Gallery. Get a glimpse into the everyday lives and personalities of Stafford’s Exoduster families at the Stafford County Museum’s Exoduster exhibit or peruse examples from their collection of 29,000 historic glass negative photos taken over an eighty-year span. To learn more about Micheaux, his ancestors, and other Kansas Exodusters, read the Wetlands and Wildlife Exoduster Brochure (PDF reader required) or take the Civil War Exoduster Tour!