In 1879–1880, over 40,000 African Americans left the terror of the post-Reconstruction South in the largest mass Black migration before the Great Migration — the 'Exoduster' movement led by Benjamin 'Pap' Singleton and Henry Adams. They streamed into Kansas seeking land, safety, and self-governance. Sumner County and the surrounding region preserves the landscape where these freedom seekers built farms, towns, and schools, directly challenging the racial violence that drove them north.