A Journey Toward Freedom

Exhibit Explores Black American Migration North and West Following the Civil War

Special Collections and Archives is pleased to present the exhibit A Journey Toward Freedom: Black Americans and the Great Migration. The Great Migration was the largest domestic movement in American history. During the century following the Civil War, over six million Black Americans left the southern United States to move north and west, seeking to escape racial discrimination, raise their standard of living, and build new communities in which they could fully exercise their rights as citizens. Visitors to the exhibit can learn more about the motivations for this movement and the impact of the Great Migration on locations where migrants made their homes, including Emporia.

Visit A Journey Toward Freedom: Black Americans and the Great Migration in the Exhibit Hall outside William Allen White Library Room 119. This exhibit will be on display through December 2023.

A Journey Toward Freedom: Black Americans and the Great Migration was inspired by the oral histories recorded in the book Black Emporia: The African American Experience Through the Lives of Emporians. This book and additional resources are available in the Black Emporia: Interpretations and Connections Collection.

This exhibit was made possible by the generous estate gift of Dr. Carol Marshall to endow the Black Emporia: Interpretations and Connections collection. Dr. Marshall served Emporia State University as a professor of early childhood education from 1962-2000.

Access the collection by visiting Special Collections and Archives in William Allen White Library Room 119 or online at www.emporia.edu/library. Follow us on Facebook for information about upcoming events related to themes presented in the exhibit.