{"product_id":"the-first-migrants-how-black-homesteaders-quest-for-land-and-freedom-heralded-americas-great-migration-hardcover","title":"The First Migrants: How Black Homesteaders' Quest for Land and Freedom Heralded America's Great Migration - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eRichard Edwards\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eJacob K. Friefeld\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eAngela Bates\u003c\/b\u003e (Preface by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe First Migrants\u003c\/i\u003e recounts the largely unknown story of Black people who migrated from the South to the Great Plains between 1877 and 1920 in search of land and freedom. They exercised their rights under the Homestead Act to gain title to 650,000 acres, settling in all of the Great Plains states. Some created Black homesteader communities such as Nicodemus, Kansas, and DeWitty, Nebraska, while others, including George Washington Carver and Oscar Micheaux, homesteaded alone. All sought a place where they could rise by their own talents and toil, unencumbered by Black codes, repression, and violence. In the words of one Nicodemus descendant, they found \"a place they could experience real freedom,\" though in a racist society that freedom could never be complete. Their quest foreshadowed the epic movement of Black people out of the South known as the Great Migration. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this first account of the full scope of Black homesteading in the Great Plains, Richard Edwards and Jacob K. Friefeld weave together two distinct strands: the narrative histories of the six most important Black homesteader communities and the several themes that characterize homesteaders' shared experiences. Using homestead records, diaries and letters, interviews with homesteaders' descendants, and other sources, Edwards and Friefeld illuminate the homesteaders' fierce determination to find freedom--and their greatest achievements and struggles for full equality. \u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRichard Edwards\u003c\/b\u003e is director emeritus of the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including \u003ci\u003eHomesteading the Plains: Toward a New History\u003c\/i\u003e (Nebraska, 2017) and \u003ci\u003eNatives of a Dry Place: Stories of Dakota before the Oil Boom\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eJacob K. Friefeld\u003c\/b\u003e is a historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. He is coauthor of \u003ci\u003eHomesteading the Plains: Toward a New History\u003c\/i\u003e (Nebraska, 2017). \u003cb\u003eAngela Bates\u003c\/b\u003e is the executive director of the Nicodemus Historical Society and a descendant of the original homesteaders of Nicodemus. She has served on the Kansas Historical Foundation board of directors and is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 508\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.89 x 9.06 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 01, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47442826363058,"sku":"9781496230843","price":36.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/c4551d039d2b989ff6858d667aed8371.webp?v=1778690529","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/the-first-migrants-how-black-homesteaders-quest-for-land-and-freedom-heralded-americas-great-migration-hardcover","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}