Benjamin "Pap" Singleton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
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| Born | 1809 |
| Died | February 17, 1900 (aged 90–91) |
| Resting place | Union Cemetery Kansas City, Missouri |
| Movement | Abolitionist |
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton (born 1809 – died February 17, 1900) was an American activist and businessman. He is best known for helping to create settlements for African Americans in Kansas.
Singleton was born into slavery in Tennessee. In 1846, he escaped to freedom in Ontario, Canada. He later moved to Detroit, Michigan. He became a well-known abolitionist, which means he worked to end slavery. He was also a community leader and spoke up for the rights of African Americans.
After the American Civil War, Singleton returned to Tennessee. However, he soon realized that black people would not be treated equally in the Southern United States. After a period called Reconstruction, Singleton helped thousands of black people move to Kansas. These settlers were called Exodusters. He also worked to support black-owned businesses in Kansas. Later in his life, he became interested in the Back-to-Africa movement.
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Early Life and Escape
Benjamin Singleton was born into slavery in 1809 in Davidson County, Tennessee, near Nashville, Tennessee. We don't know many details about his early life. His father was white, and his mother was an enslaved black woman. As a young person, he learned to be a carpenter. He wished he had learned to read and write. He tried to run away several times, but he wasn't successful.
In 1846, Singleton finally escaped to freedom. He traveled north using the Underground Railroad. This was a secret network of safe houses and routes that helped enslaved people escape. He went to Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and stayed there for a year. Then, he moved to Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, he helped other escaped slaves find their way to freedom in Canada. He lived in Detroit and worked as a carpenter until the American Civil War began.
Seeking Equality and Land
After the Union Army took control of Middle Tennessee in 1862, Singleton went back to Nashville, Tennessee. He believed he would be safe and free there. He worked as a cabinetmaker and made coffins. However, even after slavery ended, freedmen (formerly enslaved people) still faced violence and political problems from white people. Singleton realized that black people would not have a fair chance in the South.
He was disappointed that leaders didn't keep their promises of equality. So, in 1869, Singleton teamed up with Columbus M. Johnson, a black minister. They started looking for ways for black people to become financially independent.
In 1874, Singleton and Johnson started the Edgefield Real Estate Association. Their goal was to help African Americans buy land near Nashville. But white landowners didn't want to sell to them or asked for very high prices. Singleton became convinced that freedmen needed to leave the South to truly be independent. In 1875, he began thinking about starting black communities in the Western United States. His group changed its name to the Edgefield Real Estate and Homestead Association. In 1876, Singleton and Johnson went to Kansas to look for land in Cherokee County, Kansas. He liked what he saw and went back to Nashville to find settlers for a new community.
Starting New Colonies
In the summer of 1877, Singleton led about 73 black settlers to Cherokee County, near Baxter Springs, Kansas. They tried to buy land from the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway for their "Singleton Colony." But they were too late. Lead had been discovered there the year before, causing land prices to become very high. They couldn't afford the land, so they couldn't build their colony in Cherokee County. Singleton had to look elsewhere.
He searched for government land that his settlers could get through the 1862 Homestead Act. This law allowed people to claim public land if they lived on it and improved it. He found some land on what used to be the Kaw Indian Reservation. This land was near Dunlap, Kansas, between Morris and Lyon counties. Dunlap was along the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, also known as the Katy Railroad. The land wasn't the best, but in the spring of 1878, Singleton's settlers traveled from Tennessee to Kansas by steamboat.
The next year, they officially started the Dunlap Colony. More than 2,400 settlers came from the Nashville area. Most of them lived in dugouts (shelters dug into the ground) during their first year. They worked hard and made the colony a success.
The Exodusters Movement
By 1879, a huge movement called the "Great Exodus" was happening. About 50,000 freedmen, known as Exodusters, moved from the South. They were trying to escape poverty and violence after white people regained political power there. They moved to Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois to find land, better jobs, and peace. A part of Topeka, Kansas, was even called "Tennessee Town" because so many people from that state moved there.
Most of these Exodusters didn't have a direct connection to Singleton's colonies. But Singleton and his followers understood their struggles. Many white Kansans, however, started to complain about so many poor black people arriving in their state. Singleton stepped forward to defend the Exodusters. He argued that they had a right to seek better lives in the American West.
In 1880, Singleton was asked to speak before the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. He testified about why so many people were leaving the South for Kansas. Singleton pushed back against Southern Senators who tried to make the Exodus Movement look bad. He spoke about how he had successfully set up independent black colonies. He also explained the terrible conditions that forced freedmen to leave the South. Singleton returned to Kansas as a nationally recognized spokesperson for the Exodusters.
However, so many poor black people arriving put a financial strain on the Dunlap Colony. By 1880, the Presbyterian Church took over helping the settlement. They planned to build a school there. Singleton no longer had dealings with his colony at Dunlap.
Later Years and Legacy
By 1881, Benjamin Singleton was 72 years old. People often called him "old Pap" out of affection. He was still a strong leader. He brought black people together into an organization called the Colored United Links (CUL). He started the CUL in Topeka. Its goal was to combine the money of all black people to build black-owned businesses, factories, and trade schools. The group held several meetings and was successful enough that Republican Party officials in Kansas noticed its potential political power. However, after 1881, CUL membership dropped, and the organization soon broke apart.
After the CUL failed, Singleton became convinced that black people would never truly succeed in the United States. In 1883, he briefly worked with Joseph Ware and John Williams, a black minister. They suggested that American black people move to the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. This idea didn't go anywhere.
In 1885, Singleton moved to Kansas City, Missouri. There, he started working on ideas related to Pan-Africanism. This is the idea of uniting all people of African descent. In 1885, he founded the United Transatlantic Society (UTS). Its goal was for all black people to move from the United States to Africa. Countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia had been founded there by Great Britain and the United States for formerly enslaved people.
The UTS lasted until 1887 but never sent anyone to Africa. Singleton's health declined, and he retired from his activism. He spoke out one last time in 1889. He called for a part of the new Oklahoma Territory to be set aside as an all-black state.
Benjamin Singleton died on February 17, 1900, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was buried in Union Cemetery in Kansas City.
Family Life
Benjamin Singleton was married and had several children. Two of his daughters, Emily (born around 1840) and Sarah (born around 1858), wrote letters to him from East Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-1880s. Singleton once said, "I have been a slave fled to Canada when my children were small and nineteen years after when I returned they were grown."
His son, Joshua W. Singleton, later settled in Allensworth, California. This was a black farming community in Tulare County, California. Joshua's grandchildren, through his daughter Virginia Louise Williams, became singers. They were John Williams Jr., Midge Williams (1915-1952), Charles, and Robert Williams.
As young adults, they started singing together in California as the Williams Quartette. In 1928, they began touring as the Williams Four. In 1933, they had a successful tour in Shanghai, China, and Japan. Midge Williams also became a swing jazz singer in the late 1930s and 1940s. She recorded music with her group, Midge Williams and Her Jazz Jesters.
Honors and Recognition
In 2002, an American scholar named Molefi Kete Asante included "Pap" Singleton on his list of the 100 Greatest African Americans.
About the Colonies
It's important to know that Singleton didn't start his Real Estate Association until 1874. His first trip to Kansas to scout land was in 1876. The Singleton Colony in Cherokee County failed very quickly. The town of Nicodemus, Kansas, was actually founded independently in 1877 by black settlers from Kentucky. This was a full year before Singleton successfully started his colony at Dunlap.
