The Exodus of ‘79

Southern legislatures begin to pass a series of laws in 1877 known as the Jim Crow Laws, focusing on diminishing the rights of African-Americans in order to force them into an inferior place in Southern society. These laws are intended to segregate public transportation, education, jobs, housing, and other basic services. In 1879, thousands of African-Americans migrate from the South to the West to escape this exploitation and oppression, thereafter known as the Exodus of ’79.