New Beginnings in Southern Illinois

New Beginnings in Southern Illinois Introduction

After the Civil War, newly freed African Americans faced the monumental task of building new lives in a nation still deeply divided by race and geography. Many sought opportunities beyond the South, leaving behind the plantations and oppressive conditions they had known for generations. This unit explores the journey of freedmen who migrated north, with a specific focus on those who settled in southern Illinois. Among these pioneers were families like the Bosticks, who not only sought economic opportunity and safety from violence but also became central to the local history of African American settlement in the region.

The Bostick Introduction

Essential Questions:

1. Which evidence provides the most important reason why African Americans left (push factor) the South?
2. Which evidence provides the most important reason why African Americans such as the Bosticks settled in southern Illinois?

This module was inspired by the SIU Press publication, Forgetting and the Forgotten: A Thousand Years of Contested History in the Heartland (Batinski, 2022).