Journey of Hope
The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkansas in the Late 1800s
By Kenneth C. Barnes
288 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 24 illus., 4 maps, 2 figs., notes, bibl., index
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Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5550-8
Published: September 2004 -
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-7622-0
Published: October 2005 -
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7799-4
Published: October 2005
John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture
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Awards & distinctions
2005 J.G. Ragsdale Award, Arkansas Historical Association
2005 Arkansiana Award, Arkansas Library Association
A 2005 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
In Journey of Hope, Kenneth C. Barnes explains why so many black Arkansas sharecroppers dreamed of Africa and how their dreams of Liberia differed from the reality. This rich narrative also examines the role of poor black farmers in the creation of a black nationalist identity and the importance of the symbolism of an ancestral continent.
Based on letters to the ACS and interviews of descendants of the emigrants in war-torn Liberia, this study captures the life of black sharecroppers in the late 1800s and their dreams of escaping to Africa.
About the Author
Kenneth C. Barnes is professor of history at the University of Central Arkansas. His most recent book is Who Killed John Clayton? Political Violence and the Emergence of the New South, 1861-1893.
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Reviews
"Drawing upon an impressive trove of primary and secondary materials. . . . Barnes demonstrates his skill and sensitivity as a thoughtful historian. . . . [A] substantive history. Meticulously researched and clearly written."--History
"A welcome addition to scholarship in Arkansas, African American, and southern history. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice
"This is a serious work of scholarship. Barnes should be commended for meticulously and analytically treating a painful but important aspect of Liberian-American relations."--American Historical Review
"A captivating story."--Arkansas Libraries
"In his well-researched and groundbreaking book, Kenneth C. Barnes illuminates the largely untold story of approximately six hundred African Americans from central Arkansas in the late 1880s who participated in the 'back to Africa' movement. . . . Barnes gives this complex and revealing story the scrutiny and attention it deserves."--Journal of American History
"Using his considerable writing skills, Kenneth Barnes crafts a highly readable narrative that turns this story about a relatively small group of people into a fascinating account that speaks to many issues of the era--race relations in the South, the meanings of Reconstruction's demise, the lives and hopes of African Americans, and felt connections to Africa. Above all, anyone interested in the lives of poor black men and women in the late nineteenth century will find this a compelling read."--James H. Meriwether, author of Proudly We Can Be Africans: Black Americans and Africa, 1935-1961