"In 1879, fourteen years after the Emancipation Proclamation, thousands of blacks fled the South. They were headed for the homesteading lands of Kansas, the 'garden spot of the earth' and the 'quintessential Free State, the land of John Brown' ... Painter examines their exodus in fascinating detail. In the process, she offers a compelling portrait of the post-Reconstruction South and the desperate efforts by blacks and whites in that chaotic period to 'solve the race problem' once and for all."--Newseek.

"What makes this book so important, is ... [that it] is the first full-length scholarly study of this migration and of the forces that produced it ... [Others] have focused on nationally recognized black leaders; [Painter] calls for attention to the black masses."--David H. Donald, New York Times Book Review.