Benjamin ‘Pap’ Singleton was a formerly enslaved man who became a leading voice for Black self-determination in the years after the Civil War. Born into slavery in 1809 in Nashville, Tennessee, Singleton escaped to freedom and later returned to help others do the same through the Underground Railroad. After Reconstruction, as violence and oppression spread across the South, he advocated for Black migration to the West—especially Kansas, where land ownership offered a path to independence. As a central figure in the Exoduster Movement, Singleton organized and encouraged thousands of Black Americans to leave the South in search of safety and opportunity. He believed true freedom required more than legal rights; it demanded land, economic power, and community control. Though many migrants faced hardship, Singleton’s vision helped reshape the meaning of freedom, emphasizing mobility, ownership, and the courage to claim space in America.
The Joy Trip Project celebrates our shared American heritage. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series elevates the untold stories of Black American history.
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