Segregation on the Frontier
Segregation on the Frontier refers to the social and racial dynamics experienced by African Americans who migrated to the American West during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, largely in search of refuge from the pervasive racism of the Eastern United States. Upon their arrival, many African Americans established segregated communities that allowed them to live independently from White individuals who often discriminated against them. These settlements, such as Nicodemus, Kansas, not only provided a sense of safety but also fostered a strong community spirit among residents.
While the frontier presented a unique environment where racial discrimination differed from that in the South, such as less vigorous enforcement of segregation laws and fewer incidents of racial violence, racism was still present. African Americans engaged in agriculture and business within their communities, yet many faced challenges like drought and lack of capital, which ultimately led some to abandon their claims and move closer to predominantly White towns. In these mixed communities, African Americans often created neighborhoods for themselves, balancing social segregation with opportunities for economic interaction.
Overall, the experience of segregation on the frontier illustrates a complex interplay of racial and social dynamics, highlighting both the struggles and the resilience of African Americans seeking autonomy and community in a challenging environment.
Segregation on the Frontier
SIGNIFICANCE: Several thousand African Americans moved to the American West in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in an effort to escape the racism that existed in the eastern United States. Once on the frontier, African Americans established segregated communities that allowed them to live apart from White individuals who would discriminate against them.
Most people who have studied the western frontier have concluded that racial discrimination existed there but that it was different from that found in the former slave states in the southeastern United States. For example, some western territories and states passed statutes requiring the segregation of races in schools and other public facilities, but these laws were not enforced as vigorously as in the South. Incidents of racial violence (such as White mobs lynching Black Americans) were less numerous on the frontier than they were east of the Mississippi River.
Still, racism did exist on the frontier, and African Americans sought to avoid it. Even before the Civil War (1861–1865), free African Americans established segregated communities in isolated areas of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. After the war, African Americans formerly enslaved by American Indians created several all-Black towns and agricultural colonies in American Indian Territory. Other African Americans availed themselves of the provisions of the Homestead Act (1862), which allowed them to claim a 160-acre parcel of public land on the frontier. Many of these black homesteaders created segregated communities where they could live by their own rules rather than those imposed upon them by White Americans.
All-Black Communities
Several of the all-Black settlements were towns where African Americans owned all the businesses. Others were agricultural colonies whose residents expected to earn their living primarily by farming. However, the distinction between the two community types is often blurred. The farmers needed businesses to supply some of their needs, and the business owners frequently farmed to make extra money. Consequently, many segregated frontier communities were small urban areas surrounded by farms.
Perhaps the most famous all-Black frontier settlement was Nicodemus, Kansas. A few promoters of an all-Black settlement chose a spot on the western Kansas prairie to establish Nicodemus. They filed homestead claims and mapped out town lots on part of their land. They then went back East to make speeches and distribute brochures encouraging people to move to the proposed town. The promoters then charged the recruits fees for helping them move to Kansas and filing their homestead papers.
The Nicodemus settlers established churches, schools, and various social organizations to improve their quality of life. This attempt to create a sense of community was essential in making the colonists feel content in strange surroundings. As the people became friends with their neighbors and worked to help one another succeed, the sense of community began to grow and become stronger. This sense of community was one of the main reasons that African Americans chose to live in segregated settlements on the frontier. However, while the sense of community was strong in Nicodemus and other all-Black frontier colonies, other factors caused most of them to fail.
The frontier environment was such that droughts often led to crop failures, which sometimes caused residents to grow disillusioned and move elsewhere to farm. The second problem was that many settlers needed more capital to obtain enough animals, supplies, and equipment to make farming successful. This, of course, had an adverse effect on the businesses that relied on the farmers’ patronage. Many businesses went broke, and African American farmers often had to work for nearby White individuals to earn a living from the harsh frontier land. Eventually, many inhabitants of all-Black communities abandoned their claims. They moved into or near towns where White individuals also lived.
Black Neighborhoods in White Communities
Even in these larger, predominantly White settlements, African Americans usually segregated themselves. Many frontier towns had a neighborhood where African Americans lived and socialized, creating a Black community within the larger, White-controlled community. In these situations, African Americans experienced social segregation while participating in an integrated business environment that allowed them to benefit from their more prosperous White neighbors. Some African Americans worked as hired hands and domestic servants for White families, and others ran restaurants, hotels, barbershops, laundries, repair shops, and other businesses that catered to customers of all races.
Laws and customs of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries dictated that the social contact between African Americans and White individuals be limited. This was true in the American West, just as it was in the older eastern sections of the country. However, a relatively low level of prejudice on the western frontier allowed for much business activity between the races. Thus, although Black Americans on the western frontier usually lived in segregated communities, their lives were more prosperous and successful when they engaged in commerce with their White neighbors.
Bibliography
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"A Fluid Frontier: Minority and Ethnic Groups and Opportunity in Oklahoma." Oklahoma Historical Society, www.okhistory.org/learn/frontier2. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024.
Hamilton, Kenneth Marvin. Black Towns and Profit: Promotion and Development in the Trans-Appalachian West, 1877–1915. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1991.
Hardaway, Roger D. “African American Communities on the Western Frontier.” Communities in the American West. Ed. Stephen Tchudi. Nevada Humanities Committee and U of Nevada P, 1999.
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